Hello again, this is Steve for LessonsOnlineTV and this the third video on the modern Greek
language.
In this video I'm going to try to show you the Greek alphabet.
The Greek alphabet is the alphabet used now in modern day Greece and Cyprus, um, I don't
think they have any differences.
Greek was actually the origin of the Cyrillic alphabet, if you know Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian,
all of these languages, they have usually -- they usually use, um, the Cyrillic alphabet,
I think Serbian is also written with latin, I'm not sure.
so let me save time, I'm actually going to rush through all the letters, write them down,
I'm going to say their names, like, in the same way you call this "I" and not "I"(ee),
even though that's like, usually its sound.
I'm just going to write down the letters and say their names out loud.
Alfa.
Vita.
Gamma.
Delta.
Epsilon.
Zita.
Ita.
Thita.
Iota.
Kappa.
Lambda.
Mi.
Ni.
Xi.
Omikron.
Pi.
Ro.
Sigma.
This is another form, I'm going to explain it later.
Taf.
Ipsilon.
Fi.
Khi.
Psi.
Omega.
Now, this is like the "standard" alphabet, of course there are a lot of variations.
Sometimes, it just -- it depends on how you've gotten used to it.
For example, Vita can also be written like this.
You might think that zita can be written like this, it can't.
Okay, just don't do that.
We are going to understand what you mean but if you want to write it properly, in the Greek
alphabet, that's not the way you are going to write it.
Um.
Ita, this is like your n, okay, the small one is like your n but with a little tail.
And, thita.
Maybe if you know maths you know the partial derivative.
And, we use a variation of thita, which is actually like this.
Maybe..
it's not really widespread, you don't really use that.
And the most common is this one.
Okay.
Or, a very straight one, like..
Some people actually write it like this, they are all valid.
You actually understand which letter it is.
"i" does not have a spot on it, dot.
You just write it alone.
(repeat letters).
This is meant to be also a small circle.
This is just because of the speed.
Um.
"π".
You all know π, like 3.14159 right.
It's actually "pi"(pee), not "pi"(pie).
I don't know where "pie" came from and why you call it "pie".
But seeing how it's an actual greek letter, you should call it by its name, in the same
way we call this "A", "B" and not "A"(ah), "B"(v).
Or, ehh, "alfa", "vita".
I think it's only right that you pronounce this "pi"(pee), in the same way that it's
actually called.
Also, I have actually seen these called "Mu" and "Nu".
I don't know who came up with that.
"Mi", "Ni".
That's how we call them.
Maybe it's just the name that you give to them.
"Fi" has a few variations, like, no, just this one.
Okay, it's not that different.
And "taf" has this one.
Of course this is all handwritten, I'm just saying all this for reference.
Because, in the actual fonts, you are actually going to encounter mainly the ones I wrote
in the beginning.
So now, I'm just going to try and say the sounds of each letter.
That doesn't really exactly exist in English because depending on where a letter is in
a word, it gets a different kind of sound.
Um.
In Greek, every letter has its own sound.
Normally.
Like, I'm going to say them right now.
Okay.
So I don't know how clear these sounded.
But we have, two Os.
These are both O, okay.
And these, are all "I".
Now, this is kind of hard, because -- it's not that hard to actually learn it.
We have three same letters.
It's not that hard you just memorize one and remember the rest.
But.
When it comes to spelling, these are unbelievably different.
There is a huge difference.
Uuuum.
Like, using a different letter might "save your life" if you are actually going to say
something wrong.
Write something wrong.
Um.
It's not just about spelling errors.
Like if you switch a letter, maybe it gains a different meaning.
There might be a similar word where you just change one of the letters and it means something
really different.
So you might avoid a lot of misunderstandings if you write it correctly.
This is it, actually.
There's not much to it.
Now, the bad part, that you have to get used to, is this.
This is actually like.. we call it the final "s".
You only write this which is actually your "s".
When I say your I mean the english "s".
This is.. if you actually start a word with "s" and it ends again with "s".
Then you write this one.
Like, this sigma goes anywhere in a word, up until the previous, like - the letter before
the end.
If the word ends with s, then you use this one.
Like..
I don't know.
I'm just writing something down.
This is pronounced "kapios".
This is a diphthong I'm going to say that in the next video.
Um.
I have this kind of sigma in the end.
You don't really write "kapios"(καποιοσ).
This is wrong.
This is unbelievably wrong.
But this is of course, only the case, that you actually write the small letters.
If you write with capitals, then, it's the same sigma all over.
For example, my name.. I say that my name is Steve.
My real name is not Steve.
Steve is just the closest english translation I can get.
My actual name is..
"Stefanos".
It really means..
it's like a crown..
it's not exactly like that.
It's a round kind of.. thing you wear on your head, right.
Not a crown, but imagine like, in a marriage.
I don't know if it happens everywhere.
It's like, they use two circular things that you put on your head.
A thing like.. the holy thing that the saints have.
That kind of thing.
We call that "fotostefano"(φωτοστεφανο).
Light.. light thingy.
So, "Stefanos".
As you can see, I write this with a capital sigma and I end this with a small one.
This is indeed like, S,t,e..
If you actually try and look in this maze of letters, because I don't really have the
proper format for them..
I should have ordered them a bit better..
Um..
This is actually S,t,e,f,a,n,o,s.
Like, in Greek..
Now this is a general rule.
Whatever you see, is exactly what you read.
But exactly what you hear, is not going to be exactly what you are going to write down.
For example, I say.. "tipota".
Okay?
"tipota".
I just found this word.. this is meant to be an alfa.
Now you might be confused because I actually wrote this taf like this, and the other one
like this.
There is no difference.
It's just, my hand went better that way, when I was writing the rest of the letters.
So, I have "tipota".
This can be written down, if you've heard it.. it can also be "tipota"(τίπωτα).
"tipota"(τήποτα).
"tipota"(τήπωτα).
There's a lot of "tipota"s you can make, but only one of them is correct.
So, this is the hard part of Greek.
That you actually have to understand what way the word is actually written.
So, I'm going to write mainly so that you get used to the written form of words, instead
of the pronounced one.
Um.
Because this video is getting long, in the next video.. because, it won't fit.
I'm gonna describe diphthongs, that means: you take two letters, put them together and
something new comes up.
These are really a core piece of the Greek alphabet, so you've got to know them.
So I'll see you in the next video which is a continuation of this one.