Language Information

The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with a capital and small form. There are some phonetic differences between classical and modern Greek

The letter sigma has a special form which is used when it appears at the end of a word.

Letter	Name	Pronunciation		Latin transliteration
		classical	modern
Α α	Alpha	[a] [a:]	[a]	a
Β β	Beta	[b]	[v]	b
Γ γ	Gamma	[g]	[j] before [e] or [i]; [ɣ] otherwise	g
Δ δ	Delta	[d]	[ð]	d
Ε ε	Epsilon	[e]	[e]	e
Ζ ζ	Zeta	[zd], later [z:]	[z]	z, s (between vowels)
Η η	Eta	[ɛː]	[i]	ē, e, ê
Θ θ	Theta	[tʰ]	[θ]	th
Ι ι	Iota	[i] [i:]	[i] [j]	i
Κ κ	Kappa	[k]	[k]	k, c
Λ λ	Lambda	[l]	[l]	l
Μ μ	Mu	[m]	[m]	m
Ν ν	Nu	[n]	[n]	n
Ξ ξ	Xi	[ks]	[ks]	x, (ks)
Ο ο	Omicron	[o]	[o]	o
Π π	Pi	[p]	[p]	p
Ρ ρ	Rho	[r]	[r]	r, rh (beginning a word), rrh (doubled)
Σ σ	Sigma	[s]	[s]	s, ss (between vowels)
ς	Sigma (final)			s
Τ τ	Tau	[t]	[t]	t
Υ υ	Upsilon	[y] [y:]	[i]	u, y (between consonants)
Φ φ	Phi	[pʰ]	[f]	ph
Χ χ	Chi	[kʰ]	[ç]	ch, kh
Ψ ψ	Psi	[ps]	[ps]	ps
Ω ω	Omega	[ɔː]	[o]	o, ô

Grammar

Ancient Greek is highly inflected. Nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative), three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), and three numbers (singular, dual and plural). Verbs have four moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive and optative), three voices (active, middle and passive), as well as three persons (first, second and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated in four main tenses (present, aorist, perfect, and future), with a full complement of moods for each main tense, although there is no future subjunctive or future imperative. In addition, indicative forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist.

Modern Greek has simplified some aspects of this system but is still largely a synthetic language. The dative is lost except for in a few expressions. Other noticeable changes in its grammar include the loss of the optative, infinitive and the dual number (with the exception of δύο, the numeral two); the reduction in the number of noun declensions, and the number of distinct forms in each declension; the adoption of the modal particle θα to denote future and conditional tenses; the introduction of auxiliary verb forms for certain tenses; the reduction of participles to only two, one active and one passive; the extension to the future tense of the aspectual distinction between present/imperfect and aorist; the loss of the third person imperative, except in archaisms; and the simplification of the system of grammatical prefixes.

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