How to Pronounce the Greek Alphabet

This pronunciation uses an Erasmian tradition, which is the tradition used most commonly in Biblical and Theological Studies.

[Kolious_Thrace]

Oh God… so many mistakes!
Hellenic is not like English. We don’t have long vowels and double vowels and sounds like ae that in one words sounds like a but in another word sounds more like e…
Hellenic is a very flat language when it comes to pronunciation.
It’s not sing-songy, we don’t have ups and downs and each letter makes only one sound.
Not o, ooh, oohhhh… o is always o.
Short and straight.


*Αα* = a as in Apple
Short and simple a, not aa, or ah, or ae…
A is a > above, about, army…

*Ββ* = v as in very
B is not an English b sound. It’s V
You say alphabeta but the original Hellenic word is αλφαβήτα > alfavíta
The Hellenic β is v like Vote, very, veteran…

*Γγ* = y as it yes
Γγ is not the English G (get, good..etc)
The Hellenic γ It’s like Yes, yeah, you, yuppie, yyy not G.

*Δδ* = th as in There
Δδ is not the English D (do, deer, door…)
It’s th as is This, that, there, those

*Εε* = e as is yes

*Ζζ* = z as in zoo
Z is not like the J sound like jazz, jungle… etc
For some letters we have some diphthongs. I will explain at the end.
Z is z like Zoo, zoom, zapping
Never J!

*Ηη* = i as in think
Ηη IS DEFINITELY NOT an ei sound!!!
In Hellenic we have many letters that they all make an i sound.
Ηη makes only one sound, *i* as in think, this.

*Θθ* = th as in Thanks
Don’t confuse Δδ with Θθ. Both are th in English but the Hellenic pronunciation is very distinct!
Θθ is th as in Therapy, Thermal, thanks, thought

*Ιι* = i as in think.
I DOES NOT two sounds!
Ee, or ei, or ehh, ai…or… I don’t know what!
Don’t confuse the English double vowels with Hellenic.
Ιι is i like Ηη is i.
Think, this, Iliad, Italy…

*Κκ* = k as is King
Very fancy style of writing… we never write down k like that in the picture…
It’s quite simple Κ and κ, that looked like arabic calligraphy…

*Λλ* = l as in lake, lamp, look…

*Μμ* = m as in many, make, more…

*Νν* = n as in nice, Nike, night…

*Ξξ* = ks as in socks
This is a letter that doesn’t exist in English.
Ξένος / ksénos: foreign
Ξανά / ksaná: again

*Οο* = o as in otter
Again, no long vowels or double vowels like o, oo, ohh, ou…
O is o

*Ππ* = p as in pain, people, peace…

*Ρρ* = r as in rule, role, right.
There is one way to pronounce R in Hellenic. I don’t understand the Rh sound…
Also, the R in Hellenic is rhotic.
It’s not like the English R or the American Rrr sound.
More like the Italian R.
You can feel the vibration in your mouth.

*Σσς* = s as in some, sorry, so…
*Σ* at the beginning of words
*σ* in the middle of words
*ς* at the end of words

There’s no way to see a word like this
Μικρόσ … it’s wrong. At the end σ becomes ς

*Ττ* = t as it toe, take, talk…

*Υυ* = i as in think
Υυ IS NOT u like Yule…
In Hellenic Υυ also makes an *i* sound
Think, this, is… etc

*Φφ* = F as is fire, fake, foot

*Χχ* = ch as in Loch
Also the Germanic ich bin…
It’s definitely not a K sound.
The Hellenic Χχ is not the harsh as the Hebrew sound.

