Advice about Accent Marks

Accent and breathing marks are very helpful when reading Greek. They alert you when there is a rough breathing ("h" sound) at the start of a word, and they also tell you what syllable to stress. 

But the marks can also be confusing! Very few people read Greek tonally, so the difference between the acute, grave, and circumflex accents is not really all that helpful. Occasionally the type of accent mark can help identify the form of an ambiguous word, but especially when you are a beginning student, that is not going to happen very often.

Here is my advice on accent marks:

When reading Greek, always always ALWAYS read out loud, and strongly accentuate the accented syllable. Pay special attention to when the accent moves because the word endings change. You will remember much more learning by ear than learning by sight alone, and the accent marks will help you read out loud with confidence.

When copying Greek, do NOT copy the smooth breathing mark. Instead, mark the rough breathing only. The vast majority of words do not have a rough breathing mark. So, focus on the rough breathing. That's the one that really matters! And remember to read out loud, exaggerating the rough breathing and exaggerating the stressed syllables so that you will learn and remember them.

When composing your own sentences in Greek, it's up to you whether you want to use the acute, grave, and circumflex accents. Especially when getting started with Greek, I recommend that you just put an acute accent on the stressed syllable. So, if there is a grave or circumflex accent in the Greek, just mark an acute accent when you are writing it out, especially if you find the accent marks overwhelming. And don't forget: read out loud! Always!

When typing Greek, I highly recommend TypeGreek.com, a tool built by one of my students, Randy Hoyt, many years ago. The system it uses for entering the Greek accent marks is very easy to learn: / acute, \ grave, = circumflex, ( rough breathing, and ) smooth breathing. For more details, see the Alphabet Key at Randy's site.

* * *

About iota subscript: The iota subscript is not an accent or breathing mark; it really is a letter! It is written as a subscript because sometime around the first century C.E., it was no longer pronounced. When you are learning Greek, though, and especially if you are learning Homeric Greek, you should always write the iota subscript and pronounce it when reading out loud. More about this at Wikipedia: Iota Subscript.