Breakdown of Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω ντους και μετά χαλαρώνω στο σαλόνι.
Questions & Answers about Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω ντους και μετά χαλαρώνω στο σαλόνι.
In Greek, the present tense is very often used for planned or certain future actions, especially when there is a clear time expression, like σήμερα το βράδυ (this evening / tonight).
So:
- Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω ντους.
Literally: Today in the evening I do a shower.
Natural meaning: Tonight I’m having a shower / I’ll take a shower.
This is similar to English:
- Tonight I’m taking a shower and then I’m relaxing in the living room.
The idea is: because σήμερα το βράδυ clearly puts the action in the future, the present tense can comfortably refer to a near, planned future.
Yes, you can say:
- Σήμερα το βράδυ θα κάνω ντους και μετά θα χαλαρώσω στο σαλόνι.
This is also correct and means exactly the same in most everyday situations.
Subtle nuance:
Present tense (κάνω, χαλαρώνω) with a future time expression often feels a bit more informal / conversational, like a fixed plan:
- Tonight I’m taking a shower…
Future tense (θα κάνω, θα χαλαρώσω) can sound a bit more neutral or explicit about the futurity:
- I will take a shower tonight…
In normal conversation, both are very common; native speakers use them pretty interchangeably here.
Σήμερα το βράδυ literally means “today in the evening”, which is how Greek commonly says “this evening / tonight.”
- σήμερα = today (the whole day)
- το βράδυ = the evening / at night (as a time of day)
If you say only:
- σήμερα κάνω ντους = Today I’m taking a shower (some time today, unspecified)
- το βράδυ κάνω ντους = In the evening I’m taking a shower (could be tonight, but without “σήμερα” it’s not 100% tied to “today” in isolation)
Putting them together:
- σήμερα το βράδυ = clearly this evening (today’s evening) → tonight
So it’s not redundant; it’s the normal idiomatic way to say “tonight” using two words.
Both can usually be translated as “tonight.”
σήμερα το βράδυ
- Literally: today the evening
- Very common, slightly more “neutral” or explicit (you really hear the “today” part).
απόψε
- A single word meaning tonight / this evening.
- Very common in everyday speech too.
In most contexts, you can simply swap them:
- Απόψε κάνω ντους και μετά χαλαρώνω στο σαλόνι.
There is no important difference in meaning here. If anything:
- σήμερα το βράδυ can feel a little more precise or emphasized,
- απόψε can feel a bit more compact / idiomatic.
But both are perfectly natural.
The natural Greek expression is:
- κάνω ντους = to take a shower
Literally: I do a shower.
Greek often uses κάνω (“to do / make”) with activities:
- κάνω μπάνιο = take a bath
- κάνω βόλτα = go for a walk
- κάνω πάρτι = have a party
- κάνω δίαιτα = be on a diet
Using παίρνω ντους or έχω ντους for “take a shower” is not natural in Greek.
You might see παίρνω with other nouns (e.g. παίρνω άδεια = take leave), but for shower specifically the idiomatic verb is κάνω.
So stick with:
- κάνω ντους = I take a shower.
In Greek, some fixed expressions with κάνω + noun drop the article when the noun refers to a general activity, not a specific, countable object. For example:
- Κάνω ντους. = I take a shower.
- Κάνω μπάνιο. = I take a bath.
- Κάνω δίαιτα. = I’m on a diet.
- Κάνω γυμναστική. = I exercise.
If you say το ντους, you’re talking about a specific shower, like:
- Το ντους είναι χαλασμένο. = The shower is broken. (the device, not the act)
So:
- κάνω ντους (no article) = the activity of showering
- το ντους (with article) = the physical shower (or a particular shower event in some contexts)
In this sentence, we clearly mean the activity, so no article is used.
Ντους is an indeclinable (non‑declining) loanword. That means:
- Its form stays ντους in all cases and numbers.
