The Greek Alphabet

Biblical Greek Lesson 1

Form of the Capital | Name | Form of the Lower Case | Sound

Α | Alpha | α | a in father

Β | Beta | β | b in boy

Γ | Gamma | γ | g in go

Δ | Delta | δ | d in day

Ε | Epsilon | ε | e (short) in met

Ζ | Zeta | ζ | z in daze

Η | Eta | η | e in fete or a in mate

Θ | Theta | θ | th in thin

Ι | Iota | ι | i in police or i in fit

Κ | Kappa | κ | k in keep

Λ | Lambda | λ | l in led

Μ | Mu | μ | m in man

Ν | Nu | ν | n in net

Ξ | Xi | ξ | x in lax

Ο | Omicron | ο | o (short) in omit

Π | Pi | π | p in peg

Ρ | Rho | ρ | r in run

Σ | Sigma | σ,ς | s in sit

Τ | Tau | τ | t in ten

Υ | Upsilon | υ | u in Fr. tu, Ger. tür

Φ | Phi | φ | ph in graphic

Χ | Chi | χ | ch in girl ich, Scotch loch, chasm

Ψ | Psi | ψ | ps in tops

Ω | Omega | ω | ō (long) in note

Vowels, Diphthongs, and Breathing

The Greek language uses seven vowel forms: α, ε, η, ι, ο, υ, ω. η is the long form of ε and ω is the long form of ο. Therefore, ε and ο are always short, whereas η and ω are long. The list of vowel relates in a similar way to the English vowels a, e, i, o, u. α, ι, υ can be long or short, which are no distinguished by a separate form.

A diphthong is two bowl sounds fused into one sound.

The diphthongs are:

αι is spoken as ai in aisle.

αυ is pronounced as au in German haus, or ou in house.

ει sounds like ei in height.

ου combine to ou in group.

ευ forms an eu sound as in feud.

ηυ approximately represents the sound eu.

υι is vocalized as we.

Also, there is an iota subscribe (ᾳ, ῃ, ῳ), which is the iota written belong the vowel; however, it does not impact the sound of the vowel. e.g. ᾳ is spoken as ai in aisle, the same as αι.

Many Greek words begin with the English sound h, which is indicated by the sign of the rough breathing ( ῾ ) over a vowel or diphthong at the beginning of the word. With a diphthong it is over the second vowel. Thus ὁδος is pronounced as hodos, and εὑρισκω as heruisko.

When the initial vowel does not make an h sound the smooth breathing mark ( ᾽ ) is used. ἀκουω is pronounced akuo and οὐραωος as ouranos. When υ is at the beginning of a word, the rough breathing mark is always used.