Greek Alphabet: 24 Letters and Modern Greek Pronunciation
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You are likely familiar with the Greek alphabet on some level. If you’ve ever used words like “alpha”, “beta” or “omega”, that’s part of the Greek alphabet.
It’s everywhere from American university sororities, to maths, to religious literature and medical sciences. But what about the letter names, Greek alphabet symbols such as tonos, and pronunciation exceptions?
First things first, here’s some good news: Modern Greek spelling is much more regular than English spelling. Once you learn the main letter combinations, you can usually make a sensible attempt at a word. Spelling and sound still aren’t a perfect one-to-one match, though, so we’ll cover the important combinations after the alphabet.
Learning the alphabet was one of my favourite parts of studying Greek. I took Greek lessons in Cyprus, and, as you might have guessed, our first lesson was about the alphabet. A couple of weeks later, we had started reading road signs in Greek. That small win made the language feel much less mysterious.
Today, I’ll give you a crash course in the 24-letter alphabet, based on what helped me learn. Unless I explicitly say otherwise, the names and sounds below are for Standard Modern Greek. Let’s get started!
A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away with a native speaker for at least 15 minutes with the “Fluent in 3 Months” method. All it takes is 90 days. Tap this link to find out more.
Table of contents
Greek Alphabet in Order from Alpha to Omega
The spellings in brackets are rough reading guides, not formal transliterations. An accent in the Latin spelling marks the stressed syllable; dh represents /ð/, ch represents Greek χ, x represents ξ, and ou represents /u/. Official systems such as ELOT 743/ISO 843 serve a different purpose, so you may see the same Greek word rendered differently elsewhere.
Α / α / Alpha
Modern Greek name: άλφα (álfa). Letter sound: /a/.
English equivalent: like the “a” in car.
Example word: αγάπη (agápi), “love”
Β / β / Beta
Modern Greek name: βήτα (víta). Letter sound: /v/.
English equivalent: like the “v” in vote.
Example word: βιβλίο (vivlío), “book”
Be careful: Β / β makes the “v” sound in Modern Greek, not “b”.
Γ / γ / Gamma
Modern Greek name: γάμα (gáma). Letter sounds: /ɣ/ before α, ο and ου; /ʝ/ before the “ee” and “e” sounds.
English equivalent: Gamma can be tricky because English has no exact match for /ɣ/. It’s a voiced, throaty sound, rather than the hard “g” in green. Before an “ee” or “e” sound, /ʝ/ is close to the “y” in yes, but more constricted.
Example words: γάτα (gáta), “cat”
γεια (ya), “hello”
Δ / δ / Delta
Modern Greek name: δέλτα (dhélta). Letter sound: /ð/.
English equivalent: like the “th” sound in then. (In Greek, “th” has its own letter!)
Example word: δρόμος (dhrómos), “road”
Ε / ε / Epsilon
Modern Greek name: έψιλον (épsilon). Letter sound: /e/.
English equivalent: like the “e” in pen.
Example word: Ελλάδα (Elláda), “Greece”
Ζ / ζ / Zeta
Modern Greek name: ζήτα (zíta). Letter sound: /z/.
English equivalent: like the “z” in zoo.
Example word: ζάχαρη (záchari), “sugar”
Η / η / Eta
Modern Greek name: ήτα (íta). Letter sound: /i/.
English equivalent: like the “ee” in meet.
Example word: ήλιος (ílios), “sun”
Θ / θ / Theta
Modern Greek name: θήτα (thíta). Letter sound: /θ/.
English equivalent: like the “th” in think. (Yes, the other “th” sound also has a dedicated letter in Greek.)
Example word: θάλασσα (thálassa), “sea”
Ι / ι / Iota
Modern Greek name: γιώτα (yóta). Letter sound: /i/.
English equivalent: Iota is also pronounced “ee”, like eta. The spellings remain different because the letters represented different sounds in earlier stages of Greek; in Standard Modern Greek, η, ι and υ share the sound /i/.
Example word: ιδέα (idhéa), “idea”
Κ / κ / Kappa
Modern Greek name: κάπα (kápa). Letter sounds: /k/ before α, ο and ου; a more forward /c/ before the “ee” and “e” sounds.
English equivalent: like the “k” in make
Example word: Κύπρος (Kípros), “Cyprus”
Λ / λ / Lambda
Modern Greek name: λάμδα (lámda). Letter sound: /l/.
English equivalent: like the “l” in lamp
Example word: λέξη (léxi), “word”
Μ / μ / Mu
Modern Greek name: μι (mi). Letter sound: /m/.
