nouns, adjectives, participles
Persistent means the stress remains where it is in the base form (i.e. the nominative, the name-form). Does it really? Of course not. It can't. It must obey the general laws of pronunciation. But it only moves towards the back of the word if it is forced to.
Words stressed on ultimaNo problem. No problem? A slight change in pronunciation though, short acute becomes long circumflex in genitive and dative.
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All other words
If the last syllable is long (but unstressed of course) an acute stress is placed on the syllable before, on the penult. Even if the word was stressed on the antepenult in the nominative, such as ὁ ἄνθρωπος. Or if it had a circumflex on the penult in the nominative, like ὁ δοῦλος for instance. Why? Because that is the easiest way to pronounce those words.
Now try ἄνθρωπου with a long UNstressed ου at the end. It's easy to say ἄνθρωποῦ (2 stresses). But: a word can only have ONE stressed syllable (in normal, everyday speech, even in ancient Greek).
Now try this: δοῦλος , really long οῦ , short ος . No problem. Examples And here the recording of the following examples:
Enough of this. It's up to you now. Read all your Greek out loud till it sounds right. |
Says who? Said the Greeks!