Spelling mistakes occur very often in the Greek language, even by native people. Unfortunately, there’s not a single rule that will help you write every word correctly. It comes by practicing, etymological analysis or linguistic approaches. But what we can do to make your life a bit easier, is to present you some universal tips and rules for basic orthography!
- Verbs in active voice ending in “o” in the first-person singular are written with -ω: παίζω, γράφω, διαβάζω, αργώ (pézo, ghráfo, thiavázo, arghó)
- Verbs in active voice ending in “is” and “i” (in the second and third-person singular) are written with -ει(ς): παίζεις-παίζει, γράφεις-γράφει, διαβάζεις-διαβάζει, αργείς-αργεί[pézi(s), ghráfi(s), thiavázi(s), arghí(s)]
- Verbs in passive voice are written with -αι in the first, second and third-person singular, as well as in the third-person plural. In the first and second-person plural are written with -ε: έρχομαι, έρχεσαι, έρχεται, ερχόμαστε, έρχεστε, έρχονται(érhome, érhiese, érhiete, erhómaste, érhieste, érhode)
- Neuter nouns in singular ending with “i” are written with -ι: το παιδί* (to pethí)
- Neuter nouns in plural ending with “i” are written with -η: τα δάση(ta thási)
- Feminine nouns in singular ending with “i” and masculine nouns in singular ending with “is” are written with -η(ς) in nominative and accusative form: η αγάπη, ο αθλητής(i aghápi, o athlitís)
- Feminine and masculine nouns in plural ending with “i” are written with -οι: οι οδοί, οι άνθρωποι(i othí, i ánthropi)
*Exceptions: neuter nouns in –υ: το βράδυ, το δάκρυ (to vráthi, to thákri) etc.
With these in mind, try to think how to write the following words: το μέλ… , η κόρ… , ο εργάτ…ς, οι μέθοδ… , εγώ τρώ… , εσύ τρέχ…ς, αυτός φεύγ… , εμείς καθόμαστ…, εσείς βρίσκεστ… , αυτοί σηκώνοντ…