Alphabet and Accents

Alphabet
Accents
1. Accent Positions and Enclitics
2. Persistence versus Recession
Punctuation
BONUS: Typing Greek

Alphabet

The ancient Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, either vowels or consonants. Every Greek word must contain at least one vowel sound, whether it consists of a single letter or two letters that form a diphthong (on which see below), and the number of vowel sounds in a word indicates the number of syllables that the word contains.

See this video by Prof. Katie DeBoer on how each of the letters is pronounced, and then reinforce your understanding with the text and exercises that follow:

The 24 letters of the Greek alphabet are as follows:

Letter	Lowercase	Uppercase	Transliteration	Pronunciation
alpha	α	Α	a	ah as in “father”
beta	β	Β	b	b as in “boat”
gamma	γ	Γ	g	hard g as in “goat”
delta	δ	Δ	d	d as in “dog”
epsilon	ε	Ε	e	eh as in “elephant”
zeta	ζ	Ζ	z	zd as in “wisdom” or dz as in “beds”
eta	η	Η	ē	ay as in “fate”
theta	θ	Θ	th	aspirated t as in “table” (unlike the t in “at” or “hot”)
iota	ι	Ι	i	(short) ih as in “him” or (long) ee as in “steel”
kappa	κ	Κ	k	k as in “could”
lambda	λ	Λ	l	l as in “land”
mu	μ	Μ	m	m as in “mouse”
nu	ν	Ν	n	n as in “nail”
xi	ξ	Ξ	x or ks	ks as in “ecstacy” or “axle”
omicron	ο	Ο	o	(short) aw as in “cough”
pi	π	Π	p	p as in “puppy”
rho	ρ	Ρ	rh	rh as in “rhododendron”
sigma	σ (inside word) ς (at word end)	Σ	s	s as in “silly”
tau	τ	Τ	t	t as in “it”
upsilon	υ	Υ	u or y	(short) uh as in “under” or (long) ooh as in “truth”
phi	φ	Φ	ph	aspirated p as in “shepherd”
chi	χ	Χ	kh	aspirated k as in “character”
psi	ψ	Ψ	ps	ps as in “upside”
omega	ω	Ω	ō	oh as in “boat”

And here is a video from Carleton College Classics that shows how to draw each of these characters. The video should begin at 3:19, where the demonstrations of writing each letter begin, but you can optionally watch the first part of the video for some context on the Greek alphabet.

Some ideas to note:

Double gamma

If you see two gammas in a row (γγ), the pronunciation is “ng”. So, for example, φάλαγγος is “phalangos.”

Consonant groups

Note that there are groups of consonants that are related by virtue of where they’re pronounced in the mouth and the shape of the mouth as you pronounce them.

For example, γ (g) is pronounced in the back of the throat, and so are κ (k) and χ (kh). (These are called velar plosives.)
β (b) is pronounced on the lips, and so are π (p) and φ (ph). (These are called labial plosives.)
δ (d) is pronounced with the tongue against the back of the front teeth, and so are θ (th) and τ (t). (These are called dental plosives.)
λ (l) and ρ (rh), unlike the plosives, do not restrict or close the vocal pathway. (These are called liquids.)
μ (m) and ν (n) resonate with air coming through the nose. (These are called nasals.)

It will be useful to keep these groups in mind, especially when we begin talking about sound combinations in later chapters.

Aspiration

There are three aspirated letters: θ, φ, and χ. “Aspirated” comes from the Latin verb aspiro, “to breathe”, so the aspirated letters add a forceful breath (basically a “h” exhalation) to the pronunciation of the core consonant sound: θ = t + h; φ = p + h; χ = k + h.

Double consonants

There are three double consonants: ζ, ξ, and ψ. Each is pronounced as two successive consonant sounds: ζ = z + d or d + z (your choice, though I [Prof. Libatique] will usually default to z + d); ξ = k + s; and ψ = p + s.

Vowel length

The vowels in Greek can be classified as long, short, or either. This length essentially determines how long it takes to pronounce the vowel and what the vowel sounds like.

