Letter Combinations – Two letter vowels and consonants

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Hello dearest!

In a previous post, we talked about the Greek alphabet and we analyzed

each ofthe twenty-four letters. Today, we are will talk about the

two-letter vowels and consonants. Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking.

Twenty-four letters aren’tenough? I’m afraid for Greeks the answer is no.

But please do not panic and look on the bright side! Letter combinations

are a vital part of the Greek alphabet and they will help you create and

understand even more words and phrases.

Let’s get started then, shall we?

Two-letter vowels – Δίψηφα φωνήεντα

We have already seen that the Greek alphabet consists of 7 vowels:

α, ε, η, ι, ο, υ, ω

The Greek language has also 5 two-letter vowels which are the following:

αι, ει, οι, υι, ου

• ΑΙ, αι sounds like e in the word ten
• ΕΙ, ει, ΟΙ, οι and ΥΙ, υι sound like i in the word lift
• ΟΥ, ου sounds like u in the word put

The image below will help you understand two-letter vowels better.

Words that include two-letter vowels

Examples:

αι

• το παιδί (pedi) – child
• το μαχαίρι (maheri) – knife
• το αίμα (ema) – blood

ει

• η ειρήνη (irini) – peace
• το εισιτήριο (isitirio) – ticket
• οι ειδήσεις (idisis) – news

οι

• η οικογένεια (ikoyenia) – family
• ο οικοδεσπότης (ikodespotis) – host
• η οικονομία (ikonomia) – economy

υι

• ο υιός (ios) – son
• η υιοθεσία (iothesia) – adoption

ου

• το βουνό (vuno) – mountain
• το λουλούδι (luluthi) – flower
• το κουτί (kuti) – box

Two-letter consonants – Δίψηφα σύμφωνα

We have already seen that the Greek alphabet consists of 17 consonants:  

β, γ, δ, ζ, θ, κ, λ, μ, ν, ξ, π, ρ, σ (ς), τ, φ, χ, ψ.

Apart from those 17, there are 6 two-letter consonants which are the

following:

μπ, ντ, γκ, γγ, τσ, τζ.

• ΜΠ, μπ sounds like b in the word ball
• ΝΤ, ντ sounds like d in the word drums
• ΓΚ, γκ and ΓΓ, γγ sound like g in the word greek
• ΤΣ, τσ sounds like ch in the word chair (or like ts in the word sportsman)
• ΤΖ, τζ sounds like j in the word jam (or like tz in the word hertz)

The image below will help you understand two-letter consonants better.

Words that include two-letter consonants

Examples:

μπ

• ο μπαμπάς (babas) – father
• το μπαλόνι (baloni) – baloon
• το μπισκότο (biscoto) – biscuit

ντ

• η ντομάτα (domata) – tomatoe
• το δόντι (thodi) – tooth
• ο ελέφαντας (elefadas) – elephant

γκ

• η πριγκίπισσα (prigipissa) – princess
• η αγκαλιά (agalia) – hug
• το σαλιγκάρι (saligari) – snail

γγ

• το αγγούρι (aguri) – cucumber
• το φεγγάρι (fegari) – moon
• ο άγγελος (agelos) – angel

τσ

• η κάλτσα (kalcha) – sock
• η τσάντα (chanda) – bag
• η πετσέτα (pecheta) – towel

τζ

• το τζάμι (jami) – glass
• ο ταξιτζής (taxijis) – taxidriver
• το τζάκι (jaki) – fireplace

Well, that was it for today. See you at our next lesson! 🙂