Learn Hardcore Greek: Τα παιδιά παίζουν στην παιδική χαρά, κάνουν κούνια και τσουλήθρα, κι εγώ προσέχω αν είναι όλα ασφαλή. - The children play in the playground, use the swings and the slide, and I watch to see if everything is safe.

The ending changes from -ί to -ιά in the plural.
The stress moves: παι-ΔΙ → παι-ΔΙ-α (παιδιά, still stressed on the last syllable, which has become “-διά”).
This pattern (-ί → -ιά) is very common with neuter nouns:
- το κερί → τα κεριά (candle → candles)
- το σπίτι → τα σπίτια (house → houses)

So παιδιά is just the regular neuter plural form of παιδί.

Why is it παίζουν here, and does it mean “play” or “are playing”?

Παίζουν is the 3rd person plural, present tense of παίζω (to play).

(αυτά) παίζουν = they play / they are playing

Modern Greek does not have a separate continuous tense like English “are playing”. The present tense covers both:

Τα παιδιά παίζουν.
= The children play.
also = The children are playing.

Context decides whether you understand it as a habitual action or something happening right now. Here, from the rest of the sentence, it’s clearly “are playing” now.

What exactly is στην in παίζουν στην παιδική χαρά?

Στην is a contraction of the preposition σε (in, at, on, to) plus the feminine singular article την:

σε + την = στην

So literally:
παίζουν σε την παιδική χαρά → παίζουν στην παιδική χαρά
= they are playing at the playground.

Other common contractions:

σε + τον = στον (to the/at the, masculine)
σε + το = στο (to the/at the, neuter)

So whenever you see στην, you can think “in/at the” followed by a feminine singular noun in the accusative.

Why is it παιδική χαρά and what does this phrase literally mean?

Παιδική χαρά is the standard Greek term for “playground.”

Literally:

παιδική = childish / children’s (feminine singular adjective from παιδικός, -ή, -ό)
χαρά = joy (feminine noun)

So παιδική χαρά literally means “children’s joy”, but as a fixed phrase it means “playground.”

Grammar point:

The noun χαρά is feminine, so the adjective must agree:
- feminine singular: παιδική χαρά
- you cannot say παιδικό χαρά (neuter) or παιδικός χαρά (masculine).

In στην παιδική χαρά, both παιδική and χαρά are in the feminine accusative singular (because of σε), and the article την is hidden inside στην.

Why do we say κάνουν κούνια and κάνουν τσουλήθρα? What is κάνουν doing here?

In Greek, some activities are expressed with κάνω + noun, literally “do + [activity]”. Here:

κάνω κούνια = to swing (on a swing)
κάνω τσουλήθρα = to slide (on a slide)

So:

κάνουν κούνια = they are swinging
κάνουν τσουλήθρα = they are going down the slide

Κάνουν is the 3rd person plural of κάνω (to do/make), used to turn the nouns κούνια (swing) and τσουλήθρα (slide) into verb-like expressions.

You cannot just say παίζουν κούνια or παίζουν τσουλήθρα in the same way; the natural idiom is κάνω κούνια / κάνω τσουλήθρα.

Why is it κι εγώ and not και εγώ?

Κι and και are the same word: “and.”

και is the normal full form.
κι is a phonetic variant used before a vowel sound (or sometimes κ) to make pronunciation smoother.

In κι εγώ:

και εγώ would be a bit awkward to say quickly because of the sequence -ι ε-.
So in speech, Greeks naturally say κι εγώ, and the spelling reflects that.

You can think of it like English “and I” vs. informal “’n I” — same meaning, just easier to say. In writing, κι εγώ is perfectly standard in this context.

Why do we explicitly say εγώ here? Could we omit it?

Greek is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending shows who the subject is.

Προσέχω. by itself already means I watch / I pay attention.

So grammatically, you could say:

… και προσέχω αν είναι όλα ασφαλή.

However, in the sentence … κι εγώ προσέχω αν είναι όλα ασφαλή, εγώ adds a nuance of contrast/emphasis:

The children are doing their thing (Τα παιδιά παίζουν…),
and I (for my part) am watching out.

So εγώ is used here for emphasis: and I am the one keeping an eye on their safety.

What does προσέχω mean here, and how is it used grammatically?

Προσέχω has several related meanings:

to pay attention
to watch out / be careful
to look after / take care of
to notice

In this sentence:

κι εγώ προσέχω αν είναι όλα ασφαλή
= and I watch / keep an eye to see if everything is safe.

Grammatically:

προσέχω is 1st person singular present tense.
It can take a direct object:
- Προσέχω τα παιδιά. = I look after the children.
Or it can be followed by a clause with αν here:
- Προσέχω αν είναι όλα ασφαλή. = I check / pay attention to whether everything is safe.

So it’s like saying “I’m keeping watch” or “I’m monitoring” their safety.

What is the role of αν in αν είναι όλα ασφαλή?

Αν here means “if / whether” and introduces a subordinate clause:

αν είναι όλα ασφαλή = if (whether) everything is safe.

In this sentence it functions like English “whether”:

Προσέχω αν είναι όλα ασφαλή.
= I pay attention to whether everything is safe.

Notes:

αν is the common, everyday form; εάν is a more formal or emphatic version.
αν can introduce:
- conditionals: Αν βρέξει, δεν θα πάμε. (If it rains, we won’t go.)
- indirect yes/no questions: Δεν ξέρω αν θα έρθει. (I don’t know whether he will come.)

Here it’s the second use: an indirect yes/no question inside the verb προσέχω.

Why is it όλα and not όλοι in αν είναι όλα ασφαλή?

Όλα is the neuter plural form of όλος and is used here in a pronoun-like way to mean “everything / all (things)”.

όλο (neuter singular) = all of it / the whole (thing)
όλα (neuter plural) = all (things) / everything

By contrast:

όλοι = masculine plural = all (people) / everyone
όλες = feminine plural

In our sentence, we are talking about all the things that could affect safety (equipment, situation, etc.), not about people, so the neuter όλα is correct:

αν είναι όλα ασφαλή = if everything is safe.

If you were speaking about people, you’d use όλοι:

Αν είναι όλοι ασφαλείς. = If they are all safe (all the people are safe).

Why is the adjective ασφαλή used here, and why does it look like a plural?

Ασφαλή is the neuter plural form of the adjective ασφαλής (safe).

The adjective ασφαλής has the pattern:

Singular:
- masc/fem: ασφαλής
- neuter: ασφαλές
Plural:
- masc/fem: ασφαλείς
- neuter: ασφαλή

In αν είναι όλα ασφαλή:

The subject of είναι is όλα (neuter plural).
Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun/pronoun they describe.
So you need the neuter plural form: ασφαλή.

Even though English says:

everything is safe (singular verb and adjective),

Greek treats όλα as plural (all things), so:

όλα είναι ασφαλή = all (things) are safe / everything is safe.

The verb είναι doesn’t show the difference (it’s the same in singular and plural), but the adjective ασφαλή clearly shows it’s neuter plural.