Every Greek word that begins with a vowel or a diphthong will include a symbol called a “breathing mark” above the vowel, or above the second vowel of a diphthong. There are two different breathing marks: the rough breathing mark ( ‘ ) and the smooth breathing mark ( ’ ). When a rough breathing mark appears, the word is pronounced with an “h” sound at the beginning of the word (see the image above). When a smooth breathing mark appears, the word is pronounced without an “h” sound.

Furthermore, there are three accents used in printed editions of Greek texts: the acute ( ′ ), the grave ( ` ), and the circumflex ( ^ ). Accents have many uses, but for beginning students, they should primarily be used to indicate how a word in pronounced. The accent will always appear above the vowel (or second vowel of a diphthong) in the stressed syllable of a word. Occasionally, accents are also used to distinguish between words that are otherwise spelled the same way (i.e. τι and τί).