Pronunciation Guide

(Adopted from Chase & Phillips, A New Introduction to Greek, using elements from Charles Muntz)

1. Greek has twenty-four individual letters in the alphabet.

  Α α alpha, pronounced like the first a in awake when short; when long like the a in father

  Β β beta, pronounced like the b in boy

  Γ γ gamma, pronounced like the g in go. The letter γ is pronounced like the ng in sing when it comes before γ, κ, χ, or ξ.

  Δ δ delta, pronounced like the d in democracy

  Ε ε epsilon, pronounced like the e in pet

  Ζ ζ zeta, pronounced like the sd in wisdom or the dz in gadzooks

  Η η eta, pronounced like the a in paper

  Θ θ theta, pronounced like the aspirated t in top originally, later like the th in thin; we will use the later pronunciation.

  Ι ι iota, pronounced like the i in bit when short, like the i in keen when long

  Κ κ kappa, pronounced like the k in kinetic

  Λ λ lambda, pronounced like the l in leap

  Μ μ mu, pronounced like the m in met

  Ν ν nu, pronounced like the n in net

  Ξ ξ xi, pronounced like the x in box or the cks in clocks

  Ο ο omicron, pronounced like the o in optics

  Π π pi, pronounced like the p in perimeter

  Ρ ρ rho, pronounced like the r in rhinoceros (ρ is trilled)

  Σ σ sigma, pronounced like the s in set.  The form ς is only used at the end of a word.

  Τ τ tau, pronounced like the t in tactic

  Υ υ upsilon, pronounced like the French u in tu when short, like the French u in sur (similar to English ruse) when long

  Φ φ phi, pronounced like the p in pot (an aspirated p) originally, later like the f in philosophy. We will use the later pronunciation (f).

  Χ χ chi, pronounced like the ch in chorus (an aspirated k).

  Ψ ψ psi, pronounced like the ps in lapse.

  Ω ω omega, pronounced like the o in ode.

2. The capital letters are used at the beginning of names. They are not used at the beginning of sentences unless the sentence begins a new paragraph.

3. There is no letter h in Greek.  When a word begins with a vowel h should be pronounced if the vowel has a ῾ or rough breathing mark over it.  H should not be pronounced if the vowel has a ᾿ or smooth breathing mark over it.

4.  The letter γ is pronounced like ng in angle when it comes before γ, κ, χ, or ξ. Examples: ἄγγελος, ἄνκυρα, λάρυγξ

5.  The letters ζ, ξ, and ψ are known as double consonants, θ, φ, and χ as aspirated consonants.

6.  The vowels ε and ο are always short, η and ω are always long; α, ι, and υ are sometimes short, sometimes long.

7.  The diphthongs are:

  αι pronounced like ai in aisle

  αυ pronounced like ou in house

  ει pronounced like ei in feign

  ευ pronounced like the e in met plus the oo in moon, close to the vowel in English feud

  ηυ pronounced like the a in paper plus the oo in moon

  οι pronounced like the oi in foil

  ου pronounced like the oo in moon

  υι pronounced more or less like the English we.

8.  The letter iota (ι) is often written beneath α, η, and ω: ᾳ ῃ ῳ.  It is then known as the iota subscript and is not pronounced.

9. Punctuation. The Greek question mark is like the English semicolon. For the semicolon Greek uses a single raised dot, like an English colon with the lower dot omitted. The period and comma are like the English.