# Still having trouble with accents



## chrislols

Hi! I've been learning Greek now for more than one year. And I've learned a good deal of Greek, I've been speaking perfectly to my relatives etc, communicating and going about life speaking Greek to my family and friends great. The problem I'm having though is accent marks

There are two major problems with them, they're:

One, I can read Greek, but sometimes I'll totally mispronounce a word because I don't understand how an ACCENT mark works. Now most people tell me it works like this "What letter it is on is the letter you stress" or "The letter with the accent is the letter you emphasize". Which doesn't really help me.

This causes problem number two, because of this, I also can not for the life of me, remember what letter in a word gets an accent. So when writing a letter, or typing in greek, it looks like this because I don't know where the accent mark goes

Τονος. Γεια, Δωδεκα, Εκοσι, ονομα, αδελφο....

So while typing a sentence, it'll look like this. 

Το ονομα της γυναικας μου είναι Μαρια.

Εγώ μαθαινώ Ελληνικά για μονο ενα χρονο.

Which I would think in a mature or professional way looks weird, because theres 1 word with a Τονος.

Can anyone explain in depth to how an accent actually works, maybe with a few examples and if there is an easier way to remember where it goes on a word, or if that comes with understanding how accents work in the first place?

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply.

Ευχαριστω πολυ


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## alexandruk

"The letter with the accent is the letter you emphasize".

The word official in English is pronounced "offícial" while officiel in French is pronounced "officiél". The same with modern: in English it is módern in French it is modérn.

Another example:
Photógrapher
Photográphic
Phótograph

I tried to put stresses in the following English text



> Greek orthógraphy has used a varíety of diacrítics stárting in the Hellinístic pédiod. The cómplex polytónic orthógraphy which notáted Áncient Greek Phonólogy was used untíl 1982, when it was supplánted by the simplified monotónic orthógraphy, which correspónds to Módern Greek phonólogy, and requíres ónly two diacrítics.



An example in greek: "πόλη" is the city and "πολύ" is much.
"Χώρος" is the "space" while "χορός" is the "dance".


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## chrislols

alexandruk said:


> "The letter with the accent is the letter you emphasize".
> 
> The word official in English is pronounced "offícial" while officiel in French is pronounced "officiél". The same with modern: in English it is módern in French it is modérn.
> 
> Another example:
> Photógrapher
> Photográphic
> Phótograph
> 
> I tried to put stresses in the following English text
> 
> 
> 
> An example in greek: "πόλη" is the city and "πολύ" is much.
> "Χώρος" is the "space" while "χορός" is the "dance".



I understand what you're trying to say but reading the English text just hurts my ears, and when saying Χώρος και Χορός, I don't know what the difference is. Which often is what makes me end up saying words wrong. Causing me to get corrected


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## alexandruk

chrislols said:


> I understand what you're trying to say but reading the English text just hurts my ears, and when saying Χώρος και Χορός, I don't know what the difference is. Which often is what makes me end up saying words wrong. Causing me to get corrected



You should look for vocal examples.
Check this page http://www.foundalis.com/lan/grstress.htm


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## revvok

As greek my native language, it was always easy to put the accent marks correctly...because when you have heard a word before it's easy to understand where it's stressed and put the stress there..
I suppose that it may become difficult to stress a word correctly when you haven't heard it before several times..so in first place, I think you have to learn the stresses as a part of words orthography..

The example of alexandruk was very good..
Think, how you have learned that the word ''photographer'' is stressed in second ''o'' and not in ''a'' or ''e''.. If you have to put stress marks in English it would be "photόgrapher" and surely not "photogrάpher" for example..

"χώρος" and "χορός" are two totally different words...
But, if there where no stress marks, "χωρος" and "χορος" could sound the same ("ω" sounds same as "o", by the way).
With stress marks,"χώρος" is stressed on first "o" ,while "χορός" on second "o".

I can't tell you an easy way to put stress marks without knowing where the word is stressed,which letter is emphasized...
But if you know that it's easy..for example "τονος" sounds "τΟνος"(stressed in first "o") so it must be written "τόνος" and not "τονός"...and backwards if you see the word "όνομα" you must say it as "Oνομα"(stressed in first "o") and not "ονΟμα" or "ονομA".

