Pronunciation & Alphabet

The Greek alphabet has 24 letters and has been used for over 2,700 years. You know many letters from mathematics (pi, sigma, delta) or everyday life (Alpha, Beta, Omega). The pronunciation of Modern Greek differs significantly from Ancient Greek, which you might know from school.

The Alphabet

Letter	Name	Pronunciation	As in...
Α α	Alpha	a	"Father"
Β β	Vita	w	"Water" (NOT b!)
Γ γ	Gamma	gh / j	soft sound between "g" and "j", before e/i like "j" in "year"
Δ δ	Delta	dh	like English "th" in "this" (voiced)
Ε ε	Epsilon	e	"Bed"
Ζ ζ	Zita	s (voiced)	"Rose"
Η η	Ita	i	"Cinema"
Θ θ	Thita	th	like English "th" in "think" (voiceless)
Ι ι	Iota	i	"Cinema"
Κ κ	Kappa	k	"Cinema"
Λ λ	Lambda	l	"Land"
Μ μ	Mi	m	"Mother"
Ν ν	Ni	n	"Night"
Ξ ξ	Xi	ks	"Taxi"
Ο ο	Omikron	o	"Oven"
Π π	Pi	p	"Papa"
Ρ ρ	Ro	r (rolled)	slightly rolled, like in Bavarian
Σ σ/ς	Sigma	s	"Sun" (ς at the end of a word)
Τ τ	Taf	t	"Day"
Υ υ	Ypsilon	i	"Cinema"
Φ φ	Fi	f	"Fish"
Χ χ	Chi	ch	"Roof" (before a/o/u) or "ich" (before e/i)
Ψ ψ	Psi	ps	"Capsule"
Ω ω	Omega	o	"Oven" (same as Omikron!)

Important Diphthongs (Letter Combinations)

Combination	Pronunciation	Example
αι	e	"Bed" — και (ke) = and
ει, οι, υι	i	"Cinema"
ου	u	"Cow" — Ουζο (USO) = Ouzo
αυ	af / av	"af" before voiceless, "av" before voiced consonants
ευ	ef / ev	"ef" before voiceless, "ev" before voiced: ευχαριστω (efcharisto)
μπ	b / mb	"b" at the beginning of a word: μπυρα (bira) = Beer
ντ	d / nd	"d" at the beginning of a word: ντοματα (domata) = Tomato
γκ	g / ng	"g" at the beginning of a word
τσ	ts	τσατζικι (tsatsiki) = Tzatziki
τζ	dz	τζατζικι (dz-variant)

Accentuation

In Greek, the stressed syllable is marked with an accent (e.g., καφές = kafES). The accentuation is important — a wrongly stressed word can have a different meaning. In general: read the accent and stress the marked syllable!