Pronunciation/Reading Drill

This introductory lesson is a reading drill to help you practice the rules described in the introductory section. Do not proceed any further, unless you have read and understood the pronunciation and stressing rules described in the introduction.
The first four sounds are assumed to be known. They exist in most languages without any difference in pronunciation. Each of the following sounds is accompanied by a list of Greek words that include this sound.
Practice each particular sound and proceed to the next only after you feel comfortable with the previous ones. I have a few audio files with some of the words, which you can use as a guideline. They are not too many yet, but I intend to record more in the future. To listen to the audio files just click on the happy faces next to the corresponding words.
*m*
*n*
*l*
*s*
*a*
*o*
*e*
*i*
*u*
*bh*
*gh*
*gh'*
*dh*
*z*
*th*
*k*
*k'*
*p*
*r*
*t*
*ph*
*kh*
*kh'*
*b*
*mb*
*d*
*nd*
*g*
*g'*
*ng*
*ng'*
*ts*
*dz*
*n'*
*l'*

A few special cases in pronunciation

Letter combinations and
*abh**aph**ebh**eph*

Diphthongs
Diphthongs are two vowels that are pronounced together instead of distinctly. To pronounce them, say both sounds in one breath.
The *i* modifier
*gh'**kh'**n'**n'*,*l'*
Observe the difference between *Adhia* and *Adhgh'a*, two different words that are spelled exactly the same (), but are pronounced differently.
"Double" consonants
=*ks*=*ps*
But note that there exist a few Greek words that include the sounds *ks* or *ps* but are not spelled with or respectively. E.g., (=campaign) and (=chips).
Pronunciation of , and
before voiced consonants is pronounced *z*.
*z**z**s*
Moreover, the final is pronounced *z* before words that start with a voiced consonant or voiced consonant sound.
*z**z**s*
The consonant is pronounced like the "n" in the English word "finger" (something between *n* and *n'*) when it precedes the consonant .

The final
Some words that end in , like the articles and , the conjunctions , etc., drop the final before words that start with a consonant other than , or (and and as a consequence).
Keep itDrop it
If the next word starts with a , or , they are pronounced as*mb*, *nd* and *ng* respectively.
*mb**nd**ng*
If the next word starts with , or , then they are pronounced as *mbz*, *ndz* and *ngz* respectively.
*mb**nd**ng*

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Last modified: Tue Apr 2 15:23:40 1996