Anyway, I think a non-Greek, who studies Greek like you ,could really help you more...maybe there is a "trick" or something...


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## chrislols

revvok said:


> As greek my native language, it was always easy to put the accent marks correctly...because when you have heard a word before it's easy to understand where it's stressed and put the stress there..
> I suppose that it may become difficult to stress a word correctly when you haven't heard it before several times..so in first place, I think you have to learn the stresses as a part of words orthography..
> 
> The example of alexandruk was very good..
> Think, how you have learned that the word ''photographer'' is stressed in second ''o'' and not in ''a'' or ''e''.. If you have to put stress marks in English it would be "photόgrapher" and surely not "photogrάpher" for example..
> 
> "χώρος" and "χορός" are two totally different words...
> But, if there where no stress marks, "χωρος" and "χορος" could sound the same ("ω" sounds same as "o", by the way).
> With stress marks,"χώρος" is stressed on first "o" ,while "χορός" on second "o".
> 
> I can't tell you an easy way to put stress marks without knowing where the word is stressed,which letter is emphasized...
> But if you know that it's easy..for example "τονος" sounds "τΟνος"(stressed in first "o") so it must be written "τόνος" and not "τονός"...and backwards if you see the word "όνομα" you must say it as "Oνομα"(stressed in first "o") and not "ονΟμα" or "ονομA".
> 
> Anyway, I think a non-Greek, who studies Greek like you ,could really help you more...maybe there is a "trick" or something...




I understand what you're trying to say, and thank you for your help.

But I don't understand exactly what you mean when you sy "tOnos" or "Onoma" That still doesn't explain how the sound changes -.-


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## BrendaP

Chrislols - Let's go back to the example of the difference in sound between χώρος (space) and χορός (dance).  For the first, try saying the first syllable louder-- χώ-ρος.  For the second, say the last syllable louder--χορ-ός.  Now can you hear a difference in the sound of the two words?  Your native language is English, as is mine, and I've only been studying Greek for a couple of years.  English, with no accent marks, must make it very difficult for people to learn how to speak OUR language.  Those marks are the only way to know how to pronounce Greek words.  You mentioned that you speak Greek well, and if you listen to yourself you'll notice that you're saying one part of the word a bit "louder" than the other.  That's the accent/ tonos/ stress.  I think I'm really not clear on what it is that you're not understanding, but I hope this helps anyway.


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## revvok

chrislols said:


> I understand what you're trying to say, and thank you for your help.
> 
> But I don't understand exactly what you mean when you sy "tOnos" or "Onoma" That still doesn't explain how the sound changes -.-




I used caps to show at which letter we give emphasis..and as a result the letter we put the stress mark..
Just imagine the word "imagine"..It is stressed to "a" so it sounds "imAgine"..
If it was stressed to "i", it would sounds "imagIne"..
As Brenda told, every word has a syllable that we say it louder like the "ma" in "imagine". (we say "i-mAAA-gi-ne" and not
 "i-ma-gIII-ne")
In Greek, this syllable is showned with the stress mark.. We say "τΟΟΟ-νος" and not "το-νOOOς".. so we have to write it "τόνος" and not "τονός"..
In the same way, of course, when we see "δώδεκα" we have to say it like 
"δΩΩΩ-δε-κα" and not "δω-δΕΕΕ-κα" or "δω-δε-κΑΑΑ".

Surely the best way to understand this is to hear it from someone..It's easy


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## chrislols

BrendaP said:


> Chrislols - Let's go back to the example of the difference in sound between χώρος (space) and χορός (dance).  For the first, try saying the first syllable louder-- χώ-ρος.  For the second, say the last syllable louder--χορ-ός.  Now can you hear a difference in the sound of the two words?  Your native language is English, as is mine, and I've only been studying Greek for a couple of years.  English, with no accent marks, must make it very difficult for people to learn how to speak OUR language.  Those marks are the only way to know how to pronounce Greek words.  You mentioned that you speak Greek well, and if you listen to yourself you'll notice that you're saying one part of the word a bit "louder" than the other.  That's the accent/ tonos/ stress.  I think I'm really not clear on what it is that you're not understanding, but I hope this helps anyway.




