The Greek Alphabet

You probably have heard the term "it's all Greek to me", which means that Greek is somewhat incomprehensible to decipher.

Putting all preconceptions aside though, take a close look at the letters of the alphabet on the left of this page, and count the letters you are already familiar with. Be careful though, some of the letters look like their Latin counterparts, but the sounds they make are very different.

Click each letter on the left to hear the sound.

It might come as a surprise, but about half of these letters appear exactly the same as in the english alphabet. Half your work is done. Now concentrate on learning the other twelve and the sounds they make.

The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters. They, along with the 7 diphthongs (two letters together that make one sound) make up the entire language.

The Greek Consonants

The Greek Vowels

The Greek Diphthongs

Besides the letters of the alphabet, certain sounds of the Greek language are represented with the following diphthongs:

sounds like the english 'u' in 'put'
sounds like the english 'e' in 'get'
'av' (as in 'average), or 'af' (as in 'after')
'ev' (as in 'every'), or 'ef' (as in 'left')
all three sound like 'i' in 'lid'

About the Greek Letter Sounds

Every letter or diphthong (with the exception of the last two) make one distinct sound. Greeks who learn the english language always have trouble hearing or even knowing when a letter (like 'A" for example) makes what sound.

With Greek there is never a question what sound a letter represents in a word.

Also, there are no silent letters in the Greek language. Every letter in a word is pronounced with its one distinct sound.

This makes it easier for non-native speakers to be able to read the Greek words they see once they memorize the letters of the Alphabet and their sounds.