Learn all about the seven Greek diphthongs
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| Iro: Γεια σας! Είμαι η Ηρώ. |
| Maria: Maria here! Pronunciation Series Lesson 2, on Greek double vowels. |
| Maria: Hello, and welcome to the Pronunciation lessons at GreekPod101.com, where we study modern Greek in a fun, educational format! |
| Iro: So brush up on the Greek that you started learning long ago, or start learning today. |
| Maria: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. Iro, what are we looking at in this lesson? |
| Iro: Well, today, you will all work on your pronunciation of Greek double vowels. |
| Maria: Let's start by revisiting the seven vowels we went through last lesson. |
| Iro: Greek language has a total of seven vowels. |
| Maria: Of which most sound very similar to English. |
| Iro: Well, we share most of them with other languages, but, of course, English speakers, for example, have a really hard time pronouncing some of them. |
| Maria: And the vowels are… |
| Iro: "A" (άλφα), "E" (έψιλον), "H" (ήτα), "I" (γιώτα), "O" (όμικρον), "Y" (ύψιλον), "Ω"(ωμέγα). |
| Maria: And today we will have a look at what we call double vowels, also known as diphthongs. |
| Iro: Basically, two vowels put together to make a common sound. |
| Maria: In most languages, when you do this, the vowel sounds get blended together. |
| Iro: In Greek, though, there are certain double-vowel combinations that don't come out as you might imagine. |
| Maria: Okay, so how many diphthongs are there? |
| Iro: Just as there are seven vowels, there are seven diphthongs. |
| Maria: And how are they different from normal vowels? |
| Iro: Well, they are pronounced as one sound that sometimes can't be pronounced with one vowel. And keep in mind that vowel sounds in Greek are generally very soft, so you should always keep your mouth relaxed. |
| Maria: Okay, so enough explanation, let's get to them! |
| Iro: Okay, the first diphthong is "AI" (άλφα γιώτα). |
| Maria: This is "-A" (άλφα) and "-I" (γιώτα) put together to pronounce the sound [E] but longer. |
| Iro: Don't hesitate to exaggerate at first. But this sound is like the "-E" in "elephant." |
| Maria: "Elephant" or "angel." |
| Iro: Let's practice with the Greek word for "peak" ("αιχμή"). |
| Maria: "Αιχμή". |
| Iro: "Αιχ-μή", "αιχμή". |
| Maria: Great, got it! |
| Iro: Next up is "EI" (έψιλον γιώτα), which consists of "-E" (έψιλον) and "-I" (γιώτα). |
| Maria: Okay, now there is another sound that's pronounced like [I]. |
| Iro: Yes, it has the same sound as "-H" (ήτα). |
| Maria: And very similar to the sound in "Keith." |
| Iro: Yes, and it's one of the most common sounds in Greek. |
| Maria: And a common name in England. |
| Iro: Yes, so let's practice it with "είναι" the word for "is"/"are." |
| Maria: "Είναι". |
| Iro: "Εί-ναι"…"Είναι". |
| Maria: Piece of cake! |
| Iro: Well, all vowels and vowel diphthongs are actually sounds you have in English, so they shouldn't be too challenging. |
| Maria: Indeed, it just made me realize how much English has actually borrowed from Greek. |
| Iro: Exactly, so if you have a fairly good idea of how English sounds, Greek shouldn't be too tricky. |
| Maria: Mmm, well, I don't know about that. |
| Iro: I guess some people can do pronunciation better than others, and others can do grammar best, right? |
| Maria: That’s right. So what sound is up next? |
| Iro: "OI" (όμικρον γιώτα). |
| Maria: "OI"…yet another [I] sound…"οι". |
| Iro: Yeah. No difference here. Pronounced the same as "-H" and "EI." |
| Maria: Are there any other diphthongs that sound like "-H?" |
| Iro: Absolutely. |
| Maria: Great…What? |
| Iro: "YI" But you could kind of figure that out right, as it has "-Y" in it to begin with! |
| Maria: Uh huh… |
| Iro: But those are all the "-I" sounds, I promise! |
| Maria: Okay, so what sounds do we have left? |
| Iro: "AY" (άλφα ύψιλον), "EY" (έψιλον ύψιλον) and "OY" (όμικρον ύψιλον). |
| Maria: I see. |
| Iro: "AY" is "-A" and "-Y" put together and makes a similar sound to "sovereign," except before a voiceless consonant, in which case it's pronounced [ahf]. |
| Maria: And do we have a Greek example? |
| Iro: Of course! "Αυγό". |
| Maria: "EGG!" |
| Iro: You're rather excited about eggs. |
| Maria: YES! Eggs are used in one of my favorite soups! "Αυγολέμονο". |
| Iro: Haha, ok, you're not sick, are you? |
| Maria: No, it's just a lovely chicken soup made with egg, lemon, and chicken stock! |
| Iro: Yeah, it is rather delicious. |
| Maria: Haha, you should be more happy about it! |
| Iro: Ok! |
| Maria: And so, "EGG!" |
| Iro: "Αυγό" ,"Αυ-γό". |
| Maria: "Αυγό". |
| Iro: Good. Next is "EY" (έψιλον ύψιλον). |
| Maria: Okay, what does it sound like? |
| Iro: It can either be the sound from "several" or "left." |
| Maria: And the currency "euro", which in Greek is pronounced as "ευρώ" has the same sound. |
| Iro: Yeah, that might be easy to remember. |
| Maria: "Ευρώ". |
| Iro: "Ευ-ρώ", "Ευρώ". |
| Maria: Last one coming up. |
| Iro: Αnd the most challenging one…"OΥ" (όμικρον ύψιλον). "-O" (όμικρον) and "-Υ" (ύψιλον) together. |
| Maria: Ah, yes, such a useful sound, but very tricky to get right. |
| Iro: Yeah, you have to relax your mouth but at the same time clench your lips to produce the sound "OY." |
| Maria: The closest I can think of is "food." It's slightly heavier on the "O" sound. |
| Iro: Yeah, you'll find that many Greek names have this sound. Especially women's names. |
| Maria: Yeah, women's surnames tend to end with "ου" and men's with "ος." It's a gender thing. |
| Iro: Yes. But let's practice it some more. Repeat after me, "ουρανός". |
| Maria: "Ουρανός". I know this! It means "sky!" |
| Iro: Sure does! "Ου-ρα-νός", "Ουρανός". |
| Maria: I guess English speakers find this sound kind of hard. |
| Iro: Yeah, I think this sound is more common in Latin languages like Spanish. |
| Maria: Yes. But, Spanish has crazy lisps though…Crazy… |
| Iro: Okay, thank you guys for listening to us yelling crazy, non-Spanish sounds! |
| Maria: And thank you for yelling with us! |
| Iro: That just about does it for today. |
| Maria: But, before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Iro: The voice-recording tool... |
| Maria: Yes, the voice-recording tool in the premium learning center... |
| Iro: Record your voice with a click of a button, |
| Maria: and then play it back just as easily. |
| Iro: So you record your voice, and then listen to it. |
| Maria: Compare it to the native speakers... |
| Iro: And adjust your pronunciation! |
| Maria: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast! |
| Iro: Γεια σας! |
| Maria: Bye! |
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