Greek Alphabet Pronunciation

The 7 Greek Vowels

The ancient Greek grammarians believed the seven vowels contained pnuema (spirit) or the "breath of life" because the sound of each vowel could be sustained as long as one had breath in his lungs. There are three types of vowels: long (H and W), dual (A, I, and Y), and short (E and O). In the Book of Revelation, there is some evidence that the seven Greek vowels were viewed as the "Seven Spirits of God."

Uncial uppercase	Minuscule lowercase	Name	Pronunciation	Comments
		Alpha alfa	like the a in father like the a in bat	The Greeks classified the two different a sounds as long and short.
		Epsilon eyilon	like the e in bet	ehhh
		Eta hta	like the e in they	"Aaayy" (long a) as said by the "Fonz" on the old TV show Happy Days
		Iota iwta	like the i in machine like the i in sit	the Greek long I is the English long E
		Omicron omikron	like the o in rot	short o, has kind of an "ahhh" sound
		Upsilon uyilon	like the oo in deja vu like the u in universe	youooo
		Omega wmega	like the o in no	ohhh

The Seven Greek Diphthongs

A diphthong is two vowels that combine to make a single sound. The second vowel of a diphthong is always an iota (i) or an upsilon (u). In all other vowel combinations, the vowels are pronounced separately.

dipthong	pronunciation
ai	"eye" as in aisle
ei	"ay" as in freight
oi	"oi" as in foil
ui	"we" as in sweet
au	"ow" as in kraut or "av" as in avenge
eu	"you" as in feud or "ev" as in ever
ou	"oo" as in group

The 8 Semi-Vowel Consonants

The semi vowels are divided into two groups, single and double sound consonants. These letters have properties like the vowels because their sound can be sustained by a hum, purr, or a hiss. Virtually every single Greek word ends with a vowel or the following five pure-sound, semi-vowel consonants.

the 5 pure semi-vowel consonants

Uncial uppercase	Minuscule lowercase	Name	Pronunciation	Comments
		Lamda lamda	like the l in lamb
		Mu mu	like the m in me
		Nu nu	like the n in new
		Rho rw	like the r in more	pronounced "hhrrr" with a hard h before the r - but the r can also be trilled
		Sigma sigma	like the s in sing		regular sigma used anywhere but the end of a word
					final sigma is only used at the end of a word

the 3 semi-vowel double consonants

Some Greek words end with a x (ks) or a y (ps) but since the final sound in these double consonants is an "s" the final letter is still considered to be an "s."

Uncial uppercase	Minuscule lowercase	Name	Pronunciation	Comments
		Zeta zhta	like the "dz" in cords or adz	zeta (dzeta) is a double consonant
		Xi xi	like the "ks" sound in tacks or tax	xi (ksee) is a double consonant
		Psi yi	like the "ps" in lips	psi is a double consonant

The 9 Mute Consonants

These letters are classified as mute because they can only be uttered for an instant ... their sound can not be sustained. They are divided into three subgroups. The aspirates Q, F, and X contain a small amount of breath or spirit because they possess the "h" sound (th, ph, ch). The intermediates B, G, and D have even less spirit because the "a" sound they emit lasts for just an instant. The inaspirates K, P, and T have no spirit at all because the sound of these letters have no vowel to help them "speak" ... only a short, explosive, mute burst of air. Some foreign proper names (like Gog and Magog) end in mute consonants.

Uncial uppercase	Minuscule lowercase	Name	Pronunciation	Comments
		Beta bhta	like the b in bat	the first consonant and second source name for the word alpha-bet
		Gamma gamma	like the g in god	the double gamma "gg" has an "ng" sound, like in king or triangle.
		Delta delta	like the d in devil
		Theta qhta	like the th in theology
		Kappa kappa	like the k in kill
		Pi pi	like the p in peek
		Tau tau	like the t in taught
		Phi fi	like the f in phone
		Chi (Khee) ci	like the ch in loch	a gutteral German "kh" sound like Aachen never like the ch in chap

Greek Breathing Marks

Any Greek word that begins with a vowel is always accompanied by a little raised comma called a breathing mark. If the tail of the comma is to the right, the vowel is pronounced with an h-sound, which is called a rough breathing. If the tail is to the left, there is no h-sound, which is called a smooth breathing.

Example: The Greek word for sin (harmatia) is pronounced "har-ma-tee-a"

Rule of Thumb Pronunciation Guide

To pronounce a Greek word,

• First, identify all the vowels in the word
• Then, identify pairs of vowels that form diphthongs
• Next, count each diphthong as one syllable, and every other vowel as another syllable
• The total number of vowel sounds is the number of syllables in the word.
• If the word begins with a vowel, look for the rough or smooth breathing mark
• Pronounce the word syllable by syllable. A syllable begins with any consonant or combination of consonants that can begin a Greek word. A syllable ends with a vowel or with one of the five semi-vowel consonants (l,m,n,r,s) that can end a Greek word.
• If the word has an accent mark, pronounce the whole word and stress the accented syllable.

Problems of Greek-English Transliteration

The decision of how to spell a foreign word in English so that it's native pronunciation is preserved is called transliteration. This is very difficult to do in English because English text does not produce phonetic results. For example, the letters in the words grove, move, and love all end with "ove," but the pronunciation of each word is very different. A lot of double vowels and dashes have to be used in order to approximate the sound of a Greek word. The internet involves even more complications because people do not have adequate Greek fonts installed on their browsers and operating systems.

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