---
name: greek-review
description: >-
  Review and fix existing Greek UI copy so it reads like something a Greek
  person would actually say: accented capitals, Title Case, formal-plural
  verbs, translationese error strings, inconsistent terminology. Use whenever
  the user says the Greek "sounds silly", "sounds translated", "sounds like a
  Greek platform", or asks to review/fix the Greek on a screen, a section, or
  the whole app. For writing new Greek copy from scratch, use copy instead.
---

# Greek copy pass

Greek locales are usually written by translating the English one string at a
time. That produces text that is grammatical and still wrong: nobody says it out
loud. This skill is the correction pass. It is a **copywriting** job with a
mechanical safety net, not a find-and-replace.

The test for every string: **would I type this to a colleague?** If not, rewrite it.

## Step 0: Find the locale files

Read `.claude/tg.json`:

```jsonc
{ "copy": { "locales": ["en", "el"], "contentDir": "messages" } }
```

If it's missing, detect it: an i18n config, a `locales/` or `messages/`
directory, or existing translated content. Confirm what you found, and offer to
record it in `.claude/tg.json`. Below, "the Greek messages file" means
`<contentDir>/el.json` (or whatever format the repo uses).

## The eight rules

Apply all of them; most bad strings break two or three at once.

### 1. Capitals carry no tonos

Greek drops the tonos when a word is set in capitals: `ΑΜΟΙΒΗ`, never `ΑΜΟΙΒΉ`.
The diaeresis stays (`ΠΡΟΪΟΝ`).

CSS `text-transform: uppercase` only applies that rule where the browser
implements Greek case mapping, so accented capitals can leak through. For text
that is displayed in capitals, use a Greek-aware uppercase helper that strips the
tonos and keeps the diaeresis. If the repo has one, find where it is already wired
in (an eyebrow or label component often is) so you don't double-wrap. For a
hand-rolled `uppercase` class, keep the class (it is the Latin path) and wrap the
string. The helper should return non-Greek text untouched, casing included, so
English labels and tests are unaffected. If the repo has no such helper, say so
and propose adding one rather than fixing capitals string by string.

### 2. Sentence case, not Title Case

`Ειδικές Υπηρεσίες` is English typography wearing Greek words. Write
`Ειδικές υπηρεσίες`. Proper nouns and document names keep their capitals
(`Όροι Χρήσης`, `Πολιτική Απορρήτου`, the product's own name, `Google`, `Stripe`,
plan names like `Pro` and `Team`).

### 3. One voice: second person singular

The app talks to one person as `εσύ`. Kill every formal plural (`Δοκιμάστε`,
`Επιλέξτε`, `Διαχειριστείτε`, `Εισαγάγετε`, `τη στρατηγική σας`), including in
the admin area, which is where it hides longest.

### 4. Errors name what happened

Never `Δεν ήταν δυνατή η <ουσιαστικό>`, never `Αποτυχία <γενική>`. Name the thing
and what it did: `Το αρχείο δεν ανέβηκε.`, `Η πρόσκληση δεν στάλθηκε.`,
`Ο βοηθός δεν απάντησε.` Keep `Δοκίμασε ξανά.` as its own short sentence when
retrying is the actual next step.

### 5. Success messages state the fact

`Η τοποθεσία προστέθηκε`, not `Η τοποθεσία προστέθηκε με επιτυχία`. Nobody adds
"with success" when telling you something worked.

### 6. Verbs for actions, nouns for things

A control the reader operates gets a verb: `Καθάρισε τα φίλτρα` over
`Καθαρισμός όλων των φίλτρων`, `Κάλεσε μέλος` over `Πρόσκληση μέλους`,
`Ψάξε αρχεία` over `Αναζήτηση αρχείων`. A column header or a section name stays a
noun.

### 7. One word per concept, everywhere

Pick the word a Greek would use and never alternate. Keep a table like this for
the product's own nouns:

| concept | use | not |
|---|---|---|
| consultation / booking | `ραντεβού` | `συμβουλευτική` |
| upload | `ανέβασμα`, `Ανεβαίνει…` | `μεταφόρτωση` |
| loading | `Φορτώνει…` | `Φόρτωση...` |
| ellipsis | `…` | `...` |

### 8. The sentence has to hold together as Greek grammar

Greek is inflected and uses articles with proper names, so a line that is fine
English can be broken Greek even when every word is right. Read the whole
sentence, including the words that sit on another line or come from a slot.

- **A proper name in running text takes its article.** `Η Δανάη και ο Άρης
  παντρεύονται`, never `Δανάη & Άρης παντρεύονται`. Bare names are only right
  when they stand alone, as a heading or a signature.
- **A slot the user fills (a name, a venue) cannot be declined or given an
  article.** Nobody types `της Δανάης`. So never write copy whose grammar
  depends on the slot: no third-person verb with the slot as subject
  (`{names} σας προσκαλούν`), no genitive of it (`στον γάμο της {name}`), no
  sentence that runs into it (`…τον γάμο των` + names). Write around it: first
  person with the names as a signature (`Παντρευόμαστε!`,
  `Σας προσκαλούμε στον γάμο μας`), or a line that stands on its own.
- **Agreement survives line breaks.** A verb on one line agrees with a subject
  on another; `μας`/`τους` must match who is speaking (`Μαζί με τις
  οικογένειές μας` once the card speaks in the first person).
- **Do not carry over an English fragment that leans on what follows.**
  `to celebrate the marriage of` + names has no Greek equivalent that keeps
  the names in the nominative; rewrite the line so it is complete by itself.

