Μαθαίνοντας Ελληνικά - Μια Αναρρίχηση

in progress

Greek (Modern Greek: Ελληνικά, [eliniˈka]; Ancient Greek: Ἑλληνική) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records.¹

Continued updating of this post is a long-term project, one that may span several years on my learning journey. The title, Μαθαίνοντας Ελληνικά - Μια Αναρρίχηση, means Learning Greek - A Climb. Of course, "Greek" refers specifically to modern Greek here, as distinct from Classical, Koine, or Medieval Greek.

The end of the Medieval Greek period and the beginning of Modern Greek is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary.²

Some relevant and useful resources I access, in Chinese or English, are as follows:

• 初级现代希腊语 (Elementary Modern Greek)³
• 零起点希腊语语法轻松学 (Easy Greek Grammar for Beginners)⁴
• 希腊语口语入门 (Introduction to Spoken Greek)⁵
• 拉丁语和希腊语 (Latin and Greek)⁶
• Greek and English Proverbs⁷
• some translation tools and knowledge base websites
  (for example, Modern Greek Conjugation in all tenses | Conjugate Modern Greek verbs)
• some (electronic or paper-based) Greek dictionaries
  (for example, Collins Greek Dictionary: Essential Edition, Amazon.com Books)

Part 1

Alphabet and Pronunciation of Letters

There are 24 letters in the Greek alphabet. The letter σ appears only at the beginning or in the middle of a word, while the letter ς is used at the end of a word exclusively. There is an alternative character form, $\phi$ , for the lowercase φ, which is typically used as an independent symbol.

Throughout antiquity, Greek had only a single uppercase form of each letter. It was written without diacritics and with little punctuation. By the 9th century, Byzantine scribes had begun to employ the lowercase form, which they derived from the cursive styles of the uppercase letters.⁸

Combined Pronunciation and Diacritics

Someone might notice that, for common vowel pronunciations, there are several Greek letters pronounced [i], but none pronounced [u]. Additionally, there are

• The combination ου is pronounced [u].
• The combination ει and οι are pronounced [i].
• The combination αι is pronounced [e].
• The combination αυ is pronounced [af] or [av], and the combination ευ is pronounced [ef] or [ev], depending on the following sound. If the combination appears at the end of the word or is followed by one of the letters κ, π, τ, ξ, φ, θ, σ, χ, or ψ, it is pronounced as [af] and [ef], respectively. Otherwise, if the following letter is a vowel or one of β, γ, δ, ζ, λ, μ, ν, or ρ, it is pronounced as [av] and [ev], respectively.

by vowels and

• The combination γγ and γκ are pronounced [g]. At the beginning of a word, only γκ can be used.
• The combination μπ is pronounced [b] or [mb].
• The combination ντ is pronounced [d] or [nd].
• The combination τζ is pronounced [dz].
• The combination τσ is pronounced [ts].

by consonants.

Moreover, the pronunciation of double consonants (ββ, κκ, λλ, μμ, νν, ππ, ρρ, σσ, ττ) sound the same as their single consonants while the only exception is γγ.

In Modern Greek phonology, the simplified monotonic (compared to the polytonic system) orthography uses only two diacritical marks: the single accent (or tonos) (´) and the diaeresis (¨).

• The single accent is placed over a vowel (e.g., ά) or the second vowel of a combined pronunciation (e.g., ού) to indicate stress in a word.
• The diaeresis appears on the letters ι and υ (i.e., ϊ and ϋ) to show that a pair of vowel letters is pronounced separately, breaking a potential diphthong.

The diaeresis may combine with the accent (e.g., αΐ).

Punctuation

• Comma (κόμμα) ,
• Period (τελεία) .
• Colon (διπλή τελεία) :
• Semicolon (άνω τελεία) ·
• Question Mark (ερωτηματικό) ;
• Exclamation Mark (θαυμαστικό) !
• Quotation Marks (εισαγωγικά) « »
• Parentheses (παρένθεση) ( )

Some of the above are similar to those used in English, while others are represented differently. These punctuation marks are a modern development, that is, ancient Greek had none.

Part 2

Essential Communication Expressions

Greeting

Formal greetings:

• Γεια σας.
• Καλημέρα σας.
• Καλησπέρα σας.

Informal greetings:

• Γεια σου.
• Γεια.
• Καλημέρα.
• Καλησπέρα.

When talking to strangers, elders, or people being respected, use the second-person plural form for verbs and pronouns.

