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Greek grammar

Greek grammar explained in plain words. The article shows gender and case at once. What is harder: four cases, three genders and no infinitive — a clause with να (na) takes its place.

Updated September 1, 2026 · Lingofly

Notes

What works differently from what you know

  • Modern Greek has no infinitive at all: the form “to read” does not exist; instead one says “I want that I read” — thelo na diavazo. Bulgarian, Macedonian, Albanian and Romanian lost the same feature: together with Greek that makes four different branches of the Indo-European family, and they picked it up from each other as neighbours.

    Brian D. Joseph, «The Synchrony and Diachrony of the Balkan Infinitive», Cambridge, 1983

What is hard about Greek and what comes for free

Hard: four cases, three genders and no infinitive — a clause with να (na) takes its place.

Easy: the article shows gender and case at once.

This is not a verdict on the language but a hint on where to spend effort. The hard parts are best taken a little at a time and often; the easy parts — left alone while they work by themselves.

Frequently asked

Is the grammar of Greek complicated?

Four cases, three genders and no infinitive — a clause with να (na) takes its place is the main difficulty. In return, the article shows gender and case at once.

Should grammar be learned separately?

Not as a separate course. A rule learned before you need it is forgotten before you meet it. It is more useful to work it out at the moment you stumble over it.

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