Most Greek monosyllables carry no tonos. Πού “where?” and πώς “how?” are deliberate exceptions: the accent distinguishes them on the page from the identically pronounced linking words που “that/who/which” and πως “that.” The distinction is grammatical, not phonetic. It remains visible inside indirect questions and exclamations, even when the whole sentence does not end in a question mark.
πού asks for a place; που links a clause
Write πού when the word represents missing information about place. This is clearest in a direct question:
Πού πας τόσο βιαστικά;
pu pas tóso viastiká;
Where are you going in such a hurry?
Από πού πήρες αυτό το ψωμί;
apó pu píres aftó to psomí;
Where did you get this bread from?
The same interrogative remains accented when a larger statement contains the unknown place. The final full stop does not remove its question-word function.
Δεν ξέρω πού άφησα τα κλειδιά.
dhen kséro pu áfisa ta klidhiá
I don't know where I left the keys.
Θυμήσου πού παρκάραμε το αυτοκίνητο.
thimísu pu parkárame to aftokínito
Remember where we parked the car.
By contrast, unaccented που connects a noun to a relative clause or introduces an everyday complement clause. It does not stand for an unknown place.
Το σπίτι που νοικιάσαμε είναι κοντά στη θάλασσα.
to spíti pu nikiásame íne kondá sti thálasa
The house that we rented is near the sea.
Χαίρομαι που ήρθες νωρίς.
chérome pu írthes norís
I'm glad that you came early.
The spelling therefore follows function, not punctuation. Compare Πού είναι το σπίτι που νοικιάσατε;: the first word requests a place; the second links σπίτι to the clause describing it.
Πού είναι το σπίτι που νοικιάσατε;
pu íne to spíti pu nikiásate;
Where is the house that you rented?
πώς asks for manner; πως introduces a fact
Accented πώς asks “how?”—about method, manner, state, or the way something happened.
Πώς το ξέρεις αυτό;
pos to kséris aftó;
How do you know that?
Πες μου πώς άνοιξες την πόρτα χωρίς κλειδί.
pes mu pos ánikses tin pórta chorís klidhí
Tell me how you opened the door without a key.
Unaccented πως is a complementizer meaning “that,” broadly interchangeable with ότι in many contexts. It introduces a proposition rather than an unknown manner.
Ξέρω πως έφυγε πριν από μία ώρα.
kséro pos éfiye prin apó mía óra
I know that she left an hour ago.
Η Άννα είπε πως θα τηλεφωνήσει αύριο.
i Ána ípe pos tha tilefonísi ávrio
Anna said that she will call tomorrow.
That creates a meaning contrast which English also happens to show with how versus that:
Ξέρω πως έφυγε, αλλά δεν ξέρω πώς έφυγε.
kséro pos éfiye, alá dhen kséro pos éfiye
I know that she left, but I don't know how she left.
The two instances sound identical. Accordingly, this guide romanizes both as pos, with no acute. A disambiguating Greek tonos does not mark a pronunciation contrast.
Direct, indirect, and exclamatory uses keep the accent
The beginner shortcut “accent it before a question mark” fails in both directions. An indirect question has no question mark when the surrounding sentence is a statement, but πού / πώς remain interrogative. An exclamation asks for no answer, yet exclamatory πώς and πόσο remain accented.
Ρώτησε πού μένει η καινούρια υπάλληλος.
rótise pu méni i kenúria ipálilos
He asked where the new employee lives.
Δεν καταλαβαίνω πώς πέρασε τόσο γρήγορα η ώρα.
dhen katalavéno pos pérase tóso ghríghora i óra
I don't understand how the time passed so quickly.
Πώς άλλαξε η γειτονιά μας!
pos álakse i yitoniá mas!
How our neighbourhood has changed!
Πόσο χάρηκα που σε είδα!
póso chárika pu se ídha!
I was so happy to see you!
Πόσο is polysyllabic, so its tonos is ordinary lexical stress rather than a special monosyllable exception. The same spelling appears in questions and exclamations. Fixed expressions also preserve accented πού / πώς: πού και πού “now and then,” αραιά και πού “every so often,” από πού κι ως πού; “on what grounds?/how come?”, and πώς και...; “how come...?”
Πηγαίνουμε εκεί πού και πού για καφέ.
piyénume ekí pu ke pu ya kafé
We go there now and then for coffee.
