ABC

Tips and notes

Mini Introduction

Welcome to the Greek course for English speakers! Greek is an independent branch of the
Indo-European language family. It has the longest documented history of any existing Indo-
European language. From antiquity to present the language has presented many important
changes resulting in its current form. Modern Greek (the language of our course) is spoken
by 13 million people, it is the official language of Greece and one of the official languages of
the Republic of Cyprus and the European Union.

The main scope of this section is to familiarize the learner with the Greek alphabet.

The word ''alphabet'' comes from the first two letters of the Greek Alphabet, alpha and beta
( and ). The Greek Alphabet has 24 letters, which are the same with Classical Greek.
However, their pronunciation is completely different.

The alphabet

Upper Case-Lower Case Name earest pronunciation

- Alpha A like Ant

- Veeta V like Vase

- Gama like Woman

- Delta like THe

- Epsilon E like Element

- Zeeta Z like Zoo

-* Eeta EE like sEE

- Theeta TH like THing

-* Iota EE like sEE

Upper Case-Lower Case Name earest pronunciation

- Kapa K like Cow

- Lambda L like Lemon

- Mee M like Mother

- Nee N like North

- Ksee X like foX

-* Omicron O like Organ

- Pee P like Pet

- Rho R like Rhapsody

-/* Sigma S like Sit

- Taf T like Table

-* Ypsilon EE like sEE

- Fee F like PHilosopher

- Chee H like Hurry

- Psee PS like liPStick

-* Omega O like Organ

-, - and - have the same pronunciation (''ee'')

- and - have the same proninciation (''o'')

The pronunciations and their examples up are the nearest (not the exact)
pronunciations to Modern Greek. Many letters have many different sounds depending
on the letter that follows.
 Sigma has two different types in the lower case. When it is at the beginning of a
word or inside the word it is written as '''', but when it is at the end of a word it is
written as ''''.

Double vowels

= sounds like E-

= sounds like -, -, -

= sounds just like -, -, -

= sounds just like -, -, - or like ee-ee

= sounds like av or af

= sounds like ev or ef

Accents

Modern Greek has only ONE accent ,that is used above the accented vowels, and it looks
like this: ,, , , , , . The accent ALWAYS goes in one of the three last syllables.
Accents help you give emphasis to the right syllable. E.g. (veevLEEo), ''''
(meeLO) etc.

Capital letters can take accents ONLY in the first letter (if that syllable is accented),
even though it is not necessary. E.g / (Ohee), but (eSEE)

Diphthongs

= sounds like b

= sounds like d

= sounds like g

= sound like ng

= sounds like ts

= sounds like tz

Marks

. = full stop

, = comma

! = exclamatory mark
; = question mark

Basics 1

Tips and notes

A list of verbs used in this skill and variations between conjugations are given below:

be -

drink -

eat -

Definite Articles

Definite articles in Greek are equivalent to the English word ''the'', however, in Greek, they
vary depending on the gender and number of the word that follows.

Greek like Polish, Russian, and many other languages uses 3 genders to describe nouns.
While English though, has the for every gender and number, Greek has six possible
articles.

Number and Gender in Nominative Article Example

Singural masculine = the man

Plural masculine = the men

Singular feminine = the woman

Plural feminine = the women

Singular neuter = the child

Plural neuter = the children

Cases in Masculine and Feminine Gender

Modern Greek has four cases in each number (Nominative, Genitive, Accusative, Vocative).
The suffix shows the changes.
 Cases and Numbers Example Masculine Example Feminine

Nominative singular = the man = the woman

Genitive singular = of the man = of the woman

Accusative singular = the man = the woman

Vocative singular = man = woman

Nominative Plural = the men = the women

Genitive plural = of the men = of the women

Accusative Plural = the men = the women

Vocative Plural =men =women

Cases in Neuter Gender

Cases and Numbers Example Neuter 1 Example Neuter 2

Nominative singular = the child = the book

Genitive singular = of the child = of the book

Accusative singular = the child = the book

Vocative singular = child = book

Nominative Plural = the children = the books

Genitive plural = of the children = of the books

Accusative Plural = the children = the books

Vocative Plural = children = books

ASTERISKS

The word can also be written as . This can happen in all types of this
word, just by replacing the letter with the .