Breakdown of Σήμερα το βράδυ βάζω τα βιβλία μου πάνω στο τραπεζάκι στο σαλόνι.
Questions & Answers about Σήμερα το βράδυ βάζω τα βιβλία μου πάνω στο τραπεζάκι στο σαλόνι.
Βράδυ means evening / night, yes, but:
- σήμερα = today (an adverb)
- το βράδυ = the evening / tonight (as a time of day)
Putting them together, σήμερα το βράδυ literally means today the evening, i.e. this evening (later today).
It is a very common and natural way in Greek to say this evening / tonight, especially when you want to be clear that you mean the evening of today, not some other day’s evening.
Yes, you can say:
- Απόψε βάζω τα βιβλία μου πάνω στο τραπεζάκι στο σαλόνι.
Απόψε also means tonight.
Differences:
- Απόψε = a single word meaning tonight / this evening.
- Σήμερα το βράδυ = more literally today in the evening, a bit more explicit.
In everyday speech they are usually interchangeable. Απόψε is shorter and very common; σήμερα το βράδυ can feel slightly more explicit or emphatic about “today.”
Greek, like English with I’m putting, can use the present tense for near-future plans.
- Σήμερα το βράδυ βάζω τα βιβλία μου…
≈ Tonight I’m putting my books… (a planned / arranged action) - Σήμερα το βράδυ θα βάλω τα βιβλία μου…
≈ Tonight I will put my books… (more neutral future)
Both are correct:
- Present (βάζω) = a scheduled or firmly intended future action, often sounding a bit more immediate or decided.
- Future (θα βάλω) = simple statement about future time.
So the sentence chooses the present to sound like a definite plan, just as in English I’m putting them tonight.
Basic meaning:
- βάζω = to put, to place, to put in/on.
Some common uses:
- βάζω τα βιβλία στο ράφι – I put the books on the shelf.
- βάζω ζάχαρη στον καφέ – I put sugar in the coffee.
- βάζω μουσική – I put on / play music.
- βάζω ρούχα – I put clothes on / I get dressed (put clothes on myself).
It’s the everyday, general verb for put. There are more formal or specific verbs like τοποθετώ (to place) or αφήνω (to leave, to let), but βάζω is the most common, neutral choice in daily speech.
In Greek, the verb ending usually shows the subject, so the pronoun is often omitted.
- βάζω is 1st person singular: I put / I am putting.
- The subject εγώ is understood from the ending -ω.
You could say:
- Σήμερα το βράδυ εγώ βάζω τα βιβλία μου…
but that usually adds emphasis, like I (and not someone else) am putting my books… In normal, neutral sentences, Greek drops the subject pronoun when it’s clear from the verb.
In Greek, possessives like μου, σου, του etc. almost always go with a definite article before the noun:
- το βιβλίο μου – my book
- τα βιβλία μου – my books
- η τσάντα σου – your bag
The normal structure is:
article + noun + possessive
τα βιβλία μου = the books of-mine (my books)
Saying βιβλία μου without τα is usually wrong or sounds very marked/poetic. So for “my books” in standard Greek, you need τα βιβλία μου.
Greek possessive pronouns of this type (μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους) are clitics and normally come after the noun:
- το σπίτι μου – my house
- η μητέρα σου – your mother
- τα βιβλία μου – my books
If you want to stress the possessor, you can use a different pattern:
- τα δικά μου βιβλία – my books (as opposed to someone else’s)
But the everyday, unstressed form is exactly like in the sentence: τα βιβλία μου.
πάνω (short for επάνω) literally means on (top) or up.
- βάζω τα βιβλία μου στο τραπεζάκι
– I put my books on the little table (this is already fine and natural). - βάζω τα βιβλία μου πάνω στο τραπεζάκι
– I put my books on top of the little table.
In many situations, both mean effectively the same thing. πάνω often:
- emphasizes the surface / top of something
- can make the phrase feel a bit more explicit: clearly on the table, not near it, under it, etc.
Both forms are correct and common. The version with πάνω is simply a bit more specific or vivid.
τραπέζι = table (generic).
τραπεζάκι is the diminutive of τραπέζι:
- base noun: τραπέζι
- diminutive ending: -άκι
- result: τραπεζάκι = little table / small table.
In context, τραπεζάκι is often a:
- coffee table in the living room
- bedside table
- small side table
So τραπεζάκι στο σαλόνι is very naturally understood as the (little) coffee table in the living room.
στο is a contraction of:
- σε + το → στο
σε is a very common preposition, roughly in / at / on, and it combines with definite articles:
- σε + τον → στον
- σε + την / τη → στη(ν)
- σε + το → στο
- σε + τους → στους
- σε + τις → στις
- σε + τα → στα
So:
- στο τραπεζάκι = σε + το τραπεζάκι → on the / at the little table
- στο σαλόνι = σε + το σαλόνι → in the living room
Both are possible, but they feel slightly different:
στο τραπεζάκι στο σαλόνι
– literally on the little table in the living room.
– two σε + article phrases: first “on the table”, then “in the living room”.στο τραπεζάκι του σαλονιού
– literally on the little table of the living room.
– uses genitive (του σαλονιού) to show that the table belongs to / is part of the living room.
In everyday speech, στο τραπεζάκι στο σαλόνι is perfectly natural and maybe slightly more casual. του σαλονιού sounds a bit more written or descriptive, but is also correct.
Both τραπεζάκι and σαλόνι are neuter nouns.
In στο τραπεζάκι στο σαλόνι:
- τραπεζάκι: neuter singular, accusative
- σαλόνι: neuter singular, accusative
The preposition σε (inside στο) takes the accusative case, so both nouns appear in the accusative form. For many neuter nouns ending in -ι, nominative and accusative look the same (e.g. το σαλόνι / στο σαλόνι).
They are essentially the same word:
- επάνω is the full form.
- πάνω is the shorter, very common spoken form.
Both can mean on (top), above, up. In modern everyday Greek, πάνω is more frequent in speech, but επάνω is also used and understood everywhere. In this sentence, πάνω στο τραπεζάκι and επάνω στο τραπεζάκι mean the same thing.