Written by Themios Harmantzis
One mark, one job
The little stroke over Greek vowels is the τόνος (accent). Modern Greek since 1982 uses only this one. It shows which syllable to stress, in καλημέρα you lean on ME.
Every word of two or more syllables has exactly one
If a word has two or more syllables, it carries one accent, no more and no less. Single-syllable words normally take none. The writing tells you every time, unlike English record vs record.
Why it changes the meaning
Move the accent and you can change the word. πότε (when) and ποτέ (never) are spelled with the same letters and differ only in stress.
| πότε | PO-te | when |
| ποτέ | po-TE | never |
| νόμος | NO-mos | law |
| νομός | no-MOS | county |
| άλλα | A-la | other things |
| αλλά | a-LA | but |
The accent can move
When a word changes form, the stress sometimes shifts and the written accent moves with it, δάσκαλος vs δασκάλου. Wherever the mark is, that is where you lean.
The other mark: two dots
Two dots over a vowel (diaeresis) tell you to read two vowels separately, as in λαϊκός. A word can carry both marks when the separated vowel is also stressed.
Hear the stress in real stories
Reading with audio is the quickest way to make stress automatic. Get consonants right in Greek pronunciation, or jump into an A1 story with read-aloud.
Generate your first story