The alphabet
Twenty-four letters, their names and sounds, and the habits of reading that make them feel familiar.
The letters
The Greek alphabet has twenty-four letters, and it is the ancestor of the Latin one, so more of it is familiar than it looks. Learn the small letters first; they are what you will read. Capitals appear at the start of names and, in some editions, of paragraphs, not of every sentence.
| Letter | Name | Sound | Like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Α α | alpha | a | cup (short), father (long) |
| Β β | beta | b | bat |
| Γ γ | gamma | g | get, always hard |
| Δ δ | delta | d | dog |
| Ε ε | epsilon | e | pet, always short |
| Ζ ζ | zeta | zd / dz | wisdom |
| Η η | eta | ē | air, always long |
| Θ θ | theta | th | top with a puff of breath (later thin) |
| Ι ι | iota | i | pit (short), machine (long) |
| Κ κ | kappa | k | kit |
| Λ λ | lambda | l | let |
| Μ μ | mu | m | met |
| Ν ν | nu | n | net |
| Ξ ξ | xi | ks | box |
| Ο ο | omicron | o | pot, always short |
| Π π | pi | p | pet |
| Ρ ρ | rho | r | trilled, as in Scots or Italian |
| Σ σ ς | sigma | s | sit; ς only at the end of a word |
| Τ τ | tau | t | top |
| Υ υ | upsilon | ü | French tu, German über |
| Φ φ | phi | ph | pot with a puff of breath (later phone) |
| Χ χ | chi | kh | kit with a puff of breath (later Scots loch) |
| Ψ ψ | psi | ps | lapse |
| Ω ω | omega | ō | saw, always long |
What to watch
A few letters are traps for readers of the Roman alphabet. ν (nu) looks like a v but is n. ρ (rho) looks like a p but is r. η (eta) looks like an n but is a long e. χ (chi) is not x; ξ (xi) is. υ (upsilon) is the letter the Romans borrowed as y, and in Greek loanwords in English it is written y: psyche is ψυχή.
Sigma has two small forms: σ everywhere except at the end of a word, where it becomes ς. So "Odysseus" is Ὀδυσσεύς, with two σ in the middle and a ς at the end. Gamma before another gamma, kappa, chi, or xi is pronounced ng, so ἄγγελος "messenger" (our angel) is ANG-ge-los, not AG-ge-los.
Greek has two e letters and two o letters, and they differ in length: ε and ο are always short, η and ω always long. Alpha, iota, and upsilon can be either, and nothing in the spelling tells you which; that comes with the word, as vowel length does in Latin.
Diphthongs
Two vowels can join into one gliding sound. The common ones: αι as in aisle; ει as in eight; οι as in boil; αυ as in out; ευ e running into u, roughly ehw; ου as in soup; and υι as in we. The names Αἴας (Ajax), Οἰδίπους (Oedipus), and Ζεύς (Zeus) show three of them.
Try it
Read each word aloud, then say what English word it gives us.
- δρᾶμα
- φιλοσοφία
- κόσμος
- ἄγγελος
- ψυχή
- Ὀδυσσεύς