George Pappageotes - Say It in Greek (Modern)

SAY IT IN MODERN GREEK BY GEORGE PAPPAGEOTES, Ph.D. Lecturer in Modern Greek COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC. Mineola, New York Copyright Copyright 1956 by Dover Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Bibliographical NoteSay It in Greek is a new work, first published by
Dover Publications, Inc., in 1956. International Standard Book NumbereISBN-13: 978-0-486-14098-8 Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation 20813331 www.doverpublications.com SCHEME OF PRONUNCIATION The sound system of Greek is easy to master.

It has only five vowels (similar to those of Spanish): a as in father, which is transcribed by ah or a, e as in met, which is transcribed by eh or e, i as in machine, which is transcribed by ee, o as in obey, which is transcribed by oh or o, and u as oo in fool, which is transcribed by oo. Its consonants appear in English with the exception of , which is like ch in the German ich and ach and in the Scottish loch (lake) and is transcribed by kh; and of (the voiced counterpart of ), which before i and e is like English y as in yes and is transcribed by y and before a, o, and u is pronounced as the English g in go, but continued, and is transcribed by gh. The th as in thin is transcribed by th, but the th as in those is transcribed as . The rest of the consonants have the same sound value that they have in English. Accented (i.e. stressed) syllables are written in capitals.

The orthography of the Greek text is based on that used and recommended in the Grammar of Modern Greek (, . E.. B., Athens, 1941), written by a committee appointed by the Minister of Education of Greece. The abbreviations m., f., and n. stand for masculine, feminine, and neuter respectively, and they indicate that the use of the gender of the article or of the adjective depends on the gender of the noun which they modify. THE GREEK ALPHABET The Greek alphabet has twenty-four letters. * The letter is pronounced as y in yes in colloquial Greek after a consonant (and especially after the sonants m, n, l, and r) and before a vowel. USEFUL EXPRESSIONS1. Yes. No. No.

Perhaps... . neh. O-khee. EE-sohss. 2.

Please.. pa-ra-ka-LO. 3. Excuse me.. seeg-NO-meen. 4.

Help me.. vo-ee- THEE-stem-eh. 5. Thanks (very much). (). ef-kha-ree-STO (pa-ra-po-LEE). 6.

You are welcome.. pa-ra-ka-LO. 7. Does anyone here speak English?; EE-neh kah-NEESS eh-O poo na mee-LAH ahn-glee-KA?8. I speak only English (French). (). 9. 9.

I know a little German (Italian, Spanish). (, ). KSEH-ro LEE-gha yer-mah-nee-KA, (ee-ta-lee-KA, ee-spah-nee-KA). 10. I am an American citizen.. 11. 11.

I do not understand.