Learn how to write the consonant combinations
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| Hi everybody, this is Stefania! Welcome to GreekPod101.com’s Alfaveeto made easy. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn the Greek alphabet: the alfaveeto! |
| Here we are again with another exotic side of the Greek writing system, but before we look at what is new for today, let me do a very brief recap of what we have learned so far. |
| First of all, the Greek alphabet itself: is 24 letters, some familiar from the English alphabet and some unique. Do you remember them? Let’s go through them once more: |
| “Alpha”, “Veeta”, “Gama”, “Delta”, “Epseelon”, “Zeeta”, “Eeta”, “Theeta”, “Yota”, “Kappa”, “Lamda”, “Mee”, “Nee”, “Ksee”, “Omikron”, “Pee”, “Ro”, “Sigma”, “Taf”, “Ipsilon”, “Fee”, “Hee”, “Psee” and “Omega”. |
| Besides those, we have also learned some double-vowel combinations –we introduced them in our last lesson. These were: |
| * αι: “Alpha”-“Yota”: sounds like “eh” |
| * οι: “Omikron”-“Yota”: sounds like “ee” |
| * ει: “Epsilon”-“Yota”: sounds like “ee” |
| * ου: “Omikron”-“Ipsilon”: sounds like “oo |
| * αυ: “Alpha”-“Ipsilon”: sounds like “av” or “af” |
| * ευ: “Epsilon”-“Ipsilon”: sounds like “ev” or “ef” |
| Do you feel confident about all of this information? Good, because today we will take a look into some double consonant combinations to fill in any sounds missing from your collection! |
| Our first sound, a very common sound in English, is “g” as in “good”. There are two ways to write this using the Greek alphabet, both involving the letter “Gama”. You can either double “Gama” or you can add a “Kappa” next to it –they both make a “g” sound. Two examples, one for each of these combinations are, “άγγελος” meaning “angel,” and “ανάγκη” meaning “need” (the noun, not the verb). Let’s write them together: |
| Άγγελος |
| Ανάγκη |
| You may be wondering when we should write a “g” sound as “Gama”- “Gama” and when as “Gama”-“Kappa”. And the answer would be the dreaded “it depends”. There is no real set rule about that so you just have to learn the spelling of each word as it is. But that’s no different from English, right? |
| Our second sound, also very common in English and other languages, is the “b” sound. For this one, Greek uses a combination of “Mee” and “Pee”, like in the word “μπουκάλι” meaning “bottle”. Did you notice the “oo” double vowel sound we learned in the last lesson? |
| μπουκάλι |
| How about the “d” sound as in “dear”. Is there a way to write this in Greek? Of course there is! In Modern Greek the “d” sound comes from putting together “Nee” and “Taf”. A very common ingredient used in Greek cuisine is “ντομάτα” which as you might have guessed means “tomato” and is written like this: |
| ντομάτα |
| Two more and we are through! The next sound is “ts” as in “tsunami” –there are many words using this sound and to form it, we use a combination of “Taf” and “Seegma”. Since we were talking about “ντομάτα” before, a good sample word is “παστίτσιο”, a very tasty Greek pasta dish. How do we write it? |
| παστίτσιο |
| There is one more reason I picked “pastitsio”: it is a very good exercise because it also contains the “Taf”-“Seegma” combination in reverse. In this case, “Seegma” and “Taf” are read as they are so you have the chance to notice how they change when you put them in a different order. “Seegma”-“Taf” is “st” as in “standard” but “Taf”-“Seegma” is “ts” as in “tsunami”. Got it? |
| Last one, and that will be it for this lesson. It is the “t-z” sound. “Tz!” For this we also use “Taf” but this time combined with “Zeeta”. This may be a new sound for English speakers, but you can hear it in the word “τζάκι” meaning fireplace. Let’s write it together, shall we? |
| τζάκι |
| That’s it! Too much? If it feels like that, just keep practicing. If you’ve come this far I don’t think you’ll have much trouble with these. But just to be on the safe side let’s repeat them once again. Ready? OK! |
| “Gama”-“Gama”: γγ: sounds like “g”: Άγγελος |
| “Gama”-“Kapa”: γκ: sounds like “g”: Ανάγκη |
| “Mee”-“Pee”: μπ: sounds like “b”: Μπουκάλι |
| “Nee”-“Taf”: ντ: sounds like “d”: Ντομάτα |
| “Taf”-“Seegma”: τσ: sounds like “ch”: Παστίτσιο |
| “Taf”-“Zeeta”: τζ: sounds like “tz”: Τζάκι |
| Now it's time for Stefania’s insights. |
| Even though these sounds are an integral part of the modern Greek language, sometimes “Nee-taff” sounds more like “n-d” instead of “d”, “Mee-pee” sounds like “m-b” instead of “b” and “Gama-gama” as well as “Gama-kapa” sound like “n-g” instead of “g”; Keep that in mind while reading and writing, and your Greek will become much more natural! |
| Tired? Maybe a little I guess, but you can finish this lesson knowing that you’ve gone through all the sounds in the Greek language --and that’s no small feat, so pat yourself on the back! |
| So what else is there to learn? You’re almost there, but there are just a few more notes on punctuation in Greek. Do you know the weird thing about question marks in Greek? Check the next lesson and find out! |
| See you in the next Alfaveeto made easy lesson! |
| Ya hara! |
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