Notes:# before αι, ε, ει, η, ι, οι, υ, υι. # between ν and ρ.# with spiritus asper.# sometimes doubled between vowels (ex. Larissa).# before β, γ, δ, ζ, λ, μ, ν, ρ and vowels.# before θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ and at the end of a word.# at the beginning of a word.# in the middle of a word.# on vowel: h before the vowel; on ρ: rh.# under long vowels. # except when there is a diaeresis ( ¨ ) on the second vowel
Ancient Greek was a polytonic language. Through the ages, the tone system has been simplified, leaving most of the diacritics (including spiritus asper and spiritus lenis) meaningless. In 1982, monotonic orthography was officially introduced for modern Greek. The only diacritics that remain are the acute accent (indicating stress) and the diaeresis (indicating that two consecutive vowels should not be combined). The acute accent and the diaeresis are kept in both the BGN/PCGN and the UN/ELOT romanization systems. There is one exception: in the vowel combinations αυ, ευ and ηυ the accent moves from the υ (that becomes v or f) to the preceding vowel.
