Το λεμόνι κάνει τη σαλάτα πιο νόστιμη στο σπίτι μας.

Lemon makes the salad tastier in our home.

Breakdown of Το λεμόνι κάνει τη σαλάτα πιο νόστιμη στο σπίτι μας.

• το σπίτι: the home
• πιο: more
• σε: in
• κάνω: to make

Questions & Answers about Το λεμόνι κάνει τη σαλάτα πιο νόστιμη στο σπίτι μας.

Why does the sentence use το λεμόνι and τη σαλάτα with the definite article instead of something like “a lemon” or “a salad”?

Greek uses the definite article (το, η, ο etc.) much more often than English, even for general or generic statements.

• Το λεμόνι here means “lemon (in general) in our house”, not necessarily one specific lemon.
• Τη σαλάτα similarly refers to “the salad (that we’re eating / we usually make)”, understood from context.

So while English prefers:

• “Lemon makes salad tastier in our house,”

Greek naturally says:

• Το λεμόνι κάνει τη σαλάτα πιο νόστιμη στο σπίτι μας.

Why is it τη σαλάτα and not την σαλάτα?

Both forms are actually possible in modern Greek, but in everyday writing and speech:

• την often becomes τη before most consonants.
• The -ν is usually kept only before:
  • vowels (α, ε, η, ι, ο, υ, ω),
  • and the consonants κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ.

Since σαλάτα starts with σ, the final -ν is commonly dropped:

• τη σαλάτα (normal modern spelling)
• την σαλάτα (more careful / older style, also correct)

So you’ll very often see τη σαλάτα in contemporary Greek.

What exactly does κάνει mean here? Is it “does” or “makes”?