Γιατί μου μιλάς με νεύρα;

to speak

Breakdown of Γιατί μου μιλάς με νεύρα;

• μου: me
• γιατί: why
• με νεύρα: irritably

Questions & Answers about Γιατί μου μιλάς με νεύρα;

What does each word in Γιατί μου μιλάς με νεύρα; mean?

A word-for-word breakdown is:

• Γιατί = why
• μου = to me / me
• μιλάς = you speak / you are talking
• με = with
• νεύρα = literally nerves, but here it means something like anger, irritation, or an edgy tone

So the literal structure is roughly:

Why to-me are-you-talking with irritation?

Natural English would be something like Why are you talking to me so angrily? or Why are you speaking to me with that attitude?

Why is μου used here?

μου is the weak object pronoun meaning to me.

In Greek, verbs like μιλάω / μιλώ often take an indirect object for the person you are speaking to:

• Μιλάω στον Γιάννη. = I’m talking to Giannis.
• Μου μιλάς. = You’re talking to me.

So in this sentence, μου shows who is receiving the speech: me.

Why does μου mean to me when it looks like a genitive form?