Greek Made Easy - A Simplified Method of Instruction in Modern Greek for Schools and Self Study

By George C. Divry

This book is a simple, methodical and attractive medium of instruction, enabling the student of average education to master the elements of Modern Greek grammar and to acquire a working knowledge of everyday Greek. This book contains classic material dating back to the 1900s and before. The content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern audience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Dec 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781447498858

Book preview

GREEK

MADE EASY

A SIMPLIFIED METHOD OF INSTRUCTION IN MODERN GREEK

FOR SCHOOLS AND SELF STUDY

By GEORGE C. DIVRY

Author of New Divry’s English-Greek and Greek-English Dictionary,

Simplified English-Greek Method, First English-Greek Readers,

Modern Greek School Readers, etc.

Contents

PREFACE

PRELIMINARY LESSON

THE ALPHABET

LESSON 1

LESSON 2

LESSON 3

LESSON 4

LESSON 5

LESSON 6

LESSON 7

LESSON 8

LESSON 9

LESSON 10

LESSON 11

LESSON 12

LESSON 13

LESSON 14

LESSON 15

LESSON 16

LESSON 17

LESSON 18

LESSON 19

LESSON 20

LESSON 21

LESSON 22

LESSON 23

LESSON 24

LESSON 25

LESSON 26

LESSON 27

LESSON 28

LESSON 29

LESSON 30

LESSON 31

LESSON 32

LESSON 33

LESSON 34

LESSON 35

LESSON 36

LESSON 37

LESSON 38

LESSON 39

LESSON 40

LESSON 41

LESSON 42

LESSON 43

LESSON 44

LESSON 45

CONJUGATION OF GREEK VERBS

REVIEW OF LESSONS

GREEK - ENGLISH VOCABULARY

ENGLISH - GREEK VOCABULARY

PREFACE

The study of Greek among the English-speaking peoples has lately received new impetus, owing to the interest taken in everything Greek by the descendants, relatives or friends of the Greek settlers on the North American continent.

Modern Greek—an evolutionary form of ancient Greek—is much simpler than classical Greek. In fact, it can be acquired as easily as the most popular European languages of today. However, for lack of the proper means of instruction, its study has been greatly handicapped both in schools and homes.

This book is intended to fill a long existing need for a simple, methodical and attractive medium of instruction, enabling the student of average education and intelligence to master the elements of Modern Greek grammar and at the same time to acquire a working knowledge of everyday Greek.

Our method of instruction is the same as that used in all our English and Greek instruction books—a system of gradual progress from the simpler and more useful elements of speech and grammar to the essential grammatical rules and expressions required for advanced study.

We have taken minute care that the student meet with as little difficulty as possible in his studies. With this in view, we have marked the pronunciation of all Greek words in our Vocabularies with the phonetics used in American textbooks, and given the English equivalent for every Greek word or phrase introduced in this manual.

To further facilitate the work of the student, we have tried, as much as advisable, to have the English phraseology correspond with the Greek, for this purpose sacrificing the elegance of expression in certain cases. For the same reason, the style of speech in this manual, both Greek and English, is that used in everyday conversation by the average person in Greece and in America.

In presenting this book to the Philhellenes of Greek or other origin, we trust that it will assist them in their studies, and that it will contribute to the advancement of the language of the New Testament and of the greatest civilization of all times.

PRELIMINARY LESSON

MODERN GREEK

εύoυσα—or purified—language, the language of the courts, the Parliament, the newspapers and educated Greeks, differs little from classic Greek.

ή) is in general use in everyday conversation, even by well educated Greeks. In this manual we have used the language prevailing, avoiding vulgar or slang expressions as well as classic words not easily understood by the average Greek of today.

PRONUNCIATION

Greek pronunciation is very simple. As a rule, each letter has, invariably, the same phonetic sound. The exceptions are few and follow fixed rules. There are no variations in the pronunciation of the Greek letters as in English (rough, though; fat, fate), no silent characters, on long or short vowel sounds. The accented syllable is marked in each word.

To further facilitate the work of the student, we have given the pronunciation of each Greek word according to its nearest English equivalent. The beginner must have in mind that each phonetic sound always has the same value in quantity and quality. Even the accents indicate only the syllables stressed, but do not change the quality of the accented vowels. There are only two letters without English equivalents, γ and χ, the sounds of which must be heard from a Greek to be mastered.

