Accentuation of one-syllable words. Necessary or unnecessary?

Accentuation of one-syllable words. Necessary or unnecessary?

Lesson 49.

In one of the first lessons we talked about the accent mark and we learnt that only one of the last three syllables of a word can be stressed. The syllable is a small part of a word containing a vowel or a diphthong.

One of the most important rules we’ve learnt is that in Modern Greek we don’t put accent to one-syllable rules. Today we will learn the exceptions.

As one-syllable words, the words ναι/yes, και/and, the prepositions με/with, σε/in, at, to, are written without accent mark.

We don’t put accent mark to one syllable verbs as well. For example, the verb λέω/I say in Present tense’s second singular person is λες/you say, and in Future Simple θα πω/I will say, θα πεις/ you will say, θα πει/ he, she, it will say has one syllable so it is written without accent mark.

Also sometimes we pronounce two vowels or a vowel and a diphthong together as if there was a single syllable. This is something we call in Greek συνίζηση. Συνίζηση is the pronunciation of two vowels, a vowel and a diphthong or the pronunciation of two diphthongs together. In two-syllable words, like the preposition για/ for, when we have to pronounce the two vowels as if there was a single syllable, again we don’t put accent mark.

You can see native speakers writing the word γεια/ hello with accent mark over the last vowel, but it is not correct. The word γεια is pronounced as a single syllable word, so it is written without accent mark. According to this rule we write without accent the following words: γιος/ son, πιο/ more, πια/ no more, not any longer and the interrogative pronoun ποιος-ποια-ποιο/ who.

The two syllable words δύο/ two and μία/ a, an (feminine) can be pronounced like two syllable words and like one-syllable words as well. When we pronounce the words δύο and μία as two syllable words we write them with accent mark. When we pronounce these two words as one-syllable words, we write them without accent mark: δυο, μια.

Definite article:  In modern Greek we don’t put accent mark to the definite articles. The feminine definite article in Nominative singular is “η” (eta without accent mark). Eta with accent mark (ή) is a conjunction and it means “or”.

One-syllable question words:

The word τι / what is always written without accent mark.

The word πως/ πώς can be written with accent mark and without accent mark. When the word πώς introduces an independent interrogative sentence or a dependent indirect question, it is an adverb, it means “how” and it is written with accent mark. When the word πως is a conjunction introducing a dependent clause, then it means “that” and it is written without accent mark.

The word που/ πού can be written with accent mark and without accent mark. When the word πού introduces a direct or indirect question, it means “where” and it is written with accent mark.

In modern Greek we don’t put accent mark to the possessive pronouns but as they have the same form as the weak form of the personal pronouns, sometimes to distinguish them we put accent mark to the weak forms of the personal pronouns. We will talk about it in one of the next lessons.