Learn Hardcore Greek: Το βράδυ κάνω κουβέντα με τη μαμά μου στο σαλόνι. - In the evening I have a chat with my mom in the living room.

In Greek, every noun has grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. The word βράδυ (evening, night-time) happens to be neuter, so it takes the neuter article:

το βράδυ = the evening

In this sentence, Το βράδυ is an adverbial time phrase: it tells us when something happens. Greek often puts time expressions at the beginning of the sentence, so Το βράδυ naturally comes first:

Το βράδυ κάνω κουβέντα… = In the evening I have a chat…

Why do we say το βράδυ and not just βράδυ?

For parts of the day, Greek very often uses the definite article, even when English doesn’t. Common patterns are:

το πρωί – in the morning
το μεσημέρι – at noon / lunchtime
το απόγευμα – in the afternoon
το βράδυ – in the evening
τη νύχτα – at night

So Το βράδυ κάνω… is the usual, idiomatic way to say In the evening I (usually) do….

You might occasionally see βράδυ without an article in some fixed expressions or headlines, but in a normal sentence describing a regular time, το βράδυ is standard.

Why is βράδυ in the form το βράδυ and not το βράδι?

You may see both spellings in different sources, but the modern standard spelling is:

το βράδυ (with υ)

Historically there were spelling variations, but for current learners you should treat βράδυ as the correct, standard form and use that consistently.

What exactly does κάνω κουβέντα mean? Why not just say μιλάω?

The phrase κάνω κουβέντα literally means I do a conversation / I have a chat.

Nuance:

μιλάω (με κάποιον) = I speak / I talk (with someone) – more neutral, can be any kind of speaking.
κάνω κουβέντα (με κάποιον) = I have a chat / I have a conversation – suggests a more relaxed, back‑and‑forth talk.

So:

Το βράδυ κάνω κουβέντα με τη μαμά μου…
= In the evening I have a chat with my mom…

You could also say:

Το βράδυ μιλάω με τη μαμά μου στο σαλόνι.

That’s correct too, but κάνω κουβέντα sounds a bit warmer and more clearly about a “conversation”, not just saying something.

Why is there no article before κουβέντα? Why not κάνω μια κουβέντα?

Both are possible, but they feel slightly different:

κάνω κουβέντα – more general; I chat / I have a conversation (as an activity).
κάνω μια κουβέντα – one specific conversation; I have a (particular) conversation.

In this sentence, the focus is on the habitual activity in the evenings, not on one specific, countable conversation, so the bare noun κουβέντα works well, similar to other fixed expressions in Greek:

κάνω μπάνιο – I take a bath / shower
κάνω γυμναστική – I do exercise
κάνω δουλειές – I do chores

You could say Το βράδυ κάνω μια κουβέντα με τη μαμά μου, but it would sound more like “In the evening I have a (particular) talk with my mom”, perhaps about something specific.

Why do we say με τη μαμά μου and not just με μαμά μου?

In Greek, when you talk about family members with a possessive pronoun (μου, σου, του…), you almost always include the definite article:

η μαμά μου – my mom
ο πατέρας μου – my father
η αδελφή σου – your sister
ο αδελφός μας – our brother

So after the preposition με (with), we put that phrase in the accusative:

με τη μαμά μου – with my mom
(preposition με
- article τη
  - noun μαμά
    - clitic μου)

Leaving out the article (με μαμά μου) sounds ungrammatical or at best very odd in standard Greek.

Why is it τη μαμά and not την μαμά?

The “full” accusative feminine article is την. However, in modern Greek, the final -ν is often dropped before many consonants in speech and informal writing.

Rule of thumb: την → τη before consonants like μ, π, τ, κ, φ, θ, χ, σ, ξ, ψ (in practice, very often).

So:

με την Άννα (before a vowel or certain consonants, we often keep the ν)
με τη μαμά μου (the ν is dropped before μ)

Both την μαμά and τη μαμά are understandable, but τη μαμά μου is the most natural spelling in modern informal writing and matches how people usually speak.

Why is the possessive μου placed after μαμά and not before, like in English?

Greek possessive pronouns (my, your, his, etc.) are clitics that normally come after the noun:

η μαμά μου – my mom
το σπίτι σου – your house
το βιβλίο του – his book

You can’t say η μου μαμά in modern Greek; that sounds very wrong.

Word order in these combinations is fixed:

article + noun + possessive, e.g. η φίλη μου, ο δάσκαλός μου, η μαμά μου.

So in the sentence, με τη μαμά μου is the standard way to say with my mom.

What does στο σαλόνι literally mean, and how is it formed?

στο σαλόνι means in the living room.

It is formed from:

σε (in, at, on) + το (the, neuter accusative) → στο

So:

σε + το σαλόνι → στο σαλόνι = in/at the living room

This contraction is very common:

σε + το → στο (neuter)
σε + τον → στον (masculine)
σε + την → στη(ν) (feminine)

Because σαλόνι is neuter, we use το → στο σαλόνι.

Why is σαλόνι neuter and not feminine like many room words (η κουζίνα, η κρεβατοκάμαρα)?

Noun gender in Greek is largely lexical (you just have to learn it with each word), not always logically tied to meaning.

Some room words:

η κουζίνα – the kitchen (feminine)
το σαλόνι – the living room (neuter)
το δωμάτιο – the room (neuter)
η κρεβατοκάμαρα – the bedroom (feminine)

So σαλόνι happens to be neuter and takes το in all cases where the article is needed:

το σαλόνι – the living room
στο σαλόνι – in the living room

Does κάνω here mean “I am chatting right now” or “I usually chat in the evening”?

In this context, Το βράδυ κάνω κουβέντα… is best understood as a habitual action:

In the evening I (usually / generally) have a chat with my mom in the living room.

Greek uses the present simple (κάνω) for:

actions happening right now
and regular / habitual actions

If you wanted to clearly talk about this specific evening, you might say:

Απόψε το βράδυ θα κάνω κουβέντα με τη μαμά μου στο σαλόνι.
Tonight I’m going to have a chat with my mom in the living room.

Can I change the word order, for example: Το βράδυ στο σαλόνι κάνω κουβέντα με τη μαμά μου?

Yes. Greek word order is fairly flexible, especially with adverbial phrases like time and place.

All of these are grammatically correct, with slightly different emphasis:

Το βράδυ κάνω κουβέντα με τη μαμά μου στο σαλόνι.
Το βράδυ στο σαλόνι κάνω κουβέντα με τη μαμά μου.
Στο σαλόνι το βράδυ κάνω κουβέντα με τη μαμά μου.

The basic information stays the same. Native speakers often put time and place early in the sentence, but the given version is very natural.

Is the sentence formal or informal? Would I say this in polite conversation?

The sentence is informal / neutral, not especially formal.

Reasons:

μαμά is an informal, affectionate word for mom (more formal would be μητέρα).
κάνω κουβέντα sounds like a relaxed chat rather than a formal discussion (συζητάω can sound a bit more formal in some contexts).

You would typically say this when talking about your daily life to friends, family, or in casual conversation. In a more formal context, you might adjust the vocabulary:

Το βράδυ συζητάω με τη μητέρα μου στο σαλόνι.
(still not extremely formal, but a bit more neutral / polite in tone)