One of the difficulties I have had while trying to learn the accents is how to know the syllables so that the accents are placed correctly. Is there any kind of rule for determining what the syllables are in a word (other than “sound it out”)? Books like White’s are pretty simple with the hyphen, but for those without such guides, I get slightly confused. Understanding the syllables will make it easier for understanding the accentuation rules. And I’d rather not try the memorization method.
Thanks!
Hello there! You may find this helpful 
I’m just now seeing this. Thanks!
What still trips me up when it comes to syllabification is the situation in which the ε augment is placed in a compound verb such as απολυω.
As I understand it the syllables for this verb should be:
απολυω : α - πο - λυ - ω
απολυσω : α - πο - λυ - σω
απελυσα : απ - ε - λυ - σα
I keep finding myself wanting to pronounce the aorist as α - πε - λυ - σα.
You can find heaps on syllables with in almost every greek grammar but if you want a simple pragmatic way of pronunciation, pronounce the syllables starting from the end.
eg.
νω
βα-νω
λαμ-βα-νω
κα-τα-λαμ-βα-νω
καταλαμβανω
ον
ρι-ον
τη-ρι-ον
σμω-τη-ρι-ον
δε-σμω-τη-ρι-ον
δεσμωτήριον