*Ψψ* = ps as in tops
Another sounds that do not exist in English.
Ψάρι / psári : fish
Ψέμα / pséma : lie

*Ωω* = o like otter
Again, Ωω makes the same same sound like the Οο.
We don’t have o and oo and ohhh sounds in Hellenic!
Ωω is like Οο as in Otter, or… etc

Now, in Hellenic we don’t have letters like the English b, d, g
To make those sounds we have diphthongs.
The term diphthongs is Hellenic:
δίφθογγος / dífthogos which means two letters.
Two letters combined are giving us sounds like:

*Μπ* is the English Bb like balloon
We say μπαλόνι / mpalòni : balloon

*Ντ* is the English Dd like Door
We say εντάξει / entàksi > endáksi which means ok, alright

*Γγ* or *Γκ* is the English Gg sound like good, great, game… etc
Φεγγάρι / feggári : moon
Γκρι / gkrí : grey (colour)
Γγ / Γκ is the same sound but the either use Γγ or Γκ because of the orthography, the correct spelling rules of our language.

*Τσ* = ch as in Chew
Church, chew, check

*Τζ* = J as in jazz, jump, joke
So, the Hellenic sauce Τζατζίκι is pronounced as Ja-jí-ki and not tsazíki as most of the tourists are calling it!

*Ου* = u as is Yule
In Hellenic we don’t have a letter for U
O is o like otter and
Y is i like think
O and υ combined are U
Ουρανός / ouranòs : sky
You say Uranus because U is not pronounced as i in English.


Now about the vowels.
Hellenic has these vowels:
Αα Ηη
Εε Ιι
Οο Υυ
Ωω

As I’ve said before a is always a
Not aa, ah, ae… etc
A is a
E is e
O is o
I is i

Οο and Ωω, they are both making an o sound
Ηη, Ιι, Υυ, they are all i in Hellenic

Because of orthography (correct spelling rulers) in Hellenic we have some more vowels.

αι
ει
οι

αι = e like every
ει = i like think
οι = i like think

*Summary*

Αα = a (apple)

Εε = e (yes)
Αι = e (yes)

Οο = o (for)
Ωω = o (for)

Ηη
Ιι
Υυ } they are all i (this)
Ει
Οι

Ου = u (good, fool)

Furthermore, in ancient times the Hellenic alphabet had some more letters that they were abandoned later.

The letter Ϝ was Hellenic and it was called δίγαμμα / dígamma, which mena two gammas because it is a combination of two Hellenic gammas Γ + Γ = F

Ϙ
The letter κόπα / kópa was Hellenic. From that letter Latin and later English got the Q letter
Kòpa and Kàppa
Ϙ had a harder pronunciation
K has a softer pronunciation

ϡ
This letter was called σαμπί /sampí because it looks like a pee π tilted
It might had a ts sound.

[michaelkaczmarski]

Being a student of mathematics, I was brought up to pronounce pi as pie. Then at the age of 19, I made friends with a Greek named Paul Demtry. Eventually we got around to discussing Archimedes and the formula A = (pi)(r squared). Paul pronounced pi as pee, which surprised me. He was just as surprised when I told him that all my life I had pronounced it as pie.

I ended up as a math teacher at a community college for 39 years. Surprisingly, none of my many math colleagues knew the Greek pronunciation of pi!

[literally-just-a-leaf]

Why is it so hard to find pronunciations for modern Greek. Like I'm trying to figure out how a modern Greek person would pronounce these but instead I get guides on "how the ancient Greek pronunciation worked" or "biblical Greek letters" or "Greek alphabet for maths and science"

[garylittwin]

As an absolute beginner - this is the best video I've seen so far. Love the teaching style. Calmed me down for some reason. And I like the references to Hebrew! I do have a question though; is there no "v" sound in Greek?

[HarappanEnigma]

Thanks a ton for a great audio presentation.
I was impressed to find that real pronunciation is easily done by SANASKRIT (SYLLABLE; CONJUNCTS & LETTERS; DIPTHOLONGS)
Kappa as क (कप्पा) ;
Chi as च (चाइ) ;
Neu as न ( नु) ;
Zeta as ज़ (ज़ीटा) ;
Tao as ट ( टाओ ) ;
theta as थ (थिटा) ;
Delta as द ( देल्टा) ;
Pie as प (पि) ;
Phi as फ (फि) ;
Lambda as ल(लॅम्बदा) ;
Beta as व(विटा) ;
Psi as र (रो:) ;
Sigma as स ( सिग्मा )
Gamma as य (याॅमाॅ)

