LingoflyThe stress mark is a letter of the spelling
The little dash over a vowel is not a hint for learners. It is part of how the word is spelled. A word of two syllables or more written without it is written wrong. For example: “Πού (pu) είναι (íne) το (to) σπίτι (spíti);” — Where is the house? A rule from the Greek course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The little dash over a vowel is not a hint for learners. It is part of how the word is spelled. A word of two syllables or more written without it is written wrong.
For a reader this is a present. Greek stress moves around and cannot be guessed by ear, but writing always shows it. There is nowhere to guess wrong.
The dash also keeps words apart. πού (pu) (where) and που (pu) (that, which) differ by the dash alone; πώς (pos) (how) and πως (pos) (that) likewise. One-syllable words carry no dash; πού (pu) and πώς (pos) (and also ή (i), "or") are the exception, kept so that nobody mixes them up.
By example
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
The stress mark is a letter of the spelling: how does it work in Greek?
The little dash over a vowel is not a hint for learners. It is part of how the word is spelled. A word of two syllables or more written without it is written wrong.
What does it look like in a Greek example sentence?
“Πού (pu) είναι (íne) το (to) σπίτι (spíti);” (pu íne to spíti?) — Where is the house? A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.