Key Modern Greek sounds, diphthongs, and stress patterns beyond the alphabet basics, with plain-English pronunciation notes. Front: the Greek letter, sound, or word with romanization in parentheses. Back: meaning plus a plain-English pronunciation note.
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- Θ θ (Thita)
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The 'th' sound as in English 'think', not like a 't' or 'f', as in 'θάλασσα' (thálassa, sea).- Δ δ (Delta)
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The soft 'th' sound as in English 'this', not a hard 'd', as in 'δρόμος' (drómos, road).- Χ χ (Chi)
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A harsh, breathy 'h' sound made in the back of the throat, similar to Scottish 'loch', as in 'χέρι' (chéri, hand).- Γ γ before a, o, u
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A soft, breathy 'gh' sound, almost like a Spanish soft 'g', as in 'γάτα' (gáta, cat).- Γ γ before e, i
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Sounds like an English 'y', as in 'γη' (yi, earth).- Ψ ψ (Psi)
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Always the consonant cluster 'ps', as in English 'lapse', pronounced together as one sound, as in 'ψωμί' (psomí, bread).- Ξ ξ (Xi)
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Always the consonant cluster 'ks', as in English 'box', as in 'ξένος' (xénos, stranger).- Λ λ (Lambda)
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A clear, light 'l' sound, similar to the 'l' in English 'light'.- Ρ ρ (Ro)
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A lightly rolled or tapped 'r', similar to Spanish 'r' in 'pero', not the English retroflex r.- Diphthong ΑΙ (ai)
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Pronounced like the 'e' in English 'bet', as in 'παιδί' (paidí, child), not like the word 'eye'.- Diphthong ΕΙ (ei)
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Pronounced like a long 'i' as in English 'see', as in 'είναι' (eínai, is/are).- Diphthong ΟΙ (oi)
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Also pronounced like 'ee' as in 'see', identical to 'ει', 'η', 'υ', and 'ι'.- Iotacism
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Modern Greek has five different letters and letter combinations (η, ι, υ, ει, οι) that are all pronounced the same 'ee' sound, a phenomenon called iotacism.- Diphthong ΟΥ (ou)
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Pronounced like 'oo' in English 'moon', as in 'ούζο' (oúzo).- Diphthong ΑΥ (av/af)
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Pronounced as 'av' before a voiced sound or 'af' before a voiceless sound, as in 'αυτοκίνητο' (aftokínito, car), which uses the 'af' variant.
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