Compound Words

Compound words are words which are made of two or more words.  For example, the word classroom is made from the words class and room.  Knowing the meanings of these two words one could predict what classroom means.  Compound words don't happen only with nouns, but with most parts of speech.  The vowel at the end of the word or the ending itself is dropped and in its place an "-o-" is put if the word is variable.  If the word already ends with an "o" then no change is made to that word.  If the word is a noun ending in "-μa," and has a neuter gender, add "τo" to "μa" before adding it to the second part of the compound word. For verbs, one drops the infinitive ending, “áρe”, “éρe” and “íρe”, before adding the “o”.

2 NOUNS

Here the word Hánda is feminine while the word Qúo is masculine.  Because the last word was an unchanged noun, with an unchanged ending, the gender of the compound word will be that of Qúo.  Thus Handoqúo is masculine. Therefore, in case of a compound word that has two or more nouns where the last word is a noun, the compound noun has the gender of the last noun.

1 ADJECTIVE & 1 NOUN

The compound word, aσπρoμáλλo, can be an adjective or a noun. The compound describes a person with white hair. The gender depends on the noun being described.  Typically, this is true but, sometimes, the last noun changes ending and possibly changes gender.

The compound word is Aγρìoλúλuδe, which is a nouns, means wild flower.  One unpredictable thing happened here.  The ending of the last word changed.  This word was a noun to begin with and the compound word is a noun.  Despite the change of the ending, the gender remained the same.  This is not always the case.

2 ADJECTIVES

The compound word, aσπρoμáβro, which is an adjective, means white and black.  The compound word μaβρoáσπρo also exists.  It means black and white.  Both are correct, but which one you choose, really depends upon the contexts.

2 VERBS

The compound word, πiγenoβenáρe, which is a verb, means to go and come.  Here the ending -áρe of πiγenáρe was dropped.  That's what must happen to all verbs. Verbs are used this way to shorten sentences.

1 ADJECTIVE AND 1 VERB

The compound word, soβaρoπaρλenáρe, which is a verb, means to talk seriously, not to talk nonsense. Although soβaρó is an adjective, it acts here as an adverb, without the ending μénτa.  One could say “πaρλenáρe soβaρaμénτa” instead of “soβaρoπaρλenáre,” but it is better to use the compound word.

1 ADVERB AND 1 VERB

Τhe compound word, ξanaλaλáρe, which is a verb, means to say again.  As above, “λaλáρe ξána” is a possible alternative, but it’s better to use the compound word.

NOUN WITH "μa" AS AN ENDING

The compound word, Eμaτoφoβía, which is a noun, means the fear of blood.  This only happens to neuter nouns with -μa as their endings.  Feminine nouns like Aλáρμa (alarm) do not take this infix.

MAKING PRONOUNCIATION EASIER!

The preposition “aπó” becomes “aπ” when it prefixes a word beginning with a vowel. For example, “aπó” and “arбaisáρe” become “aπarбaisáρe.”

Invariable words don’t change the vowel in which they end in. If the forthcoming word begins with the same vowel, one of them is dropped.  For example, “ξaná” and “aγoρaζáρe” become “ξanaγoρaζáρe.”

The following changes occur when prefix endσ with a consonant:
κ-->ξ (when words start with vowel)
n-->μ (words starting with sounds made by mouth, i.e. μ, v, π etc)
n-->λ (words starting with λ)
n-->ρ (words starting with ρ)

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