Σήμερα έπαιξαν με πλαστελίνη και μετά ζωγράφισαν με νερομπογιές.

Both verbs are in the aorist, which is a very common Greek past tense.

• έπαιξαν = they played
• ζωγράφισαν = they drew / they painted

In this sentence, the aorist presents the actions as completed events: first they played with plasticine, and then they painted with watercolors.

They are both 3rd person plural forms, so they mean they played and they painted.

That is why Greek does not need a separate word for they here. The verb ending already shows the subject.

Greek often leaves out subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb ending. This is very normal.

So instead of saying:

• Αυτοί έπαιξαν... = They played...

Greek usually just says:

• Έπαιξαν... = They played...

The pronoun αυτοί would only be added for emphasis or contrast.

Σήμερα means today, but that does not force the verb to be in the present.

It can refer to something that happened earlier today. So the sentence means something like:

• Today, they played with plasticine and then painted with watercolors.

This is completely natural in both Greek and English.

Here με means with, but more specifically using or by means of.

So:

• με πλαστελίνη = with plasticine
• με νερομπογιές = with watercolors

It shows the material or tool involved in the activity.

Because it belongs separately with each phrase:

• έπαιξαν με πλαστελίνη
• ζωγράφισαν με νερομπογιές

In English, we also often repeat with in a similar sentence: They played with plasticine and then painted with watercolors.

Greek repeats με because each verb has its own prepositional phrase.

It is singular.

πλαστελίνη is usually treated like a material or mass noun, similar to English plasticine or sometimes playdough. So Greek naturally says:

• με πλαστελίνη = with plasticine

not a plural form.

νερομπογιές is the plural of νερομπογιά, meaning watercolor paint or watercolor.

Greek often uses the plural here because it refers to the set of paints/colors:

• νερομπογιές = watercolors / watercolor paints

So ζωγράφισαν με νερομπογιές means they painted using watercolor paints.

μετά here means after that, then, or afterwards.

It links the two actions in sequence:

1. Σήμερα έπαιξαν με πλαστελίνη
2. και μετά ζωγράφισαν με νερομπογιές

So it shows that the painting happened after the playing.

That έ- is called the augment, a feature often used in Greek past tenses, especially in the aorist and imperfect.

For example:

• παίζω = I play
• έπαιξαν = they played

The augment often appears when the verb is in a past tense form. It is a common pattern, though not every verb behaves in exactly the same way.

Yes. Greek word order is more flexible than English, because the verb endings and case system give a lot of grammatical information.

For example, this sentence could also appear in slightly different orders for emphasis, such as:

• Σήμερα έπαιξαν με πλαστελίνη και μετά με νερομπογιές ζωγράφισαν.

But the original version is the most straightforward and natural for a learner:

• Σήμερα έπαιξαν με πλαστελίνη και μετά ζωγράφισαν με νερομπογιές.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

SÍ-me-ra É-pek-san me pla-ste-LÍ-ni ke me-TÁ zo-GRÁ-fi-san me ne-ro-bo-YÉS

A few helpful points:

• Σήμερα = SEE-me-ra, with stress on the first syllable
• έπαιξαν sounds roughly like EPEK-san
• και is often pronounced like ke
• ζωγράφισαν has stress on γρά
• νερομπογιές has stress on the last syllable: -γιές

The written accent marks show you where the stress goes.