Greek Grammar Guide

Start Here (A1)

New to Greek? These are the foundation topics every beginner needs.

• Feminine Nouns in -α — The most common feminine pattern — η γυναίκα, η ώρα, η μέρα, η θάλασσα — with its plain paradigm, the -ας genitive singular, and the one tricky cell: the accent-shifting genitive plural (η θάλασσα → των θαλασσών).
• Feminine Nouns in -η — The second great feminine class — η αγάπη, η νίκη, η τέχνη, η ζάχαρη — declined in full, with its -ης genitive singular, its plain -ες plural, and the warning that a big learned subgroup (η πόλη → οι πόλεις) breaks the pattern.
• The Three Genders — Every Greek noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter — and that gender, shown by its article ο / η / το, controls the adjectives and pronouns around it, so you learn each noun together with its article, not on its own.
• Number and the Four Cases — Every Greek noun inflects for number (singular/plural) and for one of four cases — nominative, genitive, accusative, vocative — with the article often carrying the case even more visibly than the noun itself.
• Masculine Nouns in -ος — The largest masculine class — nouns like ο δρόμος, ο ουρανός and ο άνθρωπος — with its full singular and plural paradigm, the accent shift that hits antepenult-stressed nouns in the genitive, and the -ε vocative.
• Neuter Nouns in -ο — The friendliest noun class in Greek: neuter -ο nouns (το βιβλίο, το νερό) where the nominative, accusative and vocative are always identical, so in the singular only the genitive -ου stands apart.
• Neuter Nouns in -ι — Neuter nouns like το παιδί and το σπίτι, whose genitive -ιού and plural -ια are pronounced as a single glide (παιδιά = 'pedhyá'). Home of the everyday diminutive -άκι.
• The Greek Alphabet: 24 Letters — Every one of the 24 Greek letters — its name, its sound, and its two shapes — plus the single biggest beginner trap: a handful of letters look exactly like Latin ones but sound completely different (Ρ is 'r', Η is 'i', Χ is 'ch').
• How This Guide Romanizes Greek — The exact reading aid used on every page — η/ι/υ→i, β→v, δ→dh, θ→th, χ→ch — with the one rule that matters most: the stressed syllable always carries an acute accent, because Greek stress is unpredictable from spelling.
• Letters That Look Latin But Aren't — The letters that ambush English readers: Ρ is 'r' not 'p', Η is 'i' not 'h', Χ is 'ch' not 'x', Β is 'v' not 'b'. Learn to distrust your eyes on signs and headlines — and discover where the 'missing' b and d sounds hide.
• Vowel Digraphs: αι, ει, οι, ου, υι — Five two-letter combos spell single vowels: αι = 'e' (και), ει/οι/υι = 'i' (είναι, ποιος), ου = 'u' (μου). Because ει, οι, υι all collapse into 'i' with η/ι/υ, they're the root of Greek's biggest spelling headache — and the diaeresis (Μάιος) exists to un-merge them.
• αυ and ευ: av/af, ev/ef — αυ and ευ never sound like English 'ow' or 'you'. They carry a hidden v/f: voiced before vowels and voiced consonants (αύριο = 'ávrio'), voiceless before voiceless consonants and word-finally (αυτός = 'aftós', ευχαριστώ = 'efcharistó').

Nouns

Pronunciation & Alphabet

Spelling