Modern Greek Grammar - Conjunctions

Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions in Greek include:

The word να serves as a generic subordinator corresponding roughly to English to (+ infinitive) or that in sentences like προτιμώ να πάω (, 'I prefer to go', literally 'I prefer that I go') or προτιμώ να πάει ο Γιάννης (, 'I prefer that John go'). It marks the following verb as being in the subjunctive mood. Somewhat similar to the English to-infinitive its use is often associated with meanings of non-factuality, i.e. events that have not (yet) come true, that are expected, wished for etc. In this, it contrasts with ότι and πως, which correspond to English that when used with a meaning of factuality. The difference can be seen in the contrast between μας είπε να πάμε βόλτα (, 'he told us to go for a walk') vs. μας είπε πως πήγε βόλτα (, 'he told us that he went for a walk'). When used on its own with a following verb, να may express a wish or order, as in να πάει! (, 'let him go' or 'may he go'). Unlike the other subordinating conjunctions, να is always immediately followed by the verb it governs, separated from it only by any clitics that might be attached to the verb, but not by a subject or other clause-initial material.