Some additional information on modern Greek pronunciation: consonants

1. β is pronounced as a 'v'.

2. δ is pronounced as the ‘th’ in ‘this’, as opposed to θ, which is pronounced as the ‘th’ in ‘think’.

3. The sounds ‘b’ and ‘d’ and ‘g’: these sounds are produced by the combinations ‘μπ’ and ‘ντ’ and ‘γκ’ or ‘γγ’. However, there are some variations in the way those combinations are pronounced.

a. Generally, you get the ‘dry’ sound (as above) at the beginning of a word.e.g., μπροστά, ντόπιος, γκρεμός. These words are all from modern Greek: there are no words in the New Testament that begin with any of those combinations.

b. Generally, these combinations are nasalized in the middle of a word:

μπ becomes ‘mb’ .............. το συμπόσιον (group (eating together))
ντ becomes ‘nd’.............. η εντολή (commandment)
γκ and γγ become ‘ng’................έγκυος (pregnant), ο άγγελος (angel, messenger)c.

There are some exceptions, which I suspect are more relevant to modern Greek. When there is repetition, for example, the ‘dry’ sound may be retained in the middle of the word: μπαμπάς (babas) (daddy).

4. Changes at word boundaries following a word ending in ‘ν’. These sound changes arise frequently because of the frequent use of the definite articles την, τον and των.

When one word ends in ‘ν’ and is followed by a word beginning with ‘π’, the combination is pronounced ‘mb’: την παρουσία (presence, coming, arrival)

When one words ends in ‘ν’ and is followed by a word beginning with ‘τ’, the combination is pronounced ‘nd’: την τέχνη (skill, craft)

When one word ends in ‘ν’ and is followed by a word beginning with ‘κ’, the combination is pronounced ‘ng’: τον κύριος.

5. The letter σ is pronounced like a ‘z’ in front of the consonants β, γ, δ, μ, ν and ρ. Otherwise, it is pronounced as a plain ‘s’.

E.g.: κόσμος, Ισραήλ vs. σκοτία (darkness, gloom), σάββατον

6. Palatalization. Τhis refers to the change in the way that the velar consonants κ, γ and χ are pronounced when they are followed by an ‘i’ (ι, η, υ, ει, οι) or an ‘e’ (αι, ε) sound.‘Velar’ means that the consonant is pronounced with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate. But when κ, γ and χ are followed by an ‘i’ or ‘e’ sound, the consonant becomes ‘palatal’ instead; that is, the middle of the tongue touches the hard palate.

For example, the velar ‘γ’ in γάλα (milk: modern Greek) becomes the palatal ‘γ’ in η γη (earth).This phenomenon also occurs with κ and χ: it’s just not as obvious to our (native English speaking) ears. For example, the χ in έχω is pronounced slightly differently than the χ in έχεις, and the κ in κατά is pronounced slightly differently than the κ in κύριος.

These are by no means the only rules/details/exceptions to Greek pronunciation, but they are some of the major ones. Χαίρετε!