Η κηδεία είναι αύριο.

A rough English-style pronunciation is:

ee kyi-THEE-a EE-ne AV-rio

A few notes:

• Η sounds like ee
• κηδεία is roughly kyi-THEE-a; the κ before η sounds a bit softer than a plain English k
• είναι is EE-ne
• αύριο is AV-rio

If you use a simpler approximation, ee kee-THEE-a EE-ne AV-rio is close enough for many beginner situations.

Because in Modern Greek, the letter η is a vowel, not a consonant. It is called eta, and it is pronounced ee.

So in this sentence, Η is not an h sound at all. It is the feminine singular definite article, and it sounds like ee.

η means the here. Greek uses the definite article very often, sometimes even more often than English does.

In this sentence, η κηδεία means the funeral. The article shows that we are talking about a specific funeral, not funerals in general.

Also, η tells you important grammar information:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

The clearest clue in this sentence is the article η, which is the feminine singular form of the.

So even if you did not know the noun yet, η κηδεία tells you that κηδεία is feminine.

Also, many Greek nouns ending in -α are feminine, although that is not a perfect rule for every noun.

It is nominative singular.

Why? Because κηδεία is the subject of the verb είναι. The sentence is structured like:

Η κηδεία = the subject
είναι = is
αύριο = tomorrow

So η κηδεία is in the nominative, which is the normal case for the subject of a sentence.

είναι is the 3rd person singular present form of είμαι, which means to be.

So it means is here.

A useful point: είναι does not change for masculine, feminine, or neuter.
So:

• Αυτός είναι = he is
• Αυτή είναι = she is
• Αυτό είναι = it is

The gender changes elsewhere in the sentence, not in είναι itself.

Because αύριο is an adverb meaning tomorrow.

Greek often uses time words like this directly, without needing a preposition such as on or in. English does the same with tomorrow.

So:

• σήμερα = today
• αύριο = tomorrow
• χθες / χτες = yesterday

In this sentence, αύριο simply tells you when the funeral is.

Yes. Greek word order is more flexible than English word order.

The sentence Η κηδεία είναι αύριο is a neutral, natural way to say it.

But you can also say:

Αύριο είναι η κηδεία.

That puts more emphasis on tomorrow.

So both are possible, but they may sound slightly different in focus:

• Η κηδεία είναι αύριο = neutral statement
• Αύριο είναι η κηδεία = emphasis on the time

This is a very common learner question. In Modern Greek, several different letters or letter combinations can sound like ee.

For example:

• η
• ι
• υ
• ει
• οι
• υι

In this sentence:

• η in Η sounds like ee
• εί in είναι also sounds like ee
• η and εί in κηδεία also contribute to that same general vowel sound pattern

Why are they written differently, then?
Because Greek spelling preserves older historical distinctions, even though in Modern pronunciation many of these now sound the same.

So yes, the spelling is different, even when the pronunciation is similar.

The accent marks show which syllable is stressed.

In this sentence:

• κηδεία is stressed on the -δεί- / -δί- part
• είναι is stressed on the first syllable
• αύριο is stressed on the first syllable

The accent is important in Greek because it tells you how to pronounce the word correctly.

One extra note: in αύριο, the αυ is pronounced av here, so the word sounds like AV-rio, not a-oo-rio.

Normally, in standard Greek, no. You should keep είναι.

So the normal full sentence is:

Η κηδεία είναι αύριο.

In very informal notes, headlines, or certain spoken shortcuts, Greek may sometimes omit words that are understood from context, but for a learner, the safe and correct choice is to include είναι.

If you want a slightly different natural wording, you could also hear:

Αύριο είναι η κηδεία.
or
Η κηδεία γίνεται αύριο.

The second version means something like The funeral takes place tomorrow.