**Invitations are the exception to rule 3.** Copy that the user sends to their own
guests (an invitation card, say) keeps the formal plural (`Σας προσκαλούμε`,
`Παρακαλούμε απαντήστε`): that is the register of printed stationery, not app UI.

## Also cut

- **Filler that says nothing.** `Προσφέρουμε εξειδικευμένες λύσεις για κάθε ανάγκη`
  over two concrete cards: say what the two cards are.
- **Copy that repeats its own heading.** A caption under "Ειδοποιήσεις Email"
  reading "Ρύθμισε τις προτιμήσεις ειδοποιήσεων email σου" is a wasted line; say
  when the thing actually fires.
- **Legal hedging in product UI.** `Αυτή η ενέργεια δεν μπορεί να αναιρεθεί` →
  `Δεν γυρίζει πίσω.` (Actual legal pages keep their text; see Scope.)
- **Length.** If a sentence wraps to three lines in the UI, it is two sentences or
  half as long. Check it rendered, not just in JSON.

## Watch out

- **No apostrophes inside a string if you can avoid it.** `Ναι, σβήσ' τον` is fine
  Greek but breaks a single-quoted assertion in a test file. Prefer
  `Ναι, διάγραψέ τον`.
- **Preserve ICU placeholders and plural forms exactly**: `{count, plural, one
  {...} other {...}}`, `{firstName}`, `{amount}`. Rewrite the words around them.
- **Gendered words.** The reader may be any gender: prefer `Καλώς ήρθες` over
  `Έτοιμος να ξεκινήσεις;`. Where the existing copy uses `ο/η`, keep it.
- **SEO metadata is read by people too.** Titles and descriptions get the same
  pass, not crawler-speak.

## Scope

In scope: the Greek messages file, Greek hardcoded in frontend components, and
Greek user-facing strings sent from the backend (verification codes, emails).

Leave alone: the bodies of legal pages such as privacy and terms (legal text; only
their heading casing), seeded/demo data, and anything the user has flagged as a
separate known issue.

## How to run it

1. **Map the surface.** Read the relevant sections out of the Greek messages file:
   `python3 -c "import json; d=json.load(open('<contentDir>/el.json')); print(json.dumps(d['<section>'], ensure_ascii=False, indent=1))"`.
   Also `grep -rl "[α-ωάέήίόύώ]" <frontend src>` for Greek hardcoded in components.
2. **Rewrite a whole area at a time**, not scattered keys: a page reads as a unit
   and its terminology has to agree with itself. Edit the JSON with a small
   python script that loads with `object_pairs_hook=collections.OrderedDict`,
   `.update()`s the keys, and writes back with
   `json.dumps(..., ensure_ascii=False, indent=2)` plus a trailing newline, so key
   order and the rest of the file stay untouched.
3. **Run the tests that assert on copy**, using the repo's own test script. Tests
   assert on Greek strings, so failures are expected and are your inventory of
   what the change touched. Update each assertion to the new copy; a failure that
   is *not* about your strings is a real break, so stop and look.
4. **Look at it rendered.** Open the pages you touched in the running dev app
   (in a browser tool: navigate, then read the page text). This is where you catch
   sentences that are too long, capitals that kept their tonos, and English
   strings nobody ever localized.
5. **Check parity when keys change.** Adding or deleting a key means doing the
   same in the English file; verify both files have identical key sets before
   committing.
6. **Sweep for regressions across the whole locale** before you finish:

   ```bash
   python3 - <<'PY'
   import json, re
   d = json.load(open('<contentDir>/el.json'))
   def walk(o, p=''):
       if isinstance(o, dict):
           for k, v in o.items(): yield from walk(v, p + '.' + k)
       else: yield p, o
   pats = {
     'formal plural': r'\b(Δοκιμάστε|Επιλέξτε|Προσθέστε|Συμπληρώστε|Πατήστε|Επικοινωνήστε|Ελέγξτε|Δείτε|Κάντε|Γράψτε|Ανεβάστε|Στείλτε|Διαχειριστείτε|Επισκεφθείτε|Εισαγάγετε|Επισημάνετε|σας)\b',
     'translationese': r'Δεν ήταν δυνατ|Αποτυχία|με επιτυχία',
     'dot ellipsis': r'\.\.\.',
     'old terms': r'συμβουλευτικ|Μεταφόρτωση|Φόρτωση',
   }
   for name, pat in pats.items():
       hits = [(k, v) for k, v in walk(d) if isinstance(v, str) and re.search(pat, v)]
       print(f'{name}: {len(hits)}')
       for k, v in hits[:20]: print(' ', k, '=', v[:100])
   PY
   ```

   Every count should be zero when the pass is done (invitation copy excepted, per
   rule 3). Adjust `old terms` to match your terminology table.
7. **Commit per area**, not one commit for everything (profile, home, settings,
   admin…). The commit message says what was wrong with the old Greek and quotes
   one or two before/after pairs: that is what makes the next pass possible.

## Where the work goes

Follow the repo's branch convention. If the checkout is shared, another session
may be editing the same files, the Greek messages file in particular. Stage
**your own paths explicitly** (never `git add -A` or a broad directory) and
re-read the messages file from disk immediately before writing it.

---

**Scope:** this skill reviews and fixes Greek copy that already exists. To write
new Greek copy (a blog post, a landing page, marketing text), use `copy`, which
shares these rules.