- When you need an article or adjective, those words change, but ντους itself doesn’t.
Examples:
- το ντους = the shower (singular)
- τα ντους = the showers (plural)
- ένα μεγάλο ντους = a big shower
- δύο μεγάλα ντους = two big showers
So grammatically, ντους is treated as a neuter noun, but its own spelling never changes.
In this sentence:
- και μετά χαλαρώνω στο σαλόνι
μετά is an adverb meaning “afterwards / then / after that”, followed by a clause (a full sentence: I relax in the living room).
General rule of thumb:
μετά + clause (sentence)
- Μετά θα φύγω. = Afterward, I’ll leave.
- Κάνω ντους και μετά χαλαρώνω. = I shower and then I relax.
μετά από + noun / noun phrase
- μετά από το ντους = after the shower
- μετά από τη δουλειά = after work
You could transform the sentence like this:
- Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω ντους και μετά από αυτό χαλαρώνω στο σαλόνι.
(Tonight I take a shower and after that I relax in the living room.)
But with a full sentence after it, plain μετά is more natural and simpler.
στο σαλόνι is a contraction of:
- σε + το σαλόνι → στο σαλόνι
Breakdown:
- σε = in, at, on (very general preposition)
- το = the (neuter singular article)
- σαλόνι = living room (neuter noun)
So στο σαλόνι = “in the living room.”
Some related forms:
- σε ένα σαλόνι = in a living room
- στο μικρό σαλόνι = in the small living room
- μέσα στο σαλόνι = inside the living room (a bit more emphatic)
Using σε + definite article is the normal way to say “in/at the …” with a specific place.
Yes, Greek word order is relatively flexible, especially with adverbs of time like σήμερα το βράδυ.
These are all grammatically correct:
- Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω ντους και μετά χαλαρώνω στο σαλόνι.
- Κάνω ντους σήμερα το βράδυ και μετά χαλαρώνω στο σαλόνι.
The default / most neutral version is usually to put the time expression first:
- Σήμερα το βράδυ κάνω ντους…
If you move σήμερα το βράδυ later, it adds a slight emphasis on that time (“it’s tonight that I’m doing it, not some other time”), but in everyday speech the difference is minimal here.
Avoid very unnatural splits like:
- ✗ Το βράδυ σήμερα κάνω ντους… (technically understandable, but sounds odd unless you’re stressing a contrast in a very specific context).
χαλαρώνω means to relax, to unwind, both physically and mentally.
- Σήμερα το βράδυ… χαλαρώνω στο σαλόνι.
→ I relax / I unwind in the living room.
ξεκουράζομαι focuses more on resting, especially from tiredness:
- Ξεκουράζομαι στο σαλόνι. = I rest in the living room (I’m recovering from fatigue).
So:
- χαλαρώνω = chill out, unwind, relax (maybe watch TV, read, sit comfortably, etc.)
- ξεκουράζομαι = rest, recuperate (from work, from a trip, etc.)
In this sentence, χαλαρώνω fits nicely because it describes a relaxed, pleasant activity after the shower.
You can say:
- Σήμερα το βράδυ θα κάνω ντους και μετά θα χαλαρώσω στο σαλόνι.
This uses:
- θα κάνω (future, perfective)
- θα χαλαρώσω (future, perfective of χαλαρώνω)
It describes a single, complete future event:
Tonight I will take a shower and then I will relax in the living room.
If you say:
- θα χαλαρώνω στο σαλόνι
that is future continuous (imperfective):
- I will be relaxing in the living room (maybe at a certain time or over a longer period).
Example:
- Αύριο στις 8 θα χαλαρώνω στο σαλόνι.
= Tomorrow at 8 I’ll be relaxing in the living room.
In your original sentence, using the simple present (χαλαρώνω) with σήμερα το βράδυ is the usual, natural way to talk about tonight’s plan.
Using θα χαλαρώσω is also correct and just makes the futurity more explicit.