English equivalent: like the “m” in make
Example word: μήλο (mílo), “apple”
Ν / ν / Nu
Modern Greek name: νι (ni). Letter sound: /n/.
English equivalent: like the “n” in new.
Example word: ναι (ne), “yes”
Note: Pay attention to the lowercase version of this letter as it looks like the English “v.”
Ξ / ξ / Xi
Modern Greek name: ξι (ksi). Letter sound: /ks/.
English equivalent: like the “x” in box
Example word: ξενοδοχείο (xenodocheío), “hotel”
Ο / ο / Omicron
Modern Greek name: όμικρον (ómikron). Letter sound: /o/.
English equivalent: a short, pure “o” sound, without the glide many English speakers add to the “o” in go.
Example word: όνομα (ónoma), “name”
Π / π / Pi
Modern Greek name: πι (pi). Letter sound: /p/.
English equivalent: like the “p” in play.
Example word: πόλη (póli), “city”
Ρ / ρ / Rho
Modern Greek name: ρο (ro). Letter sound: /r/.
English equivalent: a tap or short trill made near the ridge behind your upper teeth. It’s closer to a Spanish or Scottish “r” than the usual English “r”.
Example word: ρούχα (roúcha), “clothes”
Σ / σ (ς) / Sigma
Modern Greek name: σίγμα (sígma). Letter sound: usually /s/, but it is voiced to /z/ before a voiced consonant.
English equivalent: like the “s” in snake.
Example word: σχολή (scholí), “school”
Note: The letter sigma has two forms in lowercase: σ when it appears at the beginning or in the middle of a word and ς when it appears at the end. Here is what both look like:
μουσική (mousikí), “music”
φίλος (fílos), “friend”
Τ / τ / Tau
Modern Greek name: ταυ (taf). Letter sound: /t/.
English equivalent: like the “t” in train
Example word: τραπέζι (trapézi), “table”
Υ / υ / Upsilon
Modern Greek name: ύψιλον (ípsilon). Letter sound: /i/.
English equivalent: Here’s your third Greek letter that gives the “ee” sound! Similar to eta and iota, upsilon also had a different sound in Ancient Greek, but in Modern Greek, it sounds like the “ee” in meet.
Example word: υγεία (iyía), “health”
Φ / φ / Phi
Modern Greek name: φι (fi). Letter sound: /f/.
English equivalent: like the “f” in free.
Example word: φωτογραφία (fotografía), “photography”
Χ / χ / Chi
Modern Greek name: χι (chi). Letter sounds: /x/ before α, ο and ου; /ç/ before the “ee” and “e” sounds.
English equivalent: /x/ is like the “ch” in Scottish loch. The lighter /ç/ is close to the “h” in hue for some English speakers.
Example word: χάρτης (chártis), “map”
Ψ / ψ / Psi
Modern Greek name: ψι (psi). Letter sound: /ps/.
English equivalent: like the “ps” sound in lapse.
Example word: ψυχή (psichí), “soul”
Ω / ω / Omega
Modern Greek name: ωμέγα (oméga). Letter sound: /o/.
English equivalent: in Modern Greek, omega has the same pure /o/ sound as omicron.
Example word: ωκεανός (okeanós), “ocean”
Greek Alphabet Pronunciation Exceptions
Some Greek letter combinations have sound values you can’t predict by reading one letter at a time. Learn these patterns early and unfamiliar words will become much easier to sound out.
Consonant Combinations
Four combinations to recognise are γγ (two gammas), μπ (mu and pi), ντ (nu and tau), and γκ (gamma and kappa). Their pronunciation can vary with their position in a word, the speaker and the speech style:
- αγγλικά (angliká), “English”. Here γγ represents /ŋɡ/, like the middle of angle.
- μπίρα (bíra), “beer”. At the beginning of a word, μπ is normally /b/. Within a word, you may hear /b/ or a nasalised /mb/.
- ντεπόζιτο (depózito), “tank”. At the beginning of a word, ντ is normally /d/. Within a word, you may hear /d/ or /nd/.
- γκολ (gol), “goal”. At the beginning of a word, γκ is normally /ɡ/. Within a word, you may hear /ɡ/ or /ŋɡ/.
Tau also appears in τζ and τσ. The combination τζ represents /dz/, as in the ending of adze.
