Language Reference Guide For Greek

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1. Grammar and Spelling
2. Punctuation
3. Measurements and Abbreviations
4. Hyphenation
5. Miscellaneous Peculiarities
6. Geographic Distribution
7. Character Set

1. Gender: There are three genders in the Greek language: masculine, feminine and neuter. These are reflected in the endings of the nouns. Any articles or adjectives that accompany the nouns should agree with them in gender, case and number.

2. Articles: There are two types of articles, definite (ο, η, το) and indefinite (numerals acting as indefinite articles: ένας, μια, ένα), they precede the head of the noun phrase and agree with it in number, gender and case.

The uses of the articles in Greek are broadly similar to those in English: where English has “the”, Greek normally has the definite article, and where Greek has the indefinite article, English has “a/n”. However, in many cases, Greek uses the definite article, where English does not use anything at all.

The articles τον, την, έναν lose their final ν and become το, τη, ένα in front of the letters β, γ, δ, ζ, θ, λ, μ, ν, ρ, σ, φ, χ.

3. Accents: The accent normally appears on every word that is written in lowercase letters and has MORE than one syllable. In particular, it appears over the vowel that receives the stress of the word (the letters α, ε, η, ι, ο, υ, ω receive an accent).
The accent is also written before an initial capital representing a stressed vowel ( Έ, Ά, Ί, Ύ, Ό, Ή). However, the accent is not used on words entirely in capitals.
Please note that the disjunctive pronoun “or” takes an accent «ή», also the question words “where” «πού» and “how” «πώς», although they are monosyllabic words.

Only the letters ι, υ also receive a dieresis (ϊ, ϋ ). To obtain the dieresis press
shift + ; + letter. Sometimes, depending on the combination of letters and
pronunciation, ι and υ receive both a dieresis and an accent. First go to the
Greek keyboard. The codes are: ΰ [0224], ΐ [0192]. Their capitals also receive
a diairesis and accent.

IN MODERN GREEK ONLY ONE TYPE OF ACCENT EXISTS. In a hand-written
text it can take any form: it can be written as a left one or a right one. It
does not matter. The accent in the typed document will always be ΄. The
other types do not exist in typed documents.

4. Capitalisation: Adjectives deriving from countries, e.g. French,
English, are always spelt with a lower-case first letter unless they refer to
nationality (not origin). Note that there is a great confusion as to whether
names of languages, e.g. German (i.e. the German language) are spelt with a
lower- or upper-case first letter. The proper spelling is with a lower-case
letter.

5. Plurals: Most common endings of plural nouns are: ες, οι, εις, α, η, ων.
Again the plural endings depend on case and gender.

1. Question marks: The Greek question mark looks like the English semicolon. Never use '?', it does not exist in Greek.

2. Semi-colons: The Greek semi-colon is a raised point '·’. However, it is not as widely used as the comma.

3. Full stops: Full stops are used at the end of sentences, to indicate abbreviations (e.g. π.χ.), in large numbers (e.g. 1.500 or 15.450.220). Full stops are not common in headings or titles, but they can be found in subtitles, if they form a complete sentence.

4. Inverted commas: Greek uses the following type of inverted commas: « ». Do not leave a space in between. The codes are: » [0187] and « [0171]. E.g. “Give me more work!”, shouted Chloe. «Δώστε μουκιάλληδουλειά!» φώναξεηχλόη.
“Would anyone like some tea?” asked George. «Θέλει κανείς τσάι;» ρώτησε η Γεωργία.
“I’m bored – can I go home now?”, Michala said. «Βαρέθηκα, μπορώ να πάω σπίτι τώρα;» είπε η Μικαέλα.

5. Apostrophes: The apostrophe is used to indicate that a vowel is deleted at the beginning or at the end of a word. (e.g. Θέλω ν’ανέβω – Θέλω να ανέβω = I want to go up).

Note that stylistically, the contracted forms are not used in Greek, unless the style is very informal. So avoid types such as γι'αυτό, κι'αλλo etc.

6. Long/short dashes: The hyphen is not usually used in Greek unless to separate words. The Greek equivalent of the English dash is the bracket.
You will therefore usually find brackets in a Greek text where English would use dashes.

