Lonely Planet Greek Phrasebook & Dictionary

Product Information

You will notice that individual letters look very different to letters in English. That’s because Greek makes use of a whole different script. In fact, writing in Greek looks more like Cyrillic Russian writing than most European languages. alpha (άλφα) as in p at Ε/ε epsilon (έψιλον) as in p et Η/η eeta (ήτα) as in r eed Ι/ι iota (ιώτα) as in r eed, though when followed by a vowel it can often be pronounced like y - example: its very name, it's either said as iota or yota. Ο/ο omicron (όμικρον) as in p ot Υ/υ eepsilon (ύψιλον) as in r eed Ω/ω omega (ωμέγα) as in p ot Here are a few good-to-know Greek words that you can use in combination with the phrases mentioned above! Word:

Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and beyond during Classical Antiquity, and would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire. In its modern form, it is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 23 official languages of the European Union. The language is spoken by approximately 13 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, and diaspora communities in numerous parts of the world. As such, we’ve also gone ahead and provided you with pronunciation guides to help you ace this list of essential Greek words and phrases.Loosely following ws:Lives of the Eminent Philosophers/Book I#Thales, a bit different in earlier Plutarch, De genio Socratis, Section 6 The word πλατυώνυχον however sounds like πλατωνικόν, i.e. "the platonic thing". See The stranger’s knowledge: Political knowledge in Plato’s statesman by Xavier Márquez, University of Notre Dame, 2005, p. 120.

Many Greek words have been borrowed into other languages, so you will find a lot of these words familiar, such as τραύμα ( trauma, "injury") and σοφία ( sofia "wisdοm, knowledge"). Originally they were borrowed into Latin, which became the Romance languages. The changes Greek words underwent in Latin are different from those they underwent in Greek. For instance, in a rare case of someone actually returning a word he borrowed, κίνημα ( kinema, motion) was borrowed into Latin as cinema, which in French acquired the meaning "movie", and was returned to Greek as σινεμά ( sinema), but there is still a proper Greek word for it "κινηματογράφος" which is widely used. Many Greek words have been borrowed into other languages, so you will find a lot of these words familiar, such as τραυμα ( trauma, "injury") and σοφία ( sofia "wisdom, knowledge"). Originally they were borrowed into Latin, which became the Romance languages. The changes Greek words underwent in Latin are different from those they underwent in Greek. For instance, in a rare case of someone actually returning a word he borrowed, κινημα ( kinema, motion) was borrowed into Latin as cinema, which in French acquired the meaning "movie", and was returned to Greek as σινεμα ( sinema). Note also that Greek punctuation differs a little: The Greek question mark (ερωτηματικό) is just like the Latin semi-colon ; . While the Greek semi-colon (άνω τελεία) is like the full stop "flying" just above the line •. From the moment we set foot in Athens for a few nights and throughout our Greek island hopping adventure which included stops in Mykonos, Naxos, and Santorini, we were hooked and have vowed to return to beautiful Greece to explore more of this divine country.Note that η, ι, υ and ο, ω are pronounced exactly the same. They are essential for the written speech though. Same goes for the clusters ει, οι. Greek (ελληνικά) is one of the oldest attested Indo-European languages, known from 1400 BCE in inscriptions in a syllabary of Minoan origin. The present alphabet was introduced by a Phoenician called Qadmu (Καδμος) about 800 BCE and has been in use continuously since then, with a few letters added and removed along the way. The 24-letter alphabet used in Classical Greek is the same one used today. Greek forms its own isolated branch within the Indo-European language family. Thus it is not related closely to any other Indo-European language. Greek is the official language of both Greece and Cyprus, but is only spoken in the south of the latter.

The following expressions and phrases and expressions in Greek may come in very handy when trying to navigate through your travels in Greece.Regardless if you want to impress your local host, or simply want to express love in a different language, these Greek phrases will certainly come in handy! Word: The word λεπτό means both a euro cent and a minute of time. A second is δευτερόλεπτο, δεύτερο meaning second (the ordinal). All vowels have the same short length. So yes, there are 2 ways to write 'e', 6 to write 'i' and 2 letters to write 'o'!

Greek phrases

Greek people know they have a difficult language (for foreigners) and don't expect any tourist to know more than a couple words. And even while they think it's easy phonetically, they understand the problems foreigners have pronouncing it. You can say gamma as a hard 'g', chi as 'h', and rho as an unrolled English 'r', you can also say "au" or "eu" instead of "av" and "ev" and you'll be totally understood. People in no way expect you to be proficient in any aspect of Greek, so by studying a bit before visiting you can really impress people and win their hearts! Of course, it will require serious effort and dedication to learn to speak Greek fluently, as Greek grammar is admittedly more complex than it is in most other languages (much more demanding than German, for example, which is a language with relatively complex grammar). But still, you can master relatively easily the fundaments of communication and get your meaning across. And even if you don't, don't despair: almost all Greeks (but the oldest) can understand and speak English. Where better to begin than with greeting phrases in Greek? You’ll need these ones from the moment you step off the plane and out into the balmy airs of Athens. You could even try them out at passport control if you’re feeling confident…