Τσ represents /ts/ in Standard Greek, like the ending of the word “cats.” Dialect pronunciations can differ. Here are two example words:
- τσάι (tsái), “tea”
- τζατζίκι (tzatzíki), “tzatziki”, the yoghurt dip typically made with cucumber, garlic, olive oil and herbs.
Vowel Combinations (Often Called Diphthongs)
Learner materials often call these combinations “diphthongs”. Strictly speaking, most are vowel digraphs in Modern Greek because the two written vowels represent one steady vowel sound. The combinations to learn are αι, ει, οι, υι, αυ, ευ and ου:
- αι represents /e/, like the “e” in pen. The word παιδί (pedí) means “child”.
- ει represents /i/, like the “ee” in meet. The word σειρήνα (sirína) means “siren”.
- οι also represents /i/. The word ποίημα (píima) means “poem”. Here the accented ί belongs to the οι digraph; the following η begins a new syllable.
- υι represents /i/, too, although it is uncommon in Modern Greek.
- αυ represents /av/ before a vowel or voiced consonant, but /af/ before a voiceless consonant. Compare αυγό (avgó), “egg”, with αυτοκίνητο (aftokínito), “car”.
- ευ follows the same voicing pattern: /ev/ before a vowel or voiced consonant and /ef/ before a voiceless consonant. Compare ευρώ (evró), “euro”, with ευχαριστώ (efcharistó), “thank you”.
- ου represents /u/, like the “oo” in food. The word πουλί (poulí) means “bird”.
What is τόνος (tonos)?
Now let’s talk about τόνος (tónos), the single accent mark used in ordinary Modern Greek spelling. It tells you which syllable carries the word stress.
There’s a tonos in the word τόνος itself. Notice how the first ο has an accent mark and the second doesn’t.
So τόνος is pronounced TÓ-nos, not to-NÓS. Most words of two or more syllables carry a tonos, although unstressed grammatical words provide some exceptions. Most one-syllable words don’t take one; a few, such as ή (“or”), use it to distinguish meaning.
Here’s another common example: in καλημέρα (“good morning”), the tonos sits on έ, so the pronunciation is kali-MÉ-ra. You can listen to native-speaker recordings here.
When two written vowels act as one unit, the tonos appears on the second one, as in είναι (“is”) or αύριο (“tomorrow”). A diaeresis (¨) does the opposite job: it tells you to pronounce the vowels separately, as in Μαΐου (“of May”).
Is There a Greek Alphabet Song?
You can find plenty of Greek alphabet songs on YouTube by searching for τραγούδι για το ελληνικό αλφάβητο (tragoúdi gia to ellinikó alfávito), “song for the Greek alphabet”. Most are made for children, but the repetition is useful at any age. Here’s one set to a familiar alphabet-song melody.
What is the Ancient Greek Alphabet Like?
“Ancient Greek” covers many centuries and dialects, so there isn’t one pronunciation for the whole period. The familiar 24-letter alphabet is shared with Modern Greek, but reconstructed Classical Attic pronunciation differs sharply from today’s pronunciation.
For example, Classical Attic β was /b/, η was a long vowel /ɛː/, and θ, φ and χ were aspirated stops /tʰ, pʰ, kʰ/. Classical υ was a front rounded vowel /y/, similar to French u or German ü. Those are reconstructed values, and pronunciation changed over time.
Modern editions of Ancient Greek also use polytonic spelling, with breathing marks and acute, grave and circumflex accents. In Classical Greek, those accents represented pitch patterns, not the single stress mark used in Modern Greek. Ancient inscriptions didn’t consistently show all the marks you see in a modern textbook.
That’s why a phrase can look more heavily marked in Ancient Greek. Here is one possible way to say “I love you” in Greek alongside the everyday Modern Greek form:
- Ancient Greek: ἐγὼ σ’ ἀγαπῶ (egṑ s’ agapô)
- Modern Greek: σ’ αγαπώ (s’ agapó)
If your goal is to speak with people in Greece or Cyprus today, stick with the Modern Greek values in the main guide. If you’re studying Homer, Classical Athens, the New Testament or another historical variety, use a pronunciation guide matched to that period and course.
Practice Makes Perfect: It’s Time to Speak Greek!
Now that you’ve met all 24 letters, practise reading short words while watching for the combinations above. You can also try writing your name or a friend’s name in Greek letters. Just remember that spelling a foreign name is a transliteration choice, not a word-for-word conversion.
Watching videos and listening to podcasts in Greek will help you connect the spelling patterns with real voices. If you prefer a structured audio course, GreekPod101 is free to try.
Καλή τύχη! (Kalí týchi!) “Good luck!”
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