• Πολύ καλά ευχαριστώ. Εσείς;

Basic Words

• τεράστιος/τεράστια/τεράστιο  huge,enormous (m/f/n)

Part 3

Grammar

Part 4

Expanded Vocabulary by Topic

Χρώματα

• άσπρο  white
• μαύρο  black
• γκρι  grey
• κόκκινο  red
• πράσινο  green
• μπλε  blue
• κυανό  cyan
• κίτρινο  yellow
• ματζέντα  magenta
• μωβ  purple
• ροζ  pink
• καφέ  brown
• πορτοκαλί  orange

Τρόφιμα

• αγγούρι  cucumber
• λεμόνι  lemon

Αριθμητικά

• μηδέν  0,zero
• ένας/μία-μια⁹/ένα  1,one (m/f/n)
• δύο-δυο  2,two
• τρεις/τρεις/τρία  3,three (m/f/n)
• τέσσερις/τέσσερις/τέσσερα  4,four (m/f/n)
• πέντε  5,five
• έξι  6,six
• εφτά-επτά  7,seven (normal-formal)
• οχτώ-οκτώ  8,eight (normal-formal)
• εννιά-εννέα  9,nine (normal-formal)
• δέκα  10,ten
• έντεκα  11,eleven
• δώδεκα  12,twelve
• δεκατρείς/δεκατρείς/δεκατρία  13,thirteen (m/f/n)
• δεκατέσσερις/δεκατέσσερις/δεκατέσσερα  14,fourteen (m/f/n)
• δεκαπέντε  15,fifteen
• δεκαέξι-δεκάξι  16,sixteen
• δεκαεφτά-δεκαεπτά  17,seventeen
• δεκαοχτώ-δεκαοκτώ  18,eighteen
• δεκαεννιά-δεκαεννέα  19,nineteen
• είκοσι  20,twenty
• είκοσι ένας/μία/ένα  21,twenty-one
• είκοσι δύο  22,twenty-two
• είκοσι τρεις/τρεις/τρία  23,twenty-three
• είκοσι τέσσερις/τέσσερις/τέσσερα  24,twenty-four
• είκοσι πέντε  25,twenty-five
• τριάντα  30,thirty
• σαράντα  40,forty
• πενήντα  50,fifty
• εξίντα  60,sixty
• εβδομλήντα  70,seventy
• ογδόντα  80,eighty
• ενενήντα  90,ninety
• εκατό  100,hundred
• διακόσιοι/διακόσιες/διακόσια  200,two hundred (m/f/n)
• τριακόσιοι/τριακόσιες/τριακόσια  300,three hundred (m/f/n)
• τετρακόσιοι/τετρακόσιες/τετρακόσια  400,four hundred (m/f/n)
• πεντακόσιοι/πεντακόσιες/πεντακόσια  500,five hundred (m/f/n)
• εξακόσιοι/εξακόσιες/εξακόσια  600,six hundred (m/f/n)
• εφτακόσιοι/εφτακόσιες/εφτακόσια  700,seven hundred (m/f/n)
• οχτακόσιοι/οχτακόσιες/οχτακόσια  800,eight hundred (m/f/n)
• εννιακόσιοι/εννιακόσιες/εννιακόσια  900,nine hundred (m/f/n)
• χίλιοι/χίλιες/χίλια  1000,thousand (m/f/n)
• δύο χιλιάδες  2000,two thousand (f)
• τρεις χιλιάδες  3000,three thousand (f)
• τρεις χιλιάδες τρεις/τρεις χιλιάδες τρεις/τρεις χιλιάδες τρία  3003,three thousand and three (m/f/n)
• τρεις χιλιάδες τριακόσιοι/τρεις χιλιάδες τριακόσιες/τρεις χιλιάδες τριακόσια  3300,three thousand and three hundred (m/f/n)
• τριακόσιες χιλιάδες  300000,three hundred thousand (f)
• ένα εκατομμύριο  1000000,million (n)
• τρία εκατομμύρια  3000000,three million (n)
• τρία εκατομμύρια τριακόσιοι/τρία εκατομμύρια τριακόσιες/τρία εκατομμύρια τριακόσια  3000300,three million and three hundred (m/f/n)

When using numbers alone, like reading out a phone number, use the neutral form.

Ordinal numbers follow the same formation rules as adjectives, and they have three grammatical genders.

• πρώτος/πρώτη/πρώτο  1^st,first (m/f/n)
• δεύτερος/δεύτερη/δεύτερο  2^nd,second (m/f/n)
• τρίτος/τρίτη/τρίτο  3^rd,third (m/f/n)