# Difference between Ancient and Modern Greek



## laurent485

Hi everyone,

I'm currently learning the ancient Greek. My question is whether one can understand written Modern Greek if he has a good command of the ancient Greek. Thank you.


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## Andrious

What do you think?
*
(ancient)
1       *᾿Εν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος.
*2       *Οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν.
*3       *πάντα δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἓν ὃ γέγονεν.
*4       *ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
*5       *καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτία φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

(modern)
 1Aρχικά     υπήρχε ο Λόγος και ο Λόγος υπήρχε με το Θεό, και     Θεός ήταν ο Λόγος.
2Aρχικά αυτός υπήρχε με το Θεό.
3Tα πάντα μέσω αυτού δημιουργήθηκαν, και απ όλα     τα δημιουργήματα, ούτε ένα δε δημιουργήθηκε     χωρίς αυτόν.
4Aυτός ήταν η πηγή της ζωής και η ζωή     αυτή ήταν το φως των ανθρώπων.
5Kαι το φως φέγγει     μέσα στο σκοτάδι, και το σκοτάδι δεν μπόρεσε να     καταπνίξει αυτό το φως.


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## anthodocheio

Andrious... this translation/transliteration to modern Greek is quite free...

Laurent, if one really has a good command of ancient Greek, with a few tips can understand written Modern Greek, or most of it.


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## Christo Tamarin

laurent485 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'm currently learning the ancient Greek. My question is whether one can understand written Modern Greek if he has a good command of the ancient Greek. Thank you.



Some expressions can be understood, of course. But in general, the answer should be *no*.


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## Andrious

anthodocheio said:


> Andrious... this translation/transliteration to modern Greek is quite free...



Doesn't seem very free to me. I think that very free is the translation of John's Apocalypse.


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## anthodocheio

> *(ancient)
> 1 *᾿Εν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος.
> *2 *Οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν.
> *3 *πάντα δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἓν ὃ γέγονεν.
> *4 *ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
> *5 *καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτία φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.
> 
> (modern)
> 1 Στην αρχή ήταν ο Λόγος, και ο Λόγος ήταν προς τον Θεό, και Θεός ήταν ο Λόγος.
> 2 Aυτός ήταν στην αρχή προς τον Θεό.
> 3 Tα πάντα μέσω αυτού έγιναν, και χωρίς αυτόν δεν έγινε ούτε ένα απ' όσα έγιναν.
> 4 Σε αυτόν η ζωή ήταν, και η ζωή ήταν το φως των ανθρώπων.
> 5 Kαι το φως μέσα στο σκοτάδι φέγγει, και το σκοτάδι δεν το καταπνίξε.


I don't know if it helps, nor if it is acceptable, (I made it by myself )
but this is my idea of a not-free "translation". Here one can see, word-to-word, the diferences.


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## Timothy1987

The "modern" interpretation by Andrious is actually much harder for me to read and comprehend than the ancient Greek; sloppy translation, indeed. Anthodocheio's attempt is much more palatable, frankly, but obviously not as smooth as the original.

Regardless, if you're not an imbecile then any stage of Greek will help with another, generally speaking of course.


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## alfie1888

The basics of Classical Greek are very similar to those of Modern Greek. When I started 4 years ago, after 12 years of Modern Greek, I found Classical Greek very easy to learn BUT ONLY AT THE START. As you progress further and the grammar gets more complex, the more differences one will find. Below I have tried to give an example of a noun declension (that exists in both languages) to show you just how little they differ in essence:

nominative: ὁ λόγος (ο λόγος) / οἱ λόγοι (οι λόγοι, τα λόγια [in a different sense of the word, meaning "words", actually...])
accusative: τὸν λόγον (το λόγο) / τοὺς λόγους (τους λόγους)
genitive: τοῦ λόγου (του λόγου) /  τῶν λόγων (των λόγων)
dative: τῷ λόγῳ (για το λόγο > a dative form doesn't really exist any more in MG except for some fossilised forms, such as _πράγματι _[singular dative form of _πράγμα_]) / τοῖς λόγοις (για τους λόγους)

However, this is just a simple example out of a possible many and is only based on a single example of an ageless noun. Simple sentences aren't too different, either, but rest assured that it can get quite complicated and thus very, very different.

Τί ἀποκρίνεται πρῶτον τῷ γίγαντι ὁ Ὀδυσσεύς; / Τι αποκρίνεται πρώτα ο Οδυσσέας στον γίγαντα; *
= How did Odysseus first answer the giant?

* (If my MG is wrong here, please feel free to correct it!)

Anyway, in answer to your question, if you know Ancient / Classical Greek and then go on to Modern Greek: you can basically learn all the grammar in a month! I know this because my former Greek teacher's husband learned Classical and Biblical Greek first before meeting her and then learned Modern Greek. Modern Greek is basically a simplified version of the Ancient language (grammatically) and in comparison, Modern Greek is much easier so you would definitely have no trouble should you wish to pursue the Modern language.

Hope I helped!


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## Tassos

First Laurent, let me tell you that no native speaker can _*literally*_ answer your question because as you can understand none of us learns Ancient Greek _*first*_ and Modern Greek later. 
Now, from my limited experience on the subject (2 years of Ancient Greek in the "lykeio", more than 20 years ago ) I have to say that I agree with Alfie. I would say in fact that between the two languages - as far as learning is concerned - exists what is called "asymmetric" intelligibility. If someone grew up learning only Ancient Greek it would be considerably easier for him to learn Modern Greek than the opposite. 
A simple example is the accent system. In Modern Greek there is just one accent and in Ancient Greek there are 5 (and even more if we consider the combinations). If you know Ancient Greek the rules are very easy if you want to "jump" to the Modern Greek accent system, if you know Modern Greek you actually have to relearn all the words again (even these which are the same) *with* their accents.


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