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Things to know about Greek

Greek is the official language of Greece. It is also one of the official languages of Cyprus, and of the European Union.

Using Greek Lessons

There are 24 letters in the Greek alphabet: 17 consonants and 7 vowels. Modern Greek is written from left to right, just like English. The modern language also uses marks over vowels to indicate stress, while older Greek texts may use additional diacritic marks.

Some content in this application shows the native Greek characters along with the transliterations of the Greek words and phrases. Others may have just native characters or just transliterations. If your content only shows native Greek characters, or shows the text in native characters before the transliterations, you will need to type the Greek characters in various activities and assessments. Follow the instructions below to do so.

Note: If your content only shows transliterations, or shows transliterations before native characters, see Using Transliterated Greek Lessons further down.

To type Greek characters:

  1. Position your cursor somewhere where you can type, and verify that the virtual keyboard layout is set to Greek.
  2. Locate the character you want on the virtual keyboard, then click on it or press the corresponding key on your physical keyboard. Capital letters are available by holding down the Shift key.
  3. If you need to type a diacritic mark over a Greek vowel, type the vowel, then select the version with the diacritic from the list of possibilities which appears. You must type the appropriate diacritics to have your answers scored as correct.

See Typing special scripts for additional typing instructions.

Using Transliterated Greek Lessons

Some Greek lessons in this application may be transliterated - written with the letters of the Latin alphabet. Transliterated lessons can help you master vocabulary and pronunciation before tackling a new writing system.

If your content only shows transliterations, or shows transliterations before native characters, you do not have to type the actual Greek characters. You can type the transliterations in any activity or assessment that requires typed answers. Transliterated Greek does not require any special characters. In some transliterated lessons, the stressed syllables of words are written in capital letters to help you learn Greek pronunciation. You do not have to match the capitalization when you type answers.

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