Learn Hardcore Greek: Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω συζήτηση με τη φίλη μου στο σαλόνι. - Tonight I am having a discussion with my friend in the living room.

makes it very clear you mean this evening of today, not yesterday evening, not tomorrow evening.
adds emphasis that it’s not in the morning or afternoon.

You could say only:

το βράδυ κάνω συζήτηση… = “I’m having a conversation this evening…”
σήμερα κάνω συζήτηση… = “Today I’m having a conversation…” (time of day not specified)

But σήμερα το βράδυ is a very natural, common way to say tonight in Greek.

Why is there an article in το βράδυ? Can I say σήμερα βράδυ without το?

With parts of the day, Greek almost always uses the definite article:

το πρωί – the morning
το μεσημέρι – noon / lunchtime
το απόγευμα – the afternoon
το βράδυ – the evening

In this sentence, το βράδυ is an adverbial time phrase (“in the evening”), but it still keeps the article.

σήμερα βράδυ sounds wrong or at least very unnatural. The normal expression is σήμερα το βράδυ.

Why do we say κάνω συζήτηση instead of using just a verb like μιλάω or συζητάω?

Greek likes light-verb + noun combinations, similar to English “have a conversation”:

κάνω συζήτηση = literally “I do a discussion”, idiomatically “I have a conversation / discussion”

You could also say:

συζητάω με τη φίλη μου = I discuss / I’m having a discussion with my friend
μιλάω με τη φίλη μου = I talk / I’m talking with my friend

Nuances:

κάνω συζήτηση often sounds a bit more deliberate or “organized”, like “I’m having a discussion”.
μιλάω is more general: “I’m talking.”
συζητάω is very close in meaning to κάνω συζήτηση.

All are correct; it’s just a stylistic choice here.

The meaning is future (“tonight I’m having a conversation”). Why is the verb just present κάνω and not θα κάνω?

Modern Greek can use the present tense to talk about a planned or scheduled near-future action, just like English uses the present continuous:

Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω συζήτηση…
≈ “Tonight I’m having a conversation…” (it’s already arranged)

If you say:

Σήμερα το βράδυ θα κάνω συζήτηση…

that’s also correct. It feels slightly more like a plain future statement (“I will have a conversation tonight”), without necessarily emphasizing that it’s a fixed plan.

So:

present (κάνω) = a scheduled / decided future event, very natural here
future (θα κάνω) = simple future, equally grammatical

Why is it τη φίλη μου and not η φίλη μου?

This is a case difference.

η φίλη μου = nominative, used for the subject of a verb
Example: Η φίλη μου έρχεται. – My friend is coming.
τη φίλη μου (or την φίλη μου) = accusative, used for the object of a verb or a preposition
Here it’s the object of the preposition με:
με τη φίλη μου – with my friend.

So in your sentence:

με τη φίλη μου is correct because after με you must use the accusative form, not the nominative.

Why τη φίλη μου and not τον φίλη μου or το φίλη μου?

Greek articles must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

φίλη is the feminine form, meaning a female friend.
- Nominative: η φίλη
- Accusative: τη(ν) φίλη

For a male friend, the word is φίλος (masculine):

Nominative: ο φίλος μου – my (male) friend
Accusative: τον φίλο μου – with my (male) friend → με τον φίλο μου

το is the neuter article; it would go with neuter nouns (e.g. το παιδί – the child), not with φίλη.

So:

τη φίλη μου = with my female friend (correct here)
τον φίλο μου = with my male friend

I often see την with an -ν. Why is it τη φίλη μου here instead of την φίλη μου?

The feminine article in the accusative is historically την. Modern Greek has a spelling rule about the final -ν:

την / την and τον may drop the final ν before many consonants.
They keep the ν:
- before vowels
- and before the consonants κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ.

In τη φίλη, φ is not in that list, so the ν can be dropped:

τη φίλη (common modern spelling)
την φίλη (also correct; some people always keep the ν, especially in careful writing)

So both τη φίλη μου and την φίλη μου are grammatically correct. The version without ν just follows the traditional spelling rule.

Which case does με take in Greek? Why is it με τη φίλη μου?

Modern Greek has basically lost the old dative case. Prepositions now generally take the accusative.

με = with
→ always followed by accusative.

So:

με τη(ν) φίλη μου (accusative) = with my friend
με τον φίλο μου (accusative) = with my (male) friend
με μένα / μαζί μου = with me

There is no special “with-case”; it’s just με + accusative.

Why is there no article before συζήτηση? Why not κάνω τη συζήτηση?

The noun συζήτηση here is used in an indefinite / generic way:

κάνω συζήτηση = I have (a) conversation / discussion (some discussion, not a specific one already identified).

If you say:

κάνω τη συζήτηση

it sounds like “I do the discussion”, referring to a particular, already known discussion:

For example, “the discussion we planned”, “the discussion we mentioned before”.

In your sentence, you’re just stating that you’ll be having a conversation tonight, not “that specific conversation”, so leaving the article off (κάνω συζήτηση) is natural.

What is στο in στο σαλόνι? Why not σε το σαλόνι?

στο is simply a contraction of the preposition σε (in, at, on) plus the article το:

σε + το = στο
σε + τον = στον
σε + την = στην

Greek almost always uses the contracted form in everyday speech and writing:

στο σαλόνι = in the living room
στην κουζίνα = in the kitchen
στο σχολείο = at school

You could see σε το in very marked or poetic language, but normally you should always say στο here.

Why is σαλόνι neuter (το σαλόνι)?

Grammatical gender in Greek is mostly lexical: you have to learn the gender with each noun.

However, there are patterns:

Many nouns ending in -ι are neuter:
- το σπίτι – the house
- το παιδί – the child
- το κουτί – the box
- το σαλόνι – the living room

So σαλόνι follows a common pattern: -ι ending → neuter noun → article το (nominative and accusative).

Can we change the word order, like Σήμερα το βράδυ στο σαλόνι κάνω συζήτηση με τη φίλη μου? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, Greek word order is relatively flexible, especially with adverbial phrases (time, place, manner). All of these are grammatical and mean basically the same thing:

Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω συζήτηση με τη φίλη μου στο σαλόνι.
(neutral order: time → verb → with whom → place)
Σήμερα το βράδυ στο σαλόνι κάνω συζήτηση με τη φίλη μου.
Slight extra emphasis on the location by placing it earlier.
Στο σαλόνι σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω συζήτηση με τη φίλη μου.
Stronger focus on “In the living room (not somewhere else) tonight I’m having a conversation…”

The core meaning (who, what, when, where) stays the same; changing the order mainly shifts emphasis or focus, not basic meaning.