Learn Hardcore Greek: Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και τυρί. - Tonight I am making pasta with tomato and cheese.

In Greek, the present tense is very often used for near-future, planned actions, especially when you add a time expression like σήμερα το βράδυ, αύριο, σε λίγο, etc.

So:

Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω μακαρόνια…
= I am making pasta tonight / I’m going to make pasta tonight.

This is similar to English “I’m making pasta tonight” (present continuous with future meaning).
You can also say:

Σήμερα το βράδυ θα κάνω μακαρόνια…

That simply makes the future meaning more explicit, but in everyday speech the plain present with a time expression is very common and natural for arrangements and plans.

What is the difference between κάνω μακαρόνια and μαγειρεύω μακαρόνια?

Both can be used when you talk about cooking, but they have slightly different flavors:

κάνω μακαρόνια
Literally “I make pasta.” Very common, casual, and idiomatic. It can mean “prepare/cook pasta” in everyday talk.
μαγειρεύω μακαρόνια
Literally “I cook pasta.” Slightly more formal or explicitly about the act of cooking.

In daily conversation, κάνω μακαρόνια sounds completely natural and is extremely frequent.
μαγειρεύω is the straightforward “to cook”, and you might use it more in neutral statements like Μου αρέσει να μαγειρεύω (I like cooking) or in recipes, etc.

Why do we say σήμερα το βράδυ? Is it necessary to have both σήμερα and το βράδυ?

Σήμερα το βράδυ literally combines “today” (σήμερα) with “the evening” (το βράδυ), and together it means “this evening / tonight (of today)”.

σήμερα = today
το βράδυ = the evening / at night (evening period)

You are specifying which evening: today’s evening.

You are not forced to use both:

Σήμερα κάνω μακαρόνια… = Today I’m making pasta… (at some point today)
Το βράδυ κάνω μακαρόνια… = In the evening I’m making pasta… (could be today, understood from context)
Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω μακαρόνια… = More precise: this evening, today.

There is also the single word απόψε = tonight / this evening, which could replace the whole σήμερα το βράδυ:

Απόψε κάνω μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και τυρί.

Can σήμερα το βράδυ be placed somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes. Time expressions in Greek are relatively flexible in position. All of these are acceptable, with small differences in emphasis:

Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και τυρί. (neutral)
Κάνω σήμερα το βράδυ μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και τυρί. (slight emphasis on “it’s today at night that I’m doing this”)
Κάνω μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και τυρί σήμερα το βράδυ. (emphasis at the end on “tonight”)

The most typical is to put the time at the beginning, exactly as in the example.

Why is there το before βράδυ, but no article before μακαρόνια, ντομάτα or τυρί?

Two different issues:

το βράδυ
Phrases like το βράδυ, το πρωί, το μεσημέρι often appear with the definite article and together they work like set time expressions, meaning “in the evening / in the morning / at noon” rather than “the evening” as a specific object.
μακαρόνια, ντομάτα, τυρί
These are food items used in a general / indefinite / mass sense here:
- pasta
- tomato (as a sauce or general ingredient)
- cheese (some cheese)

In that kind of “general food” context, Greek often omits the article, similar to English saying “I eat bread” rather than “I eat the bread”. If you said:

Τα μακαρόνια με τη ντομάτα και το τυρί,
you would be talking about specific pasta, tomato, and cheese already known in the context.

Why is ντομάτα singular when in English we often say “pasta with tomatoes and cheese”?

ντομάτα in this sentence is best understood as “tomato (sauce)” or simply “tomato as an ingredient”, treated like a mass noun, not individually counted tomatoes. That is why it appears in the singular.

If you want to refer to actual pieces / whole tomatoes, you would usually see the plural:

μακαρόνια με ντομάτες και τυρί = pasta with tomatoes (pieces) and cheese.

So:

ντομάτα (singular) here suggests “tomato in general, probably as sauce”.
ντομάτες (plural) suggests “several tomatoes” as separate items.

