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Cyphernaut - Greek Alphabet

Greek is an ancient language that is the granddaddy to many European languages and has been in use since about 800 BCE. The Greek alphabet is the precursor to the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. Today Greek has approximately 13 million speakers worldwide, the majority in Greece and Cyprus. Most modern people, especially in the United States, are familiar with Greek because university fraternity and sorority houses as well as honor societies are known by their Greek names, i.e. Phi Beta Kappa. Scientists, mathematicians and engineers are also well acquainted with many Greek letters, which serve as variables in mathematical equations and formulas, i.e. sin θ, π = 3.1416... or Δx/Δy. The phrase "It's all Greek to me" illustrates that on the surface, Greek looks very intimidating. But just like in Russian, understanding the alphabet is the first step to understanding the language as it is phonetically similar to English.

This is a guide for learning the Greek alphabet. The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters: 17 consonants and 7 vowels. In the browser, vowels are indicated with a reddish tint. Any variations will be explained in the notes section for each vowel. The pronunciation given will be the modern Greek or Western European equivalent. The vowels η(eta), ι(iota) and υ(upsilon) all have the same pronunciation in modern Greek but this was not always the case. Each were pronounced differently in ancient Greece but over the centuries the pronunciations merged. The same is true for the vowels ο(omicron) and ω(omega) which causes some confusion on when to use each letter. Diacritic marks over a vowel like α indicate that the vowel is stressed which is similar to other languages like Spanish.

It should be noted that Greek also has six two letter consonants which have pronunciations one wouldn't expect. They are listed below.

• μπ - if at the beginning of a word pronounced like b in ball; otherwise mb in embassy
• ντ - pronounced like d in dot or the nd in and
• γκ - if at the beginning of a word pronounced like g in goat; otherwise like ng in anger
• γγ - pronounced like ng in anger
• τσ - pronounced like ch in chair
• τζ - pronounced like j in jest

There are also vowel combinations or dipthongs which have different pronunciations as well. They are listed below.

• αυ - pronounced af
• ευ - pronounced ef
• ηυ - pronounced if
• ου - pronounced like oo in cool
• ει - pronounced like ee in meet
• αι - pronounced like e in egg
• οι - pronounced like ee in meet
• υι - pronounced like ee in meet

το ελληνικό αλφάβητο
Α:α alpha a in father vowel	Β:β beta v in vet	Γ:γ gamma g in get pronounced like y in yes if before ε or ι	Δ:δ delta th in then	Ε:ε epsilon e in pet vowel
Ζ:ζ zeta z in zoo	Η:η eta ee in meet vowel	Θ:θ theta th in thin	Ι:ι iota ee in meet the letter is pronounced yota vowel	Κ:κ kappa k in take
Λ:λ lamba l in lamp	Μ:μ mu m in muse	Ν:ν nu n in net pronounced like Spanish ñ when followed by ι	Ξ:ξ xi x in box	Ο:ο omicron o in often vowel
Π:π pi p in pot	Ρ:ρ rho r in rid the r is trilled like in Spanish	Σ:σ:ς sigma s in set pronounced like s in muse when before β, γ, or μ	Τ:τ tau t in tip	Υ:υ upsilon ee in meet vowel
Φ:φ phi f in file ú pronounced the same way but shorter	Χ:χ chi ch in Scottish loch	Ψ:ψ psi ps in lapse	Ω:ω omega o in often vowel