Hello again, this is Steve for LessonsOnlineTV and this is the continuation of the previous
video concerning the Greek alphabet. In the Greek alphabet we have a few words -- a few
letters, 24. And.. there, I said something about diphthongs at the end of the video.
I wiped the board clean. I'll just show you what diphthongs are. I showed you these letters
before. Okay: Οο Ωω Ιι Υυ Ηη. So the complications with these letters is that
they actually sound the same. Now, you can actually not mind with these a lot. But we
are going to need - we are going to use that later. Diphthongs are what.. alright, this
is what diphthongs are. You take two letters and put them next to each other. And when
you see them, in such a succession, next to each other in the correct order.. then, a
new sound comes up. If you take Oo(Omikron) and add Ιι(Iota). This is pronounced "I".
This might sound retarded. But that's exactly the way we use it. The same thing with Eε(epsilon),
when you add Ιι(Iota). You actually write these together, but this sounds like Ιι.
This also sounds like Ιι. This is kind of hard. No, it's not kind of hard.. it is hard.
Because you never know what I really mean. If I actually take Οο(omikron) and add Υυ(Ipsilon).
This is ου(u). I don't really know how to describe it, but this is the way we say ου(u).
The sound ου(u) exists in Greek, but the letter ου(u) does not. This is like.. it's
not "Uu", "Uu" has a kind of a nasal feeling to it, "Uu". It's like "oo", it's very throat
based. There a lot of -- these things create a lot of complications, because if you take
this column now, okay.. I can add more "Iι"(οι ει). So if I actually, as I told you before,
write "tipota"(τίποτα). Now it gets a lot harder to understand what
kind of "tipota" I am saying. It could be "tipota"(τείποτα).
It could be "tipota"(τοίποτα). Could be "tipota"(τήπωτα).
Could be "tipota"(τείπωτα).
Okay? These are all "tipota". This is meant to be "ei"(ει). So, this is the hard part
of the Greek alphabet. You've got to pay attention. It's not really that hard if you get used
to it. As with everything. You just need to use the Greek letters. As I said in the first
video, you have to find people to write and speak Greek with.
There are not really a lot more diphthongs.. There are a few, like.. If you actually take
Aα(Alfa) and Υυ(Ipsilon) together, these together give "αυ"(av). So it's like, the
same thing with αβ(av). But.. it all depends on their position. If I take Aα(Alfa) and
Υυ(Ipsilon) again, they can be -- they will be written this way but they can also be pronounced
αφ(af). The trick is: Now this is a rule, this like grammar. You don't really need to
memorize it. You should, if you want to be serious about it, but you are going to get
used to it when you use it. Let's say we have the word.. this one(αυγό). This means
"egg". In this case, I'm going to pronounce this like αβγό(avgo). Some people actually
write this. I think this is wrong. I think, maybe, in modern spelling it could be accepted
but in correct Greek, this is the right way to write it. And it's pronounced that way.
But, the trick is that if the letter.. this is "X", this is the "missing X", that you
need to find. If this letter makes any sound with your throat, then.. you are actually
going to say β(v). Like, αβγ(avg), αβγο(avgo). If it doesn't and you can actually do it only
with your tongue or your teeth, you are going to say αφ(af). For example, now this is
the first word that comes to mind, this is really similar. Αυτο(Afto). Okay. I'm
not using my throat. This is called a voiceless consonant and a voiced consonant if you want
to look it up. Okay so. This is why I actually say this αφ(af) instead of αβ(av). If
you say αβτο(avto) this is retarded, it means nothing. Αυτο(afto) it means "that".
That thing.. "this" and "that" are somewhat different compared to English. But, that's
what it means, it means "this", "that". I'm pointing at something and I say αυτό(afto).
"Αυτο"(afto), not "Αβτό"(avto). And, the other set of diphthongs is this one. Which
is exactly.. they behave exactly the same as these ones. That's why I said them in this
kind of succession. If you actually take, for example, ευτυχια(eftihia), this
is χ(h). I said that already in the previous video. This one is in fact, voiceless. So
εφτυχια(eftihia). That's the way you pronounce it. Now, if you see this, this actually
is by one letter "seven"(εφτά). We don't really want that. So if you actually take
a word like this, ευλογια(evlogia). This is ev(εβ), because LLL(ΛΛΛ), it
uses like, it makes noise from your throat. εβλογία(evlogia). That's the logic
behind it. That's all you need to know when it comes to diphthongs. And, you must keep
in mind that these are also Ιι. Now, just to finish up. Greek script, not just the alphabet.