What is the grammatical form of μακαρόνια and does it always mean “pasta”?

μακαρόνια is:

Gender: neuter
Number: plural (nominative/accusative plural)
Base word: μακαρόνι (a single macaroni, by form)

In practice:

μακαρόνια usually means “pasta” in general (any kind: spaghetti, penne, etc.) in everyday language, not only “macaroni” in the narrow English sense.
The singular μακαρόνι is not very common in daily speech unless you literally talk about one piece or use it metaphorically.

There is also a more general word ζυμαρικά = pasta (plural), but μακαρόνια is extremely common and natural.

What exactly does με mean in μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και τυρί? Could we use και instead?

με is the preposition “with”. Here it introduces the accompaniments / ingredients of the pasta:

μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και τυρί
= pasta with tomato and cheese.

You cannot replace that first με with και, because και just means “and”, not “with”.
If you said:

μακαρόνια και ντομάτα και τυρί,
it would sound more like listing three separate things: pasta and tomato and cheese (not necessarily that the tomato and cheese are on/in the pasta).

You could repeat με:

μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και με τυρί
This is grammatically correct, but the extra με adds a bit of emphasis or a list-like rhythm. The most natural is exactly the version in the sentence: one με followed by two nouns joined with και.

Why do we not say είμαι (to be) anywhere, like “I am making”?

Modern Greek does not form continuous tenses with είμαι (to be) plus a participle, the way English does with “am/are/is doing”.

Instead, Greek uses the simple present for both:

κάνω = I do / I make / I am doing / I am making

So:

Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω μακαρόνια…
covers both meanings:
“I make pasta tonight”
and
“I’m making pasta tonight”.

There is no need for an extra auxiliary like “είμαι”.

Could we use θα κάνω instead of κάνω here? Would that change the meaning?

You certainly can:

Σήμερα το βράδυ θα κάνω μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και τυρί.

This is a future tense (θα + present stem), explicitly talking about a future event.

Difference in nuance:

Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω…
Feels like a fixed plan / arrangement (comparable to English “I’m making…” used for plans).
Σήμερα το βράδυ θα κάνω…
Feels a bit more like a simple statement about the future, not necessarily emphasizing it as a scheduled plan.

In everyday speech, both are fine; the choice often depends on what you want to emphasize or personal style.

Is κάνω μακαρόνια about cooking the pasta or about eating it, like “having pasta for dinner”?

κάνω μακαρόνια refers to making / preparing / cooking the pasta, not eating it.

If you want to emphasize eating, you would normally use τρώω (to eat) or θα φάω (I will eat):

Σήμερα το βράδυ θα φάω μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και τυρί.
= Tonight I will eat / I’m having pasta with tomato and cheese.

In conversation, of course, saying κάνω μακαρόνια often implies you will also eat them, but the verb itself is about the preparation, not the consumption.

Can we change the order to μακαρόνια με τυρί και ντομάτα? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

μακαρόνια με τυρί και ντομάτα
instead of
μακαρόνια με ντομάτα και τυρί.

The meaning (pasta with tomato and cheese) stays the same.
Changing the order mostly affects which ingredient you mention first, and therefore sometimes a slight emphasis:

First version might suggest you think of the dish primarily as “pasta with tomato (sauce) and cheese.”
Second version might suggest “pasta with cheese and tomato.”

In normal speech, people freely switch the order without a real change in meaning.

Why is ντομάτα written with ντ at the beginning instead of δ?

In Modern Greek spelling, the combination ντ is commonly used to represent the /d/ sound, especially at the beginning of words that originally came from other languages.

ντομάτα = /doˈmata/ (tomato)
ντουλάπα = /duˈlapa/ (wardrobe)

The single letter δ in Modern Greek represents the /ð/ sound (like the th in “this”), not /d/. That is why δ cannot be used here.

So ντομάτα is spelled with ντ to give the correct /d/ sound at the start of the word.