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What languages is greek similar to?

Greek, specifically Ancient Greek, is considered to be part of the Indo-European language family, which is a vast collection of languages spoken across a large portion of the world. Within this family, Greek belongs to the Hellenic branch, which means it's most closely related to other ancient and modern Greek languages.

However, it's important to note that while Greek shares an ancestor with other Indo-European languages, it's not necessarily *similar* to them in terms of everyday usage.

Here's a breakdown:

Closest relatives:

* Other Greek dialects: Ancient Greek had various dialects, some of which are still spoken today (Modern Greek, Cypriot Greek, etc.)

* Ancient Indo-European languages: While distant, there are some similarities in grammatical structure and vocabulary with languages like Latin, Sanskrit, and Old Persian. These similarities are mostly visible at a deeper linguistic level.

Distant relatives:

* Romance languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Romanian, etc.): These languages are also Indo-European but come from the Italic branch, making them more distantly related to Greek.

* Germanic languages (English, German, Dutch, Swedish, etc.): Again, Indo-European, but from a different branch, making them less similar to Greek.

* Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech, etc.): Another Indo-European branch, even more distant than Germanic languages.

Key takeaway: While Greek is undeniably part of the Indo-European family, its closest relationships are with other Greek dialects. While some similarities exist with other branches of Indo-European languages, they are mostly at a deeper linguistic level and not easily noticeable in everyday speech.

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