Πώς και γύρισες τόσο νωρίς;
pos ke yírises tóso norís;
How come you came back so early?
πότε and ποτέ: the accent moves and the sound changes
Πότε “when?” and ποτέ “ever/never” contain the same letters, but unlike πού/που they are not homophones. The tonos marks genuinely different stress: póte versus poté.
Πότε ανοίγει το μουσείο;
póte aníyi to musío;
When does the museum open?
Δεν έχω πάει ποτέ στη Νάξο.
dhen écho pái poté sti Nákso
I've never been to Naxos.
With negation, ποτέ normally means “never.” In a question it is a negative-polarity item meaning “ever”—and that is fully grammatical Greek, not an error.
Έχεις πάει ποτέ στη Νάξο;
échis pái poté sti Nákso;
Have you ever been to Naxos?
Δεν θυμάμαι πότε πήγα τελευταία φορά στη Νάξο.
dhen thimáme póte pígha teleftéa forá sti Nákso
I don't remember when I last went to Naxos.
The last example contains πότε because an unknown time is being selected. Compare ποτέ, which quantifies over possible times. The detailed semantic choices are developed on interrogative adverbs.
Common Mistakes
1. Dropping the disambiguating tonos in a direct place question. This is common in unaccented texting, but it is an error in standard monotonic spelling.
❌ Που μένεις τώρα;
Incorrect standard spelling — interrogative ‘where?’ is πού.
✅ Πού μένεις τώρα που δουλεύεις στο κέντρο;
pu ménis tóra pu dhulévis sto kéndro;
Where do you live now that you work in the centre?
2. Adding tonos to relative που. A word linking its antecedent to a relative clause remains unaccented.
❌ Το σπίτι πού μένω είναι μικρό.
Incorrect spelling — this means ‘the house that I live in,’ so the relative is που.
✅ Το σπίτι που μένω είναι μικρό, αλλά φωτεινό.
to spíti pu méno íne mikró, alá fotinó
The house I live in is small but bright.
3. Leaving πώς bare when it stands alone for a manner. Complementizer πως requires a following proposition; it cannot supply the missing “how?” here.
❌ Δείξε μου πως.
Incorrect for ‘show me how’ — the interrogative manner word is πώς.
✅ Δείξε μου πώς· δεν το έχω ξανακάνει.
dhíkse mu pos; dhen to écho ksanakáni
Show me how; I haven't done it before.
4. Confusing πότε with ποτέ after negation. Moving the accent changes both pronunciation and meaning.
❌ Δεν έχω πάει πότε στην Κρήτη.
Incorrect for ‘never’ — the required word is ποτέ, stressed on the final syllable.
✅ Δεν έχω πάει ποτέ στην Κρήτη τον χειμώνα.
dhen écho pái poté stin Kríti ton chimóna
I've never been to Crete in winter.
Key Takeaways
- πού / πώς are interrogative or exclamatory; που / πως link clauses.
- The pairs are homophones, romanized pu / pos in both spellings. Their tonos is disambiguating, not phonetic.
- Embedded question words keep their accent: Δεν ξέρω πού πήγε. Ρώτησε πώς έγινε.
- Punctuation does not choose the accent; grammatical function does.
- πότε “when?” and ποτέ “ever/never” have different stress and different pronunciation: póte / poté.
- In questions, ποτέ can legitimately mean “ever”: Έχεις πάει ποτέ;
Related Topics
- πού/που, πώς/πως, πότε/ποτέA2 — Choose accented πού for a missing place—including inside indirect questions—and unaccented που for relative or complement clauses.
- Interrogative AdverbsA2 — Understand Greek question adverbs outside direct questions: free relatives with όπου and όποτε, exclamations with πώς and πόσο, and accented forms inside indirect questions.
- Common Spelling ErrorsB1 — A proofreading checklist for the mistakes learners and natives make most: -ω vs -ο in verbs, -ται vs -τε, ει/η/ι in endings, the movable final -ν, the missing tonos, and και vs κι — each with the rule that fixes it.
- Indirect (Embedded) QuestionsB1 — Embed yes/no questions with αν and information questions with their original wh-word, retaining ordinary Greek word order and interrogative accents but following the matrix sentence’s punctuation.