The vowels that are always short are ε (a short η) and ο (a short ω).
The vowels that are always long are η (a long ε) and ω (a long ο).
The vowels that can be either short or long are α, ι, and υ. Often, if such a vowel’s length matters, you will see a macron (-) over the vowel in question to mark it as long.

Diphthongs

Vowels may also be combined into diphthongs, a single vowel sound composed of multiple vowels. These are the possible diphthongs in Greek:

αι = eye as in “why”
αυ = ow as in “wow”
ει = ay as in “sleigh”
ευ = eh-ooh (no direct equivalence in English)
ηυ = ay-ooh (no direct equivalence in English)
οι = oy as in “toy”
ου = ooh as in “troop”
υι = wee as in “sweet”

Diphthongs are considered long in pronunciation, but there are two specific diphthongs that will count as short for the purpose of accentuation (on which see below): the final -οι or -αι of the 1st and 2nd declension nominative plural. (“1st and 2nd declension nominative plural” will likely not make any sense to you right now – don’t worry, you’ll learn more about it soon!)

Breathing marks

If a Greek word begins with a single vowel or a diphthong, there will be a breathing mark that looks like a comma above the single vowel or the second letter of the diphthong. Sometimes, this breathing mark will be combined with another accent mark, on which see below.

If the open section of the comma faces left, the mark is called a smooth breathing mark, and it doesn’t affect the pronunciation of the vowel. For example, the initial sound of ἄνθρωπος is “ah.”
If the open section of the comma faces right, the mark is called a rough breathing mark, and it adds an “h” sound before the vowel or diphthong. For example, the initial sound of ὑπέρ is “hoo.”

Iota subscript

Occasionally, you will see a small mark underneath α, η, or ω (ᾳ, ῃ, ῳ). These marks are called iota subscripts and technically form diphthongs with the vowel that they occur underneath. Note: the iota does not affect pronunciation of the core vowel, but it is essential to note where the subscript appears, since its appearance can make a word function in a completely different way within a sentence. For example, there is a major difference between the words οἰκία and οἰκίᾳ, as you’ll learn in the chapters to come.

Accents

Ancient Greek utilizes three different accent marks that, like breathing marks, occur over a single vowel (or over the second letter of a diphthong):

the acute, which looks like a forward slash: δείκνυμι.
the circumflex, which looks like an upside-down u (^) or a tilde: ὁδῷ.
the grave, which looks like a back slash: ὁδὸς.

Note that these accent marks can occur in combination with the breathing marks described above. If a breathing mark occurs with an acute or grave, the breathing mark will be to the left and the acute or grave will be to the right: for example, ἄνθρωπος, ἓξ. If a breathing mark occurs with a circumflex, it will be written below the circumflex: for example, ηὗρον, ἦλθον.

According to our best guesses, these accent marks indicated the way that one’s pitch should rise or lower as the word was pronounced. An acute seems to indicate a rise, a grave seems to indicate a drop, and a circumflex seems to indicate a rise followed by a drop in pitch. However, since we do not have any recordings of the ancients pronouncing these words, we cannot be entirely sure of what this pitch modification actually sounded like. Often, modern speakers of ancient Greek words will tend to stress the syllable on which the accent (whatever accent it is) falls, rather than modifying the pitch. So, for example, in the word ἄνθρωπος, the stress falls on the first syllable: AN-throw-pos; but in the word λεγομένου, the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable: leh-goh-MEH-noo.

Accent Positions and Enclitics

Accents can, however, help us disambiguate between different forms of words, so it can be important to know what they look like and where they can fall within a word. So, note the following general rules (though exceptions abound and will be noted in the coming chapters):

An accent can only ever fall on one of the last three syllables of a word:
- the final syllable (the ultima, from Latin ultimus, “last”)
- the second-to-last syllable (the penult, from Latin paene + ultimus, “almost last”)
- or the third-to-last syllable (the antepenult, from Latin ante + paene + ultimus, “before the almost-last”)
An acute can appear over any of the three syllables. For example, ἄνθρωπος; κελεύω; ψυχή.
A circumflex can appear only over the penult or the ultima and only over long vowels or diphthongs. For example: ψυχῇ, ποιεῖτο; ὧς.
A grave can appear only over an ultima. For example: ψυχὴ.
- The grave usually occurs when an acute falls on the ultima of a word that is followed immediately by another word that is not an enclitic (on which see below); in such a case, the acute becomes a grave. If the word in question is followed by a punctuation mark or an enclitic, however, the accent remains an acute. So, notice where the graves occur (and where they don’t) in the following sentence: ἰσχυραὶ ἡ οἰκία καὶ ἡ ψυχή. “The household and the soul are strong.”

