thanks a lot, Rita. I'm from Italy and studied ancient Greek during my school years. we students were taught a completely different pronunciation.. idk whether it depends on some big difference between ancient and modern Greek or on our Italian teachers! looking forward to learning more. kalinihta :)
Modern Gk. has changed drastically, from 400 AD onward. Eg, phi, was not fi, theta not þeta, khi not hi. Pot, top, cop, not fot, þop, hop .. the vowels also differ
The difference is because Ancient Greek is very different when it comes to pronunciation, your teachers were probably correct about their pronunciation when it comes to Ancient Greek (as far as we can tell).
hi - i really liked this vid - very helpful - thanks for posting it! - im learning greek using the modern pronounciation and just hearing uou itself is like learning
Thank you very much for the video. It is really helpful. Could you please help me with the pronunciation of the word χόλ. It should be /hol/ but it sounds like /hoi/.
Hi Ziatka! Happy to hear so :) Are we talking about "χολ"that means "corridor"? I'll try. Nothing special is happening in this word, the one sound follows the other, and /l/ sound is indeed pronounced: /h/ (think of the word όχι) + /ο/ +/l/(we roll it slightly). And it's one syllable altogether! Does this help?
@@ΡίταΚουκουλάκη ευχαριστώ. I can't say more in Greek at the moment but I hope to make a progress soon. It is a beautiful language spoken in the country with tremendous history, culture and tradition. I've learned a lot about ancient Greece in school many years ago and even visited your country at that time. Now I want to prepare myself fully for a longer expedition to the cradle of Europe. Thanks once more. For those who besides learning Greek would like to learn more about the history of Greece there are excellent videos in Spanish: Raices de Europa . conferencias de Eva Tobalina.
Rita, could you explain, if there are rules for which letters to use for "ee" and "o" sounds. If there are no rules governing that, does one just have to memorize which vowels go with each word?
Hi! There are some rules, like verbs end in ω, neutral nouns end in o, feminines end in an η, plural masculines in οι, verbs in ει etc. You will need to take courses to master not only the spelling rules but also to acquaint yourself with the etymology. If interested, you could check my lessons website.
Thank you. It is interesting to hear that γγ is pronounced like 'g'. I've heard somewhere that it is pronounced 'ng'? Is it ever pronounced like that? Thank you.
You are welcome. If 'γγ' 'or γκ' appears in the middle of the word (άγγελος, αγκινάρα) (angel, artichoke), then indeed a tiny! /n/ is pronounced. If it appears in the beginning, then you have a clear /g/ sound.
When we pronounce θ the tip of our tongue is slightly touching our teeth and there is air coming in between, e.g.θάλασσα (sea). With δ though it s the same phonetic process but without air being produced (we don t let air come through our teeth and tongue), e.g. δελφινι (dolphin)
Thanks for the video! I have a question: I read on a university website that sometimes γ is pronounced "g" and sometimes "y" depending on what letter follows it. The site says that "γ before ε, η, ι, υ, αι, ει, οι, υι makes a 'y' sound," and that "γ before α, ο, ου, ω, and consonants makes a 'g' sound." Is this accurate?
It is true that γ before ε, η, ι, υ, αι, ει, οι, makes a 'y' sound but ''thicker'' I would say. But γ before α, ο ,ου ,ω doesn't make a g sound. In fact it makes a sound in between y and g closer to y. If you can imagine a vocal spectrum it would be: y - - - γ - - - - - - -g The case γ sounds like g (like great, goat etc) is only when followed by κ or an other γ . For example the word ''great'' would be γκreat or γγreat and now yogurt would be γιογκurt or γιογγurt There goes the y sound. You see I replaced 'yo' with 'γιο' and not just 'γο' (that would sound totaly different) and 'gurt' with 'γκurt' or 'γγurt' If you want to approche the ''γα, γο etc'' sound you have to thicken y and remove the hidden ''i, ee,'' from it. A better approach is made by taking the word 'woman' and pronounce 'w' intensely (thicken it) like wwwoman... It's a hard letter to pronounce... I would recommend going to google translate and copy paste these words: γιατί γιατρός γατί γάτα γκρεμός φεγγάρι and click the audio button so you get a better idea of 'γ' pronunciation (although the voice sounds stupid)
@@andreasp3452 in no way does a w ever sound like gamma. one, its an approximant, not a fricative, two, the "velar" part isnt actually velar, its uvular, and three, it involves the lips. the gamma sound has none of these traits. now the palatalized gamma sound is very close to the y as in "yes" however English y is again an approximant while gamma is a fricative.