THE ALPHABET

WRITTEN

REMARKS

A, α.—The vowel α is pronounced as a in father or artistic (Continental a". For example:

B, .—This is always pronounced as v in victory. Examples:

* Γ, γ.—The sound of γ can be correctly learned only by listening to a Greek. It is a soft, guttural g, equivalent to the consonant sound of y in year or yellow, or the sound of w in woman. Before the vowels α, o or ω and the diphthong oυ, γ can be likened to the consonant sound of y in yard or yoke, with the vowel sound of i eliminated. It would not be correct to represent it in all cases with y or w or g, therefore in the phonetic pronunciation we have mostly retained its Greek character γ:

γγ and γ are pronounced as ng in longer or angry:

γ or ξ is pronounced as ng nasal, as in song

Δ, δ.—This is always pronounced as th in they. In our phonetic pronunciation it is represented by th in bold-face type:

E, ε.—It is always pronounced as e in red or there. It is neither long nor short, the same as the Continental e":

Z, ζ.—This is always pronounced as z in zero and represented by z:

** H, η.—This is pronounced as i in ill or machine or ï".

Note. , υ, and the diphthongs ε , o and υ are all pronounced alike, as the Continental i. When accented, they sound more like i in police and are represented in our phonetic pronunciation by ‘ï’. If unaccented, they are represented by the short i ). Both (ï ) have the same phonetic quality of the Continental i.

Θ, θ.—This is always pronounced as th in thin. It is represented in our phonetic pronunciation by th in regular-face type:

I, .—It is pronounced the same as η or ï":

K, .—It is always pronounced as k in king and represented by k:

Λ, λ.—It is pronounced as l in lot and represented by l:

M, μ.—Always pronounced as m in meat and represented by m:

N, ν.—Always pronounced as n in nine and represented by n:

Ξ, ξ.—It is always pronounced as x in extra or ks in weeks and represented in our phonetic pronunciation by ks or x:

O, o.—This is pronounced as o in corporal (Continental o":

Π, π.—It is pronounced as p in paper and represented by p:

P, .—This is pronounced as r in red, and is always heard clearly, whether before a vowel or a consonant or at the end of words. It is represented by r or rr:

*** Σ, σ ς.—This is pronounced as s in sisterγ, δ, λ, μ, ν it takes the sound of z, which is considered more euphonious. In our phonetic pronunciation it is represented by s and z.

***Note. ς óν—pile. In capital letters the same character is used in all cases. For example: ΠOΛIΣ, ΣΩPOΣ.

T, τ.—This is pronounced as t in tin and represented by t:

r, υ.or η or ï":

Φ, φ.—This is pronounced as f in fat and represented by f:

****X, .should be learned from a Greek. It has no equivalent in English. It is similar to the German ch in Bach. In our phonetic pronunciation it is represented by h in bold-face type:

, .—This is pronounced as ps in lips. It is represented by ps:

Ω, ω.—This is pronounced as o in corporal (Continental o), the same as o ":

DIPHTHONGS (Two Vowels Pronounced As One)

α ) blood.

ε , o , ν s′) son.

oυ s′) sky.

αυ, ευ, ηυf. Examples:

, η, υ and the diphthongs ε , o and υ are all pronounced alike as i in ill or police and in ’ or ‘ï’. Also the vowels o and ω have the same pronunciation of o in corporal ’): Likewise, the vowel ε and the diphthong α are pronounced alike as e in red or there ’).

ACCENTS, ASPIRATION AND PUNCTUATION MARKS

Three accents are used in the Greek language: The acute— ξε α (´)άμνω); the grave—βα ε α (`) ); and the circumflex—πε σπωμένη (˜) ).

λή (’) and δασε α (‘) are used over this vowel. On words beginning with a diphthong (two vowels pronounced as one) the aspiration mark is placed over the second vowel. The aspiration marks are silent and do not in any way affect the pronunciation of the vowels and diphthongs.

Greek punctuation marks are the same as in English, except the semicolon which is represented by a high period (·) and the interrogation mark represented by a semicolon (;).

* Asterisks refer to remarks accompanying each lesson.

LESSON 1

EXERCISES

Elementary Grammar

* There are three genders in Greek: masculine, feminine and neuter. Inasmuch as there are no rules for distinguishing the gender, we denote it with the definite article before each noun introduced in this manual.

for the feminine and τò for the neuter gender. For example:

νας for the masculine, μ α να for the neuter gender — meaning one:

Both the definite and indefinite articles are declined or change form according to cases and numbers, as we shall learn later.

* * Greek verbs are not necessarily preceded or followed by personal pronouns as in English. The change of the last syllable indicates the person of the verb. For example:

*** In Greek the interrogation is indicated only by the tone of speech and the interrogation mark (;) placed at the end of the sentence. For example:

LESSON 2

EXERCISES

Elementary Grammar

ν preceding the verb. For example:

* * In colloquial Greek the final ν in nouns and adjectives is often omitted. Thus we may say:

Final ν may also be omitted in verb forms ending in εν. For example:

In this manual the full form of words is mostly used, leaving to the student the liberty of retaining or dropping the final ν.

LESSON 3

EXERCISES

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