Like, Greek script generally, how you use it. Greek has a different question mark from
English. And many other languages. What you use as a semicolon is actually the question
mark. So this is Greek, this is foreign. Because it is not only english. This is meant to be
a g not a q. A full stop is a full stop, okay, yeah. That's not so hard. In order to actually
simulate the function of the semicolon in Greek, we use the so called "upper dot". Instead
of the dot being there, let's say I have a letter, okay. This is like, something that
ends in a. This is a period. This is a full stop. This, is a semicolon. This can only
be done in actual handwriting. I don't know how to do it, even on.. as a Greek, I don't
know how to do it on my keyboard. It's got to be done somehow but I have no idea how.
It's exactly the same thing as the semicolon. And. As you may have noticed, I accentuate
words. We all do, like, in English you still do that but you don't really realise it. Like,
you say, evening. If you could accentuate it, somewhere, where would you put it? Where
the accent actually is. Like, evening. Evening. This is where it is, like. Hi. Now, this is
hard because it's like the accent is somehow in the h too. Afternoon. Okay, as I said before.
The accent is somewhere in there. Okay. So in Greek.. I said these before. In the previous
lessons. Kalimera. Kalispera. Kalinihta, for example. We accentuate these, like, in Greek
script, I will do that in a second.. At the specific point where you actually say it louder.
Kalimera. mera. mera. Kalispera. Kalinihta. At the i. And in Greek script, using the Greek
alphabet, these are actually written: Καλημέρα. Καλησπέρα and Καληνύχτα.
Now in this case you actually see how important knowing which i to use is. Like, η υ. They
are next to each other. But you have still got to use the right one. So καλημέρα
καλησπέρα καληνύχτα. Full stop, whatever. And that's just about it.
Now you know everything you need to know about Greek script. That's exactly the philosophy
behind it, like the reasoning, the intuition behind it. You always put the accent where
the sound is more.. how do you say, it's higher, higher pitched. It's got a higher volume.
So, other examples. I said before, αυγό(avgo), "αβγό"(avgo) because Γγ is throat-based.
Just trying to revise here. Αυγό(Avgo). Okay. Αυτό(Afto). I said before, Καλό
απόγευμα(Kalo apogevma). So in Greek you can never really be wrong about where
you accentuate. It's pretty specific. Exactly where you hear it, the accent, that's exactly
where you are going to put it. The only complication, which is not really that hard to remember..
is that when you accentuate a diphthong, you put it on the second letter. Like, if you
have ου(u) then the accent goes there. "ει"(i), "αι"(e). Ah, I didn't say that one, yeah.
α+ι(alfa and iota) give an ε(eh) sound. That's it. And εί,αί,ού,οί, this is
also like i, you just put it on the second letter. Because, if you actually put the letter
on the first, it's like, you are breaking up the diphthong. You say όι(o-i). οί(i)
όι(o-i). There can usually be only one accent. If there is not, it's probably in such a word
like.. I can't describe it now but it shouldn't bother you. I mean, a lot of people don't
even know that you should use two accents in a word. Just nevermind it. So, this concludes
the alphabet lesson, I think you have more than enough to actually learn Greek, so. I'm
just going to say the alphabet quickly once. Αα Ββ Γγ Δδ Εε Ζζ Ηη Θθ Ιι
Κκ Λλ Μμ Νν Ξξ Οο Ππ Ρρ Σσ Ττ Υυ Φφ Χχ Ψψ Ωω. These are the
actual names, and you can check the previous video to check how they are actually pronounced,
like, each letter. So, in the next video I'm going to write down the verb "I am" and "I
have", the core verbs of any language. Um. With "am" and "have", you can actually form
other tenses, in the same way you do it in English. Like, I have done, I have read and
so on. I had read. You use have in Greek too. So you are actually going to need that to
say a lot of things. And, in the next lesson, like, after that, it's going to be numbers.
Cause you always need numbers. So, okay, I'll see you in the next video.