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The Greek alphabet

All twenty-four letters, upper and lower case, with their names and the sounds they carry in Koine Greek.

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The letters

Twenty-four letters, in order

Upper and lower case together, with the name of each letter and the sound it carries in the Erasmian pronunciation taught in most Greek classrooms.

# Letter Name Sound
1 Α α alpha a, as in "father", "cat"
2 Β β beta b as in "ball"
3 Γ γ gamma g as in "gift"
4 Δ δ delta d as in "debt"
5 Ε ε epsilon e as in "set"
6 Ζ ζ zeta z or dz, as in "Zion"
7 Η η eta ē as in "obey", "ate"
8 Θ θ theta th as in "theme"
9 Ι ι iota I as in "pit", "machine"
10 Κ κ kappa k as in "kit"
11 Λ λ lambda l as in "light"
12 Μ μ mu m as in "man"
13 Ν ν nu n as in "no"
14 Ξ ξ xi x as in "ax"
15 Ο ο omicron o as in "pot"
16 Π π pi p as in "pay"
17 Ρ ρ rho r as in "rise"
18 Σ σ sigma s as in "sea"
19 Σ ς sigma (final form) s as in "seas"
20 Τ τ tau t as in "to"
21 Υ υ upsilon u as in "tube"
22 Φ φ phi ph as in "phone"
23 Χ χ chi ch as in "Christ"
24 Ψ ψ psi ps as in "taps"
25 Ω ω omega o as in "tone"
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From the alphabet to the text

Once the letters are automatic, everything after that is vocabulary. Biblical Greek Vocabulary carries the alphabet as a deck of its own, then the vocabulary lists of the standard introductory grammars chapter by chapter, and the most frequent words of the Greek New Testament, with spaced repetition underneath.

FAQ

Questions, answered

How many letters are in the Greek alphabet?
Twenty-four. Koine Greek adds one form you must recognise but never write at the start of a word: final sigma, ς, used at the end of a word in place of σ.
Is New Testament Greek the same as modern Greek?
The alphabet is the same and much of the vocabulary survives, but the pronunciation and the grammar have both moved a long way. The sounds in this chart are the Erasmian pronunciation used in most seminary classrooms.
What are the breathing marks?
A word beginning with a vowel carries either a smooth breathing (ἀ), which changes nothing, or a rough breathing (ἁ), which adds an h sound before it. Every initial upsilon and every initial rho takes the rough breathing.
How long does it take to learn?
The alphabet itself takes a few days. Reading the Greek New Testament takes the vocabulary — around 1,000 words gets you most of the text, because so much of it repeats.