Finishing Sounds

1. Diphthongs are combinations of vowel sounds that combine to form a single sound.

All Greek diphthongs end in either ι or υ. They main ones are

αι, ει, οι, υι, αυ, ευ, ου

prounounced

αι (ai as in aisle)

ει (like the a in fate)

οι (like the oi in oil)

υι (like ue in queen)

αυ (like ow in owl)

ευ (I'll pronounce like eu in feud)

ου (like oo in moon)

There are also three "improper" diphthongs you will see regularly: a|, h|, w|

The iota underneath is called an "iota subscript" and these are pronounced like the long vowel.

2. Miscellaneous Sound Combinations

When the letter gamma appears before either another gamma, a kappa, or a chi (in other words, γγ, γκ, or γχ) , the first gamma takes on an n sound. So the combinations are pronounced

γγ (an "ng" sound as in angle)

γκ (an "nk" sound as in ankle)

γχ (a combination of n and the chi sound like the nk-h combination in the two words "bank hard"

3. Breathing Marks and Accents

There are two "breathing marks" in New Testament Greek. A breathing mark is a comma like symbol (or backwards comma) that goes on top of a vowel at the beginning of a word.

The Smooth Breathing Mark... 0 (like a comma--it opens to the left)

The Rough Breathing Mark... 9 (rough like the "c"--it opens to the right)

A smooth breathing mark means you pronounce the letter just as it looks (do nothing).

A rough breathing mark means you put an "h" in front of the vowel.

By the way, for whatever reason, when the letter rho is at the beginning of a word, it has a rough breathing mark:

r9

Greek also has three accents. The ovewhelming majority of the time, they are not important to translate New Testament Greek. If you want to know their rules, there is an optional click pick on them in Track 2, Unit 1.

But just to know their names and basic places:

The acute is the most common accent. It slides down from right to left and can go on any one of the last three syllables of a word...../

The circumflex is like a hat and can appear over a long vowel in either of the last two syllables of a word...... =

The grave slides down from left to right and can only go on the last syllable of a word...... \

4. Exercises

For exercises, go back to Mark 1:1-8 and now pronounce the sounds of all the diphthongs, breathing marks, and other letter combinations and symbols.