Letter Combinations – Two letter vowels and consonants

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Hello dearest!

In a previous post, we talked about theGreek alphabet and we analyzed each of

the 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’t

enough? 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 alphabetconsists 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! 🙂