Breathing marks
Every word that starts with a vowel carries a breathing mark. (smooth) adds nothing; (rough) adds an 'h'.
Lessons Lesson 3 of 29
Read the marks above letters and sound out a whole verse.
Every word that starts with a vowel carries a breathing mark. (smooth) adds nothing; (rough) adds an 'h'.
Initial and always take a rough breathing: (rhēma), (hymeis).
Acute , grave , circumflex . In Erasmian reading, simply stress the accented syllable.
Only the last three syllables can be accented, and the circumflex only on the last two, on a long vowel.
An acute on the final syllable turns grave when another word follows: alone, in a sentence.
Greek ; is a question mark, and a raised dot · works like a semicolon or colon.
Screen 1 of 6
Tap any word to see its dictionary form, parsing and meaning.
Abrahambegatthe,IsaacIsaacthenbegatthe,JacobJacobthenbegattheJudah thebrothers,of him
Pass the lesson with 80% or more across the scored drills. Read-aloud practice and optional reading never hold you back.
Pick a drill to start. Each one keeps its own score.
A letter appears. Pick its name, or the letter that matches a name.
No answers yet. Pass with 18 of the last 20.
Match letters and letter pairs to their Erasmian sounds, both ways.
No answers yet.
Spell each word in Latin letters, or turn the Latin spelling back into Greek.
No answers yet.
Spell this word in Latin letters.
καί
Type each word with the Greek keys. Choose what counts: letters only, then breathings, then accents.
No answers yet.
Only the letters count. Marks are optional.
Type this word in Greek.
καί
Trace each lowercase letter with your finger or mouse, in the stroke order shown.
No letters traced yet.
Trace alpha, starting at the numbered dot.
α
For a word from this lesson's verses, name its breathing and accent, the syllable that carries the accent, and how many syllables it has.
No words read yet.
Read the marks on this word from Matt 1:2.
Ἀβραὰμ
This lesson’s words, chart forms and parsings are spaced-review cards. Pass the drills above and they join your review, where each card comes back just before you would forget it. See step 7 for what this lesson adds.
These drills come in a later update. Each slot shows what it will ask and the material it will use.
Read each verse aloud along with the recording, then check yourself.
self-assessed in MVP (shadowing against model audio; syllables and accent positions highlighted from `text`). Not counted toward lesson pass; scored drills (sound_match, accent_breathing_id) carry the grade.
| Mark | Name | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| ἀ | smooth breathing | every word starting with a vowel/diphthong has a breathing; smooth = no sound |
| ἁ | rough breathing | adds h-; initial υ and ρ always take rough (ὑ-, ῥ-) |
| ά | acute | can stand on any of the last three syllables |
| ὰ | grave | replaces an acute on the last syllable when another word follows without punctuation |
| ᾶ | circumflex | only on a long vowel/diphthong in one of the last two syllables |
| ϊ | diaeresis | the two vowels are pronounced separately (Ἠσαΐας) |
| , | comma | comma |
| . | period | full stop |
| · | raised dot | semicolon / colon |
| ; | Greek question mark | ? |
| δι’ | elision mark | final vowel dropped before a vowel (διά → δι’) |
You can’t understand these verses yet, and that’s fine. Read them aloud, syllable by syllable, and stress each accented syllable. Tap a word to see its letters and meaning.
Abrahambegatthe,IsaacIsaacthenbegatthe,JacobJacobthenbegattheJudah thebrothers,of him
JessethenbegattheDavidthe.kingDavidthenbegattheSolomonout ofthe [wife]the,of Uriah
In [the]beginningwasthe,Word theWordwaswiththe,God Godwasthe.Word
[It is] notashoweverthathas failedthewordthe.of GodNotforallwho [are]of,Israel[are] these·Israel
Pass the drills with 80% and 20 word cards from this lesson join your review.
10 of the 20 start right away. Writing each word in Greek, and any other cards, wait until you know the meanings.
Sources for this lesson: SBLGNT text CC BY 4.0; MACULA Greek CC BY 4.0 (tokens, parses, english glosses); Berean Interlinear glosses public domain (context_gloss); Dodson lexicon CC0 (vocab gloss).