@Servant of AEIE ... I was under the impression that Greek /g/ is a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ under certain phonetic environments specific to palatization or maybe it’s more dialectal in nature?! Either way I have heard it before while looking into Greek for research. And I think I’ve also noticed, probably dialectical in nature more than anything, that some people do pronounce the Upsilon < Υ, υ > as /u/ or even /y/ in some cases, same with Eta < H > where some people pronounce it like /ay/ in English word “day”.
I'm surprised that you pronounce άγγελος as ['agelos]. I thought it would be ['aŋgelos], as in ancient Greek. As I have learned, γγ is always pronounced [ŋg], only γκ can be pronounced as [g] sometimes.
you will hear many Greek speakers use both ng and hard g, it never seems to be an issue, mostly a preference. I myself usually pronounce it "Angelos" with the n softer than normal. If there is no vowel before the νγ then it's pronounced as a hard g
Happy to hear so. Most welcome!
thanks a lot, Rita. I'm from Italy and studied ancient Greek during my school years. we students were taught a completely different pronunciation.. idk whether it depends on some big difference between ancient and modern Greek or on our Italian teachers! looking forward to learning more. kalinihta :)
Modern Gk. has changed drastically, from 400 AD onward. Eg, phi, was not fi, theta not þeta, khi not hi. Pot, top, cop, not fot, þop, hop .. the vowels also differ
The difference is because Ancient Greek is very different when it comes to pronunciation, your teachers were probably correct about their pronunciation when it comes to Ancient Greek (as far as we can tell).
Thank you so much
Happy you found this useful :)
Nice madam
Thanks Pita! This is a great introduction!
*Rita
Thanks a lot! Appreciate your feedback.
Yes very helpful thanks 🙏
hi - i really liked this vid - very helpful - thanks for posting it! - im learning greek using the modern pronounciation and just hearing uou itself is like learning
Happy to hear this video has been helpful to you!
god bless u sister
Thank you!
Rita thanks a lot ! Can I have more explanations of the sounds of the δ, θ, γ, σ-these one is like z or s thank you a lote !!!
Thanks!!!!
Only five vowel sounds? Doesn't upsilon make /y/ ?
Υ, η, ι, οι and ει are the equivalent of /i/ sound. The other four vowel sounds are
/u/, /e/, /a/ and /o/.
It did, up until around the 11th century
Thank you very much for the video. It is really helpful. Could you please help me with the pronunciation of the word χόλ. It should be /hol/ but it sounds like /hoi/.
Hi Ziatka! Happy to hear so :) Are we talking about "χολ"that means "corridor"? I'll try. Nothing special is happening in this word, the one sound follows the other, and /l/ sound is indeed pronounced: /h/ (think of the word όχι) + /ο/ +/l/(we roll it slightly). And it's one syllable altogether! Does this help?
@@ΡίταΚουκουλάκη ευχαριστώ. I can't say more in Greek at the moment but I hope to make a progress soon. It is a beautiful language spoken in the country with tremendous history, culture and tradition. I've learned a lot about ancient Greece in school many years ago and even visited your country at that time. Now I want to prepare myself fully for a longer expedition to the cradle of Europe. Thanks once more. For those who besides learning Greek would like to learn more about the history of Greece there are excellent videos in Spanish: Raices de Europa . conferencias de Eva Tobalina.
You are most welcome Zlatka! It has been a real pleasure teaching Greek over the past 18 years to Greek language aficionados like you. Take care!
Thank you very much.
Yes .
It's very useful. May nature grants you for long and healthy life.
Thanks a lot Rana! Happy Greek learning!
Rita, could you explain, if there are rules for which letters to use for "ee" and "o" sounds. If there are no rules governing that, does one just have to memorize which vowels go with each word?