[deathshead]

I’m learning the language and the alphabet VERY SLOWLY which is better for me. Some of my dad’s best friends nationalities are Greek…I been learning from them…my dad spoke quite a bit of the language…his friends were either born in Greece or their parents were immigrants. But definitely a language that I would like to speak fluently…and definitely a country I would love to visit

[ZoroyoZerOSC]

There are a lot if letters that look the same as Russian letters like gamma- looks like г and lower case delta-. Looks like б and epsilon. Looks like з and upper case pi - looks like п

[naiyalexic]

Thank you @Kolious_Thrace. I realized when BibTheo said "gamma" that we don't have a hard "G" sound. It's like a slurred "G" or almost like a "GH" like a gargling noise. Sort of like Hebrew. I couldn't listen to the rest, and I totally appreciate that the OP posted your amazing and absolutely perfect explanation. My grandparents spoke Greek to me, and I knew immediately this needed some corrections. :)

[robertw]

Thank you!
However, it would have been nice for you to pronounce the entire Greek alphabet in its entirety at the end. Otherwise, great video.

[geezerdombroadcast]

I'll never graduate from Harvard, or Oxford, but it would be so nice in my senior years to master at least some aspects of higher mathematics and physics. I would even be great to learn conversational greek. I'm not sure my tiny little pea sized brain can absorb all of that. I love to watch free lectures from retired Walter Lewin at MIT, and many others presenting top notch free lectures on real physics, math, biology. It is so satisfying to learn the things I was deprived of a as a marginal student desperately trying to survive. With intense concentration, constant repetition it's been wonderful to understand concepts of physics that left me behind 50 years ago. I won't be designing any space rockets, or giant New York skyscrapers, so it's harmless. Science isn't just for professional scientists. It's for everyone.
The world desperately needs far far more science learning for every human being if we are to save ourselves from extinction. Thanks for helping with the (basic) pronunciation so we can all at least be on the same page. There's always room for improvement. Thanks for sharing.

[avrahamnorin]

This was extremely helpful. ευχαριστώ!

[sueannemathews]

Thank you. An a calligrapher and am learning the Greek alphabet plus have a friend in Athens, Greece who is helping me with pronouncing the letters. They are easier to write for me as capital letters but know the lower case are the most used. Wish me luck!😊

[joetherock]

Great video from a guy who just took his first Biblical Greek class! Thanks.

[umojaravenclaw]

This is very helpful thank you so much I love how in detail you go thanks

[J.B.]

Thank you. Great explanation, helpful.

[ogfoundation]

I rly wish u went through the whole alphabet quickly at the end. Thx tho!

[Eagle]

Erasmian is reconstructed Greek, Greek pronunciations reinvented for a
lack of a better word. There is a small isolated Greek community who
speaks to this day in Koine Greek, what some would call Biblical Greek. Yet, a speaker from Greece would understand the words being spoken by the members of that small community, but some of the meanings of those words may differ.
For example the following word "παραδόσεις" is translated as
traditions in the Bible, in Modern Greek it is translated as deliveries.
The word is pronounced the same yet the meaning is a bit different. An English example is the word chips for Americans the word chips are thinly slice potatoes that is fried until it becomes crispy. For Brits chips are what Americans calls French Fries. Both groups would understand that the word chip was spoken, but the meanings are different. The same applies when comparing Koine Greek to Modern Greek pronunciations. By the way there are many words that never changed in meaning such as Αἷμα/Αίμα Blood!

[sheppardnightshade]

🙂 I find this very interesting.
I like how a few of the letters look.
For an example: Δ (delta) ✔️

[jonglangley]

Not sure if you're still responding to comments on this or not, but I don't hear a difference between the pronunciation of Alpha ("a" in father) and Omicron ("o" in otter). Is there supposed to be a difference in pronunciation?

[minhazparvez]

This guy is pronouncing the letters in a totally INCORRECT way. He is just an American who pronounces Greek letters in his own American way. If you compare his pronunciation with other similar videos, you’ll see the difference!