What is the correct syntax for ‘else if’?

I’m a new Python programmer who is making the leap from 2.6.4 to 3.1.1. Everything has gone fine until I tried to use the ‘else if’ statement. The interpreter gives me a syntax error after the ‘if’ in ‘else if’ for a reason I can’t seem to figure out.

def function(a):
    if a == '1':
        print ('1a')
    else if a == '2'
        print ('2a')
    else print ('3a')

function(input('input:'))

I’m probably missing something very simple; however, I haven’t been able to find the answer on my own.