An enclitic is a word or syllable that affects the accentuation of the word that precedes it according to the following rules:

If the word that precedes the enclitic has an acute or grave on the ultima, that accent will remain or become acute. For example, ἡ ψυχή γε (rather than the expected ἡ ψυχὴ γε).
If the word that precedes the enclitic has either: an acute on the antepenult OR a circumflex on the penult, OR if the word that precedes the enclitic is a monosyllable (one-syllable word) with no accent, the enclitic will add an acute to the ultima of the preceding word. For example, ποιεῖτό τι; ἄνθρωποί τινες; εἴ τις.
If the word that precedes the enclitic has a circumflex on the ultima, no change occurs.
If the word that precedes the enclitic has an acute on the penult, no change occurs to the preceding word, BUT if the enclitic has two syllables, the enclitic itself receives an acute or grave on its ultima, according to normal rules. For example: ἀκούονται λόγοι τινές. BUT λόγοι τινὲς ἀκούονται. “Some words are heard.” If the enclitic is monosyllabic (one syllable long), then no change occurs.

Persistence versus Recession

Accents may or may not occupy different positions in the same word across its different inflections, and accents can sometimes change entirely from acutes to circumflexes, etc. Here are some general rules for your information, but keep in mind that we will reinforce and augment these rules as the year wears on; do not worry if they don’t make total sense right now.

An accent is persistent if it wants to occupy the same syllable of the word (antepenult, penult, or ultima) in all of its inflected forms. This is the case for all nouns and adjectives, including most participles.
- If a word is accented with an acute on the antepenult and its ultima is long (either a long vowel or a diphthong), the accent will be pulled to the penult. So, note for example the position of the accent in Κύκλωπος versus its position in Κυκλώπων.
- If a word is accented with an acute on a long penult (either a long vowel or a diphthong) but its ultima is short (either a short vowel or the final diphthong -οι or -αι), then that acute will transform into a circumflex. So, note for example the acute on πείρᾳ but the circumflex on πεῖραι.
An accent is recessive if it wants to occupy the antepenult in a word with three or more syllables or the penult in a two-syllable word. This is the case for most verbal forms, though there will be exceptions that we’ll note in the chapters to follow.
- The same two rules of moving accents listed above under persistent accents apply to recessive accents too.

Punctuation

A quick note about punctuation. In the Greek texts that you will encounter, there are four punctuation marks that will help you understand how to group clauses together and understand the flow of a passage, two familiar from English and two that will look quite different.

A period completes an independent thought: .
A comma separates elements of a list: ,
A middle dot, like a semi-colon, separates independent clauses but less strongly than a period: ·
A question mark turns a thought into a question: ;

Note that the Greek question mark looks like (but does not function like) the English semi-colon.

BONUS: Typing Greek

Because of the breathing and accent systems, typing ancient Greek is not necessarily as easy as typing English. If you would prefer to type up assignments rather than handwrite, though, a great resource at the intro level is typegreek.com. Using this entry box and the site’s alphabet key, you should be able to type what you want in Latin letters and punctuation marks, and then you can copy and paste the transformed text into your document or submission box on Blackboard.

If you intend to progress in ancient Greek beyond the intro level, I would recommend learning about ancient Greek keyboards that you can use on your computer to type ancient Greek directly, rather than needing to go to typegreek.com and copying and pasting. The specific keyboard(s) that you can use, however, will depend on whether you’re using a Mac or a Windows computer:

For Mac users, I would recommend looking into Sophokeys Polytonic Greek.
Windows users can use the native Greek polytonic keyboard. See this guide for Windows systems before Windows 10 and this guide for Windows 10 in particular.