Modern Greek/Lesson 01.2

This is the second section of lesson 1, on the modern Greek alphabet. The last section covered the 6 letters with the same form and pronunciation as Latin letters: Α, α - alpha, Ε, ε - epsilon, Ι, ι - iota, Κ, κ - kappa, Ο, ο - omicron, Τ, τ - tau This section covers the 12 letters with sounds used in the Latin alphabet, but with different written forms in Greek. Letter English Name Greek Name Pronunciation Β β beta βήτα /v/ as in victory Ζ ζ zeta ζήτα /z/ as in Zeus Η η eta ήτα /i/ as in pantheism Λ λ lambda λάμδα /l/ as in Lesbos Μ μ mu μι /m/ as in Mediterranean Ν ν nu νι /n/ as in nautical Π π pi πι /p/ as in paraphrase Ρ ρ rho ρο / r, ɾ / as in the Spanish word "pero or perro"• Σ σ ς sigma σίγμα /s/ as in soap Υ υ upsilon ύψιλον /i/ as in theology Φ φ phi φι /f/ as in feta Ω ω omega ωμέγα /o/ as in scope Notes: Β,β is always a strong “V” sound. There is no single letter in Greek with the ‘b’ sound. The sound “b”, in Greek, is written with the diphthong ( two letters pronounced with a unique sound) μπ, which will be covered in a later section. Ρ,ρ makes the sound of a "tapped or trilled r". Both are made by vibrating your tongue against the roof of your mouth along the back of your front teeth. A "tapped r" is made by doing this only one time while a "trilled r" is made by holding the vibration. In Greek there isn't a difference if you make a trilled or tapped r", the speaker can do either. There are some people that can't perform this sound due to genetic factors. The diphthong "ντ" sounds like /d/ or /nd/, such as in αντίο /aˈdio/ and Βυζάντιο /viˈzandio/. Read the following Greek words, which are the same or similar to common English words (ο, η, το, all mean “the”): η μαμά, η Κίνα, τρία, το άτομο, η μονοτονία, το μωβ, ο Νίκος, η πέννα, το φύλλο, ο καφέ, η ταβέρνα, το βιβλίο, η Ασία, ο παπά, το πάρκο, η Μαρία, η Άννα, ο Κώστας, ο Αλέκος, η Αμερική More Examples Ν ν Greek Transliteration English ΝΑΤΟ NATO North AtlanticTreaty Organisation Άννα Ánna Anna Ιράν Irán Iran Κίνα Kína China Τίρανα Tírana Tirana Ανόι Anói Hanoi Μ μ Greek Transliteration English μαμά mamá mom Μαρόκο Maróko Morocco Ομάν Omán Oman Αμμάν Ammán Amman Μαρκ Mark Mark Μαρία María Μaria Μόνικα Mónika Monika αρμονία armonía harmony άτομο átomo atom μονοτονία monotonía monotony Ε ε Greek Transliteration English Αρμενία Armenía Armenia Κορέα Koréa Korea Κάρμεν Kármen Karmen Κατερίνα Katerína Catherine κέικ kéik cake κρέμα kréma creme κάμερα kámera camera Λ λ Greek Transliteration English αλκοόλ alkoól alcohol κιλό kiló kilo (kilogram) Ιταλία Italía Italy καραμέλα karaméla caramel