Grammarme: Tonos or the Accent in Modern Greek
Modern Greek uses a system of accent marks, to indicate stress on syllables. There are two main diacritics used in Modern Greek: the tonos (´) and the diaeresis (¨).
The tonos is a mark placed above a vowel to indicate that it is stressed.
The acute accent (´) in a word indicates which vowel is stressed. For example, the word “νερό” (water) is pronounced “neró” with the acute accent over the “o”.
The diaeresis is a mark placed above two vowels to indicate that they are pronounced as separate syllables and not as a diphthong. For example, the word “παιδιά” (children) is pronounced “pe-dhi-á” with the diaeresis over the “i”.
The use of diacritics is essential for understanding and pronouncing Modern Greek correctly. Without diacritics, it can be difficult to determine which syllable is stressed and how the vowels are pronounced.
Here are some additional examples of how diacritics are used in Modern Greek:
- αγάπη (agápi) – love
- φιλία (philía) – friendship
- ελευθερία (elefthería) – freedom
- ομορφιά (omorfiá) – beauty
- επιστήμη (epistími) – science
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