Greek Vowels and Diphthongs

A guide to pronouncing Greek vowels and diphthongs, using koine (biblical) era pronunciation.

[kryscall]

i bought three different courses on koine greek but cannot get very far with any of them. your two videos were so helpful. hope you will find the time to post more, but if not, thanks very much for these two.

[jinghonglan]

I just found your channel! Ir is so so good! I thought it is all about Hebrew, but later I found these two Greek episodes. Both of them are the best!

[terielmore]

Thank you! I appreciate your explanation of how to pronounce υ because that was a tough one for me. Finally got it!

[warboats]

Really lovely video, you’re an excellent teacher!

[BloodCovenant]

I just don't understand why upsilon in the diphthong sounds like a "v".

[WittyCommnter]

I'm a bit confused. When I read Greek its usually in church so these diphthongs are common so I'm trying to learn them. But I'm studying modern Greek first so I can speak it to normal people and not 2000 year old spirits... Does modern Greek even have diphthongs?

[scottcaramel]

Thank you so much for this! Upsilon and the difference between iota and eta was so confusing to find, which is odd considering Greek is not an unpopular language.

[RealizeMagazine]

This is a marvelous aid for a beginner! Can you reveal what software you used for the graphics? It’s awesome!

[Tzuriah]

Wow, those diphthongs are tough! Granted, this is my first exposure to them. Using my lexicon and interlinear will be a tad easier. Thanks much!!!

[jamesdakis]

Very helpful video. Thank you very much.

[christopherdiaz]

η is pronounced like ι, and omicron and omega are not equivalents. Omega makes a stronger, more projected "o" sound, using the back of the throat, while omicron uses the front of the mouth only.

[carolinaburgos]

Hi teacher
Do I pronuncie au and eu like ev and av When the next letter is a vowel?

[andreasm]

You forgot "υι" which is also pronounced the same as "υ" and "οι".

[aapreacher]

I learned that Omicron sounded closer to alpha rather than the same as omega

[carolinaburgos]

Dear teacher
The consonant tau it is pronuncied like taf or tav?
It is posible in koine to pronuncie the diphtongs au and eu like af and ef with some letters or only Av or ev?

[piotrrybka]

Describing pronounciation of one language by referring to another language spelling and phonetics can be very misleading. My native language is Polish, but even if it was English, I could take from your video that:

- α is low back long vowel [ɑː]--and why long and back-low and not simply [a] used for low, horizontally unspecified vowels which may be found at the beginning of English [aʊ aw] diphthong, e.g. now, which I wouldn't use to describe the pronounciation of α anyway, because you can't mark the initial part of the letter o in now--you'd need the phonetically transcribed [naʊ] or [naw] to do that;

- η is diphthongal [ej] with high-mid [e], but OK, that might happen in Greek as well due to assimilation to [j];

- ι is mid-centralized or lax [ɪ], suggesting there was a lax-tense opposition in Greek (and was it really?);

- ο and ω are both diphthongal [oʊ ow]--are you sure? I always thought they're monophthongs differing only in length;

- ου is [uː] and therefore long and tense, again suggesting lax-tense opposition in Greek;

- αυ is [ɑːv], and that clearly shows your American (or at least not British) accent, which surprised me because I'm used to British English and I'd pronounce ovulation as [ɒvjəleɪʃən], not [ɑvjəleɪʃən];

Other examples seem to match English (both American and British) pronounciation, or at least doesn't seem to be too far from it or causing confusion.

υ seems to be described properly, although I'm not an a koine expert, so cannot judge if υ in koine was exactly [y]. But your pronounciation is too unrounded, just as if you were not protruding your lips at all, and that makes your υ sound not like [y], but more like [i].

And what I'm missing is mentioning letters with iota subscriptus (Greek Ypogegrammeni) ᾳ, ῃ, ῳ, ͅυ which, if I remember correctly, were former long diphthongs that changed is some dialects to long monophthongs. But they still may be found in modern editions of Greek ancient texts.

[lastfirst]

My professor pronounces omicron as "ah" as in pot, and the only reason I can think of is that Americans pronounce pot as in "paht". Unlike english speakers else where who say it as more like "poht". Most Koine-Greek speakers on youtube pronounce Omicron as a shorter version of Omega. Omega seems to be more of a drawn out sound. I just can't bring myself to pronounce logos as "lahgahs". It just doesn't sound right.

[matthewpeters]

In modern Greek today, η, ι, and υ all make the same sound

[janicelewis]

Hebrew and Greek! I am not mad at you brother. Go on with your bad self.

[Rightlydividing-wxxb]

Your Erasmian pronunciation is wrong. Spelling variants since before Plato's day are primarily orthographic because of interchangeable vowel sounds proven by ancient inscriptions on pottery and papyri and parchments. The same kind found today in so called "Neo Hellenic" There is no historical proof of Erasmian pronunciation since Erasmus and his introduction of it in his story in 1528.