I thank you for your help and understand what you're saying.

Basically that is my question, is the Τόνος, just a letter that you kind of say louder, aka emphasize..? Or is it something more in depth?

I think I may be getting confused over this hole situation, when I shouldn't be -.-



revvok said:


> I used caps to show at which letter we give emphasis..and as a result the letter we put the stress mark..
> Just imagine the word "imagine"..It is stressed to "a" so it sounds "imAgine"..
> If it was stressed to "i", it would sounds "imagIne"..
> As Brenda told, every word has a syllable that we say it louder like the "ma" in "imagine". (we say "i-mAAA-gi-ne" and not
> "i-ma-gIII-ne")
> In Greek, this syllable is showned with the stress mark.. We say "τΟΟΟ-νος" and not "το-νOOOς".. so we have to write it "τόνος" and not "τονός"..
> In the same way, of course, when we see "δώδεκα" we have to say it like
> "δΩΩΩ-δε-κα" and not "δω-δΕΕΕ-κα" or "δω-δε-κΑΑΑ".
> 
> Surely the best way to understand this is to hear it from someone..It's easy




I think I am understanding it more clearly now. I also thank you very much for your help so far Revvok


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## BrendaP

YES!!! You've got it! Τόνος is just a letter (syllable) that you kind of say louder aka emphasize.  Nothing more in depth than that.  Glad we could help.


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## Δημήτρης

> Or is it something more in depth?


Well, there is something more, but not as important... 
Some words take τόνος to indicate different meaning (πως vs π*ώ*ς, που vs πο*ύ*, ο δ*ά*σκαλ*ό*ς μου vs ο δ*ά*σκαλος μου). In the first 2 cases, the pronunciation is exactly the same. In the latter, δάσκαλος gains a secondary stressed syllable (shifted from μού) to differentiate the possessive μου from the μου as a personal pronoun.
Ο δΑσκαλΟ_(ς->ζ)_μου vs ο δΑσκαλος μOY.


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## alexandruk

Δημήτρης said:


> Well, there is something more, but not as important...
> Some words take τόνος to indicate different meaning (πως vs π*ώ*ς, που vs πο*ύ*, ο δ*ά*σκαλ*ό*ς μου vs ο δ*ά*σκαλος μου). In the first 2 cases, the pronunciation is exactly the same. In the latter, δάσκαλος gains a secondary stressed syllable (shifted from μού) to differentiate the possessive μου from the μου as a personal pronoun.
> Ο δΑσκαλΟ_(ς->ζ)_μου vs ο δΑσκαλος μOY.



In the first two cases the pronunciation is not exactly the same.  
In the link I gave you, you can find everything about "Tόνος". I think that it's too early to learn all the rules about τόνος and you will get confused. Some of the rules are not known even by native speakers. 

 The important when you learn a new word is to learn where to put the Τόνος on it. It's just a part of the word.  Nothing more, It's not difficult, not strange.


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## cougr

alexandruk said:


> In the first two cases the pronunciation is not exactly the same.



Really??


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## revvok

cougr said:


> Really??



Yes, I agree with that..."πως" και "πώς" have not exactly the same pronunciation..
As "πώς" is used in question situations, it has a '..questioning' pronunciation..
It's more emphasized than "πως" and that's why we put the stress mark..


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## Δημήτρης

Sounds the same to me, in affirmative/inderect uses . :-/


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## Librarian44

Where to put the accent in Greek is something you learn by ear not by grammar rules (well there are a few, but they do not cover all words). It is not as easy as for instance in French where ALL words are stressed on the last syllable. However, you should be able to understand how differently you pronounce "photographer" (stress on the second o, albeit without using any accents) and "φωτογράφος" (stress on the α, where you put the accent). I know it is a tricky situation as accents often shift when using different forms of the same word: τα κορίτσια (plural nominative, accent on the ι, the girls) BUT των κοριτσιών (plural genitive, OF the girls). Greek is a very difficult language, even for natives, if you want to speak it correctly, but you seem to be doing fine. Don't be discouraged!


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