7. Capitalisation: Proper names begin with a capital letter in Greek, e.g.: Κατερίνα, Αθήνα. Also, names of months and days, e.g.: Μάρτιος, Τρίτη.
You will find capital letters in headings, but not usually in the middle of the sentence, unless there is a proper name.

Section Three - Measurements and Abbreviations

1. Measurements: In Greek, the most commonly used measurements are: kilometre, metre, centimetre and millimetre. For TVs and monitors only we use inches.

Always convert measurements, except from inches. Greek does not use miles, oz, feet, lbs.

When writing numbers remember: 3,000 (ENG) = 3.000 (GK) and 5.6 (ENG) = 5,6 (GK).

Time is written with a semicolon between the numbers, e.g.: 10:30 πμ (am) 9:15 μμ (pm).

Date is written as follows:
Τρίτη 9 Μαρτίου 2004
9 Μαρτίου 2004
9/03/2004

When the expression 'per cent' is used in English, always use the symbol “%” in Greek.

Note that the English abbreviations for measurements are usually kept depending on the style of the text, e.g. technical and if the final recipient has some technical knowledge. Stylistically, it is not considered appropriate to use abbreviations in published written material. However, the most common ones are: e.g. = πχ (π.χ.), i.e. = δηλ. (δηλαδή) and etc. = κ.α.

Abbreviation for 'second(s)' is: ″ and for minutes ′. So 1 min. and 20 sec., is 1′20″. A good idea to write this is to press the Greek accent + space or press the Greek accent twice+ space.

Other common abbreviations are:
W x L x H = π x β x υ
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. = 1ος, 2ος, 3ος, 4ος κ.α. (remember these numerals depend on gender, number and case).
Mr/Mrs = κ./κα.
km = χλμ

When you have double letters, such as λλ, σσ, etc. hyphenate as follows: λ-λ, σ-σ. For example άλλoς = άλ-λoς, θάλασσα = θά-λασ-σα. The only exception is the double γγ, which should never be hyphenated. For example άγγελoς = άγγ-ελoς. Do not separate the following combinations of letters: μπ, ντ, γκ.

The words Πως (how) and Πoυ (where) receive an accent when they are within a question. For example: Where are you? = Πoύ είσαι;.

Note that there are two forms of the Greek 'σ'. When it is at the end of words it becomes «ς» (press W). This is called sigma final. If it is within a word then it remains as 'σ'.

Greek, the first great language of Western civilization, is considered by many to be the most effective and admirable means of communication ever devised. Its lucidity of structure and concept, together with its seemingly infinite variety of modes of expression, render it equally suitable to the needs of the rigorous thinker and the inspired poet.

In time four distinct dialects evolved: Aeolic, Ionic, Arcado-Cyprian, and Doric. With the rise of Athens in succeeding centuries, a dialect of Ionic known as Attic began to produce the great literature of the classical period. Attic became the dominant form of the language and the basis of the Koine, or common language, whose use passed far beyond the borders of present-day Greece. After the conquests of Alexander the Great it was spoken as far east as India, and later was adopted as a second language by the Roman Empire. The New Testament was written in the Koine and it was used by the Eastern Orthodox Church through to the present day.

The Greek alphabet, an adaptation of the Phoenician, dates from about 1000 B.C. It was the first alphabet in which letters stood for vowels as well as for consonants, in contrast to the Semitic alphabets, which had only consonants. Like the Semitic alphabets, it was at first written from right to left, but then shifted to a style in which lines alternated from right-to-left and left-to-right, and then shifted again to the present left-to-right direction. Greek was the official language of the Byzantine Empire from the 4th to the 15th century and thereafter continued to be spoken by Greeks under Turkish rule.

Modern Greek began to take shape about the 9th century, and became the official language of the kingdom of Greece in the 19th. Today Greek is spoken by about 10 million people, including some 600,000 on the island of Cyprus. In addition to the common speech, known as Demotic, an imitation of classical Greek, known as Pure, has been revived for literary purposes.

Greek (Modern) is spoken/used in the following countries:
Greece, Australia, Albania, Canada, Cyprus (Republic of), Germany, Turkey, North America.