Hi! There are some rules, like verbs end in ω, neutral nouns end in o, feminines end in an η, plural masculines in οι, verbs in ει etc. You will need to take courses to master not only the spelling rules but also to acquaint yourself with the etymology. If interested, you could check my lessons website.
@@ΡίταΚουκουλάκη thank you
@@pwp8737 Welcome!
thanks, it was awesome
Thank you. It is interesting to hear that γγ is pronounced like 'g'. I've heard somewhere that it is pronounced 'ng'? Is it ever pronounced like that? Thank you.
You are welcome. If 'γγ' 'or γκ' appears in the middle of the word (άγγελος, αγκινάρα) (angel, artichoke), then indeed a tiny! /n/ is pronounced. If it appears in the beginning, then you have a clear /g/ sound.
Great. Thank you!
@@ΡίταΚουκουλάκη its /ŋ/ not /n/
young people (under 45, let's say) don't pronounce /ŋ/. prenasalised stops almost entirely, now, oral stops.
@@adamm137 Thanks.
Very good video. It should have way more views. I left my like to see if it can help with that.
:)
Thanks, Eduardo! Hope next one is even better then!
Give me a tip how to pronounce the letter Θ and δ
Θ is like theory, wheareas δ is like then
When we pronounce θ the tip of our tongue is slightly touching our teeth and there is air coming in between, e.g.θάλασσα (sea). With δ though it s the same phonetic process but without air being produced (we don t let air come through our teeth and tongue), e.g. δελφινι (dolphin)
ottimo video!
Thanks for the video! I have a question:
I read on a university website that sometimes γ is pronounced "g" and sometimes "y" depending on what letter follows it. The site says that "γ before ε, η, ι, υ, αι, ει, οι, υι makes a 'y' sound," and that "γ before α, ο, ου, ω, and consonants makes a 'g' sound." Is this accurate?
It is true that γ before ε, η, ι, υ, αι, ει, οι, makes a 'y' sound but ''thicker'' I would say.
But γ before α, ο ,ου ,ω doesn't make a g sound. In fact it makes
a sound in between y and g closer to y. If you can imagine a vocal spectrum it would be: y - - - γ - - - - - - -g
The case γ sounds like g (like great, goat etc) is only when followed by κ or an other γ .
For example the word ''great'' would be γκreat or γγreat
and now yogurt would be γιογκurt or γιογγurt
There goes the y sound. You see I replaced 'yo' with 'γιο' and not just 'γο' (that would sound totaly different) and 'gurt' with 'γκurt' or 'γγurt'
If you want to approche the ''γα, γο etc'' sound you have to thicken y and remove the hidden ''i, ee,'' from it.
A better approach is made by taking the word 'woman' and pronounce 'w' intensely (thicken it) like wwwoman...
It's a hard letter to pronounce... I would recommend going to
google translate and copy paste these words: γιατί γιατρός γατί γάτα γκρεμός φεγγάρι and click the audio button so you get a better idea of 'γ' pronunciation (although the voice sounds stupid)
choose From Greek to English of course
no, it is /ʝ/ a voiced palatal fricative
@@andreasp3452 in no way does a w ever sound like gamma. one, its an approximant, not a fricative, two, the "velar" part isnt actually velar, its uvular, and three, it involves the lips. the gamma sound has none of these traits.
now the palatalized gamma sound is very close to the y as in "yes" however English y is again an approximant while gamma is a fricative.
@Servant of AEIE ... I was under the impression that Greek /g/ is a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ under certain phonetic environments specific to palatization or maybe it’s more dialectal in nature?! Either way I have heard it before while looking into Greek for research. And I think I’ve also noticed, probably dialectical in nature more than anything, that some people do pronounce the Upsilon < Υ, υ > as /u/ or even /y/ in some cases, same with Eta < H > where some people pronounce it like /ay/ in English word “day”.
I'm surprised that you pronounce άγγελος as ['agelos]. I thought it would be ['aŋgelos], as in ancient Greek. As I have learned, γγ is always pronounced [ŋg], only γκ can be pronounced as [g] sometimes.
you will hear many Greek speakers use both ng and hard g, it never seems to be an issue, mostly a preference. I myself usually pronounce it "Angelos" with the n softer than normal. If there is no vowel before the νγ then it's pronounced as a hard g
❤