Learn Hardcore Greek: Τι χρώμα είναι το αυτοκίνητο μπροστά από το σπίτι; - What color is the car in front of the house?

Τι χρώμα = “What color” (open question, asking for the quality / property)
- Τι χρώμα είναι το αυτοκίνητο; = What color is the car?
Ποιο χρώμα is closer to “which color”, usually when there is a limited set of options already known or visible.
- Ποιο χρώμα προτιμάς, το κόκκινο ή το μπλε; = Which color do you prefer, red or blue?

In your sentence, you’re just asking about the property of the car (its color), not choosing between known options, so Τι χρώμα is the natural choice.

What is the grammatical role and form of χρώμα here?

Χρώμα is a neuter noun:

Dictionary form: το χρώμα (neuter, singular)
Meaning: color

In the sentence Τι χρώμα είναι το αυτοκίνητο…, χρώμα is in the nominative singular, because:

It is the predicative noun linked to the subject (το αυτοκίνητο) through the verb είναι (is).
In Greek, both sides of είμαι (to be) are normally in the nominative:
- Το αυτοκίνητο είναι κόκκινο.
- Το αυτοκίνητο είναι ένα ωραίο χρώμα.

So τι χρώμα literally works like “what (kind of) color”.

Could the word order be Τι χρώμα το αυτοκίνητο είναι or Το αυτοκίνητο τι χρώμα είναι?

Greek word order is quite flexible, but not all options sound natural.

Standard and most natural here:
- Τι χρώμα είναι το αυτοκίνητο μπροστά από το σπίτι;
Also possible and natural:
- Τι χρώμα είναι το αυτοκίνητο;
- Το αυτοκίνητο τι χρώμα είναι; (a bit more colloquial / conversational)
Sounds unnatural / wrong:
- Τι χρώμα το αυτοκίνητο είναι; – This is not how Greek speakers would phrase it.

In short: you can move το αυτοκίνητο to the front (for emphasis or style), but you normally keep είναι close to τι χρώμα.

Why do we say το αυτοκίνητο with the article το? Could we drop it and say just αυτοκίνητο?

In Greek, nouns almost always need an article unless there is a specific reason not to use one. Here:

το αυτοκίνητο = the car (a specific car)
No article (αυτοκίνητο) would sound incomplete or unnatural in this context.

We’re clearly referring to a particular car—the one in front of the house—so the definite article το is required.

Bare nouns (without an article) are used, but typically:

In fixed expressions,
In some generic statements,
Or with certain verbs and constructions.

In this sentence, το αυτοκίνητο is the normal and correct form.

Is από in μπροστά από το σπίτι really necessary? Could we just say μπροστά το σπίτι?

Yes, από is necessary here.

μπροστά by itself means “in front” / “front(wards)”, but it doesn’t by itself connect to the thing you’re in front of.
To say “in front of [something]”, Greek normally uses:
- μπροστά από + [noun in accusative]

So:

✅ μπροστά από το σπίτι = in front of the house
❌ μπροστά το σπίτι is ungrammatical.

There are some contexts where μπροστά alone is fine, but that’s usually when the reference is already clear:

Πήγαινε μπροστά. = Go in front / Go ahead.

What is the difference between μπροστά από and just μπροστά?

μπροστά alone: in front / ahead (adverb of place, no object)
- Το παιδί στέκεται μπροστά. = The child is standing in front / ahead (of us, of something obvious).
μπροστά από + noun: in front of [something] (prepositional phrase, explicit object)
- Το αυτοκίνητο είναι μπροστά από το σπίτι. = The car is in front of the house.

If you want to specify in front of what, you almost always need μπροστά από.

Why is it μπροστά από το σπίτι and not μπροστά στο σπίτι?

Greek distinguishes between these:

μπροστά από το σπίτι
Literally: in front from the house
Meaning: in front of the house (position outside, at its front side).
μπροστά στο σπίτι (less common and a bit different in feel)
Literally: in front at the house
Could mean something like at the front (area) of the house, sometimes with a sense of near / at the place of the house rather than strictly in front of the facade.

In everyday Greek, “in front of X” is almost always expressed as:

μπροστά από + X

So μπροστά από το σπίτι is the standard, clear way to say “in front of the house.”

What case is το σπίτι in after από, and does από always take that case?

Το σπίτι is in the accusative case.

Nominative: το σπίτι
Accusative: το σπίτι (same form because it’s neuter)

The preposition από in modern Greek is followed by the accusative:

από το σπίτι = from the house
μπροστά από το σπίτι = in front of the house
μακριά από το σπίτι = far from the house

So yes, as a rule in modern Greek, από takes the accusative case.

What is the difference between μπροστά and πριν? Both look related to the idea of “before”.

They are related in meaning but used in different contexts:

μπροστά = in front, ahead → spatial (place)
- Το αυτοκίνητο είναι μπροστά από το σπίτι.
  The car is in front of the house.
πριν = before → mostly temporal (time)
- Ήρθα πριν από μία ώρα. = I came an hour ago / I came before one hour.

So for physical position in space, use μπροστά (από), not πριν.

Why is the question word Τι and not Ποιος / Ποια / Ποιο?

Greek has several different interrogative pronouns:

Τι = what (for things, asking about identity or kind)
- Τι είναι αυτό; = What is this?
- Τι χρώμα είναι το αυτοκίνητο; = What color is the car?
Ποιος / Ποια / Ποιο = who / which (one) (for people or specific items)
- Ποιο αυτοκίνητο είναι δικό σου; = Which car is yours?

In your sentence, you are asking about a property of the car (its color), so Τι is appropriate: Τι χρώμα… (What color…). Ποιο would be used if you were choosing between different cars or colors already known.

How do you pronounce μπροστά and why is it written with μπ at the beginning?

Pronunciation:
μπροστά is pronounced approximately [broˈsta] (like bro-STA).

Spelling explanation:

In modern Greek, the sound /b/ is usually written with the digraph μπ, not a single letter.
At the beginning of a word, μπ is pronounced like English b:
- μπάλα = ball → bála
- μπροστά = in front → brostá

So μπροστά sounds like “bro-sta”, not mpro-sta in actual speech.

Why does the sentence end with ; instead of ? in Greek script?

In Greek typography, the question mark is written as ; (a semicolon-like symbol), not as ?.

Greek: Τι χρώμα είναι το αυτοκίνητο μπροστά από το σπίτι;
English: What color is the car in front of the house?

The symbol that looks like an English semicolon (;) is actually the Greek question mark. So this punctuation is correct for a question in Greek.