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Greek Language/Two-letter Consonants

From Wikiversity

Like two-letter vowels, the Greek language is also "equipped" with two-letter consonants (Greek: δίψηφα σύμφωνα), in other words, combinations of two consonants having one sound. The two-letter consonants seem to have been introduced to the language to cover the lack of specific phthongs (sounds), like [b],[d] and [g]. Below is a table presenting the two-letter consonants and some instructions about how to pronounce them.


Two-letter consonants
Pronunciation
Notes
μπ
[b] / [mb]
Pronounced like ball or embassy depending on the place it is in the word; If μπ is situated at the beginning of a word it is pronounced [b], otherwise [mb].
ντ
[d] / [nd]
Pronounced like down or Andes.
γκ
[g] / [ng]
Pronounced like goal or angry following the same rule as μπ; [g] at the beginning of the word, [ng] otherwise.
γγ
[g] / [ng]
Pronounced the same as γκ, but since there are no Greek words beginning with γγ, just [ng] pronunciation is used.
τσ
[ts]
Pronounced like cats or boots.
τζ
[dz]
Pronounced like kids or goods.