Introductory Ancient Greek Language/Review

Review: Alphabet, Breathings, Accents, Articles

If anyone is following these lessons then feel free to post a summary to the best of your ability what I've described in the first three to act as a review for anyone else. Don't be afraid of making mistakes as they'll likely be caused by my failing to explain something sufficiently, and it will give me the opportunity to do so.

On a side note, I've been having problems typing in the Greek font with accent marks and breathings. I've had to go through the laborious task of cutting and pasting from other websites and files. If anyone has advice on a quicker method I would appreciate it.

I've deliberately taken very slow steps to break you into the language and have broken up into several lessons what might normally be taught in one chapter in a textbook. I've done this because I know the language can be rough to learn if you have no background in it, and especially if you have no incentive to actually study it besides as a hobby I feel it should be as user friendly as possible. JManning, 05:12, 16 December 2006

Alphabet

Greek	Name	English equivalent
Α α	alpha	a
Β β	beta	b
Γ γ	gamma	g
Δ δ	delta	d
Ε ε	epsilon	e
Ζ ζ	zeta	z
Η η	eta	ē
Θ θ	theta	th
Ι ι	iota	i
Κ κ	kappa	k
Λ λ	lambda	l
Μ μ	mu	m
Ν ν	nu	n
Ξ ξ	xi	x
Ο ο	omicron	o
Π π	pi	p
Ρ ρ	rho	r
Σ σ or ς	sigma	s
Τ τ	tau	t
Υ υ	upsilon	u
Φ φ	phi	ph
Χ χ	chi	ch
Ψ ψ	psi	ps
Ω ω	omega	ō

Breathings and Accents

A rough breathing mark (pronounced 'h') looks like this ῾ and a smooth breathing mark (not pronounced) looks like this ᾿. They only go over vowels and ρ at the beginning of a word.

The three types of accents are acute ´ , circumflex ῀, and grave ` . They indicate an emphasized syllable. They only go on vowels.

The Definite Article

The definite article is translated as 'the' but sometimes it need not be translated at all.

A nominative noun in the subject of a sentence, the thing that does the verb.

The genitive is used to indicate possession or motion away from for prepositions

The dative is used to indicate an indirect object and is used with some prepositions

The accusative indicates a direct object, the thing that the verb is being done to. It also indicates motion towards for prepositions.

The vocative is used to address someone or something

Singular

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ὁ	ἡ	τό
Genitive	τοῦ	τῆς	τοῦ
Dative	τῷ	τῇ	τῷ
Accusative	τόν	τήν	τό
Vocative	ὦ	ὦ	ὦ

Plural

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	οἱ	αἱ	τά
Genitive	τῶν	τῶν	τῶν
Dative	τοῖς	ταῖς	τοῖς
Accusative	τούς	τᾱς	τά
Vocative	ὦ	ὦ	ὦ