The accent is a marking on top of vowels denoting which syllable in a word is stressed during pronunciation.
- on top of vowels (ά, έ, ί, ή, ύ, ό, ώ)
- second vowel of vowel combintations (αί, εί, οί, ού, αύ, ...)
- one of the last three syllables of a word (e.g. κατηγορώ)
- not on one-syllable words (ναι, μη, να, τον)
- Exceptions: ή, πού
- not on all-capital words (e.g. ΑΠΑΓΟΡΕΓΕΤΑΙ)
- when the first vowel is capital (and stressed) it gets an accent (e.g. Άννα)
Monosyllabic words are naturally stressed when pronounced, but not accented.
Enclisis - before some specific monosyllabic words, other monosyllabic words and some poly syllabic words develop get a second accent mark. We pronounce the words closely together.
Enclitics - words that cause enclisis. * Weak forms of personal and possesive pronouns * με, μου, σε, σου, τον, του, τη(ν), της, το, μας, σας, τους, τις, τες, τα
- Proparoxytone noun or adjective followed my monosyllabic possesive pronoun (e.g. μου (my), σου (yours), του (his)).
- Example: το παράθυρό μου (my window)
Proparoxytone - a word with stress on the antepenultimate (third from last) syllable.