The Greek Alphabet: All 24 Letters, With Pronunciation

The full alphabet at a glance

Here are all 24 letters in order, with the name of each letter, the sound it makes in Modern Greek, and a rough English equivalent.

• Α α (άλφα, alfa), *a* as in 'father'
• Β β (βήτα, vita), *v* as in 'van'
• Γ γ (γάμμα, gama), soft *gh* (voiced, like the French 'r' in the back of the throat), or *y* before *e* and *i* sounds
• Δ δ (δέλτα, dhelta), *th* as in 'this' (not 'thin')
• Ε ε (έψιλον, epsilon), *e* as in 'pet'
• Ζ ζ (ζήτα, zita), *z* as in 'zoo'
• Η η (ήτα, ita), *i* as in 'machine'
• Θ θ (θήτα, thita), *th* as in 'thin'
• Ι ι (ιώτα, iota), *i* as in 'machine'
• Κ κ (κάππα, kapa), *k* as in 'kite'
• Λ λ (λάμδα, lamdha), *l* as in 'lamp'
• Μ μ (μι, mi), *m* as in 'mat'
• Ν ν (νι, ni), *n* as in 'net'
• Ξ ξ (ξι, ksi), *ks* as in 'box'
• Ο ο (όμικρον, omikron), *o* as in 'lot' (short)
• Π π (πι, pi), *p* as in 'pen'
• Ρ ρ (ρο, ro), a lightly rolled *r*
• Σ σ / ς (σίγμα, sighma), *s* as in 'sun' (use ς only at the end of a word)
• Τ τ (ταυ, taf), *t* as in 'top'
• Υ υ (ύψιλον, ypsilon), *i* as in 'machine'
• Φ φ (φι, fi), *f* as in 'fun'
• Χ χ (χι, chi), *ch* as in the Scottish 'loch', softer before *e* and *i*
• Ψ ψ (ψι, psi), *ps* as in 'lapse'
• Ω ω (ωμέγα, omegha), *o* as in 'lot'

The three letters that make an *i* sound (η, ι, υ) are the biggest reason Greek spelling is worth learning early. You can hear a word and still not know how to spell it, because there are several ways to write the same sound.

The letters most English speakers get wrong first

A handful of letters trip nearly everyone up in week one, because they either look like a familiar Latin letter but sound different, or they represent a sound English doesn't have.

• Η η looks like a capital H but is pronounced *i*, so ΗΛΙΟΣ reads as 'ilios' (sun), not 'hilios'.
• Ρ ρ looks like P but is *r*, so ΡΩΜΗ is 'romi' (Rome).
• Ν ν looks like a lowercase v but is *n*, so νερό is 'nero' (water).
• Χ χ looks like X but is a throaty *ch*, so χαλάρωσε is 'chalarose' (relax).
• Υ υ looks like Y but is *i*, so μύθος is 'mithos' (myth).
• Β β looks like B but is *v*, so μπαμπάς is 'babas' (dad), never 'bambas'.
• Ω ω looks like a lowercase w but is a long *o*.
• Ξ ξ and Ψ ψ each stand for two English sounds in one letter (ks and ps).

Ayşe from Istanbul says the H-as-i letter took her two full days to stop reading as an English H, and that once it clicked, the rest fell into place quickly.

The digraphs you'll need from day one

Greek uses a few two-letter combinations that make a single sound. These aren't optional extras, they show up in the most common words in the language, so learn them alongside the letters.

Vowel combinations:

• αι sounds like *e* in 'pet'. Example, και ('and') is pronounced 'ke'.
• ει sounds like *i* in 'machine'. Example, είναι ('is / are') is 'ine'.
• οι sounds like *i* in 'machine'. Example, οικογένεια ('family') is 'ikoyenia'.
• ου sounds like *oo* in 'moon'. Example, σου ('to you') is 'soo'.
• αυ sounds like *av* before a voiced sound (αύριο is 'avrio', 'tomorrow') or *af* before an unvoiced one (αυτό is 'afto', 'this').
• ευ sounds like *ev* or *ef* by the same rule (Ευρώπη is 'evropi', ευχαριστώ is 'efcharisto').

Consonant combinations:

• μπ at the start of a word sounds like English *b* (μπαμπάς, 'babas'), and in the middle usually like *mb* (κάμπος, 'kambos').
• ντ at the start sounds like *d* (ντομάτα, 'domata', 'tomato'), and in the middle like *nd* (πέντε, 'pende', 'five').
• γκ and γγ sound like *g* at the start (γκολ, 'gol') and *ng* in the middle (αγγελία, 'angelia', 'ad').
• τσ is *ts* (τσάι, 'tsai', 'tea').
• τζ is *dz* (τζατζίκι, 'dzadziki').

The reason μπ and ντ exist as digraphs is that Modern Greek doesn't have single letters for the *b* and *d* sounds, so it borrows the closest pair and voices them.

Two versions of sigma, one final rule

Σ has two lowercase forms and only one rule to remember. You use σ everywhere inside a word, and ς only at the very end.

So the word σπίτι ('spiti', house) uses σ, and the word Κώστας ('Kostas') uses σ in the middle and ς at the end. If you're writing κοσμος incorrectly with a middle ς, native readers will spot it instantly and it looks like a spelling mistake. This is the one 'weird' rule in the alphabet, and after a week of writing you stop thinking about it.

How to learn the alphabet in 1 to 2 weeks

You don't need a course, you need a schedule. 10 minutes a day, split three ways, is enough for almost everyone.

Days 1 to 3. Learn the letters that look and sound like their English counterparts, so Α, Ε, Ζ, Ι, Κ, Μ, Ο, Τ. Write them out five times each by hand, upper and lower case. Reading real Greek shop signs is a good side task, because 80% of the letters will already be familiar.

Days 4 to 7. Add the tricky ones, so Β (v), Η (i), Ν (n), Ρ (r), Υ (i), Χ (ch), Ω (o), Ψ (ps), Ξ (ks). Test yourself on flashcards, or use the alphabet lessons in Greek2Me, which give audio for each letter and drill the sound in short bursts.

Days 8 to 14. Bring in the digraphs (αι, ει, ου, μπ, ντ) and start reading short words out loud. Menus, place names, football team names, and Instagram captions in Greek are all good practice because they use everyday vocabulary and repeat common patterns.

By day 14 most learners can sound out any Greek word slowly. Speed comes with time, but the barrier to entry is very low, and it's the single most valuable investment you'll make in the first month.

A quick word on capital letters and accents

Modern Greek uses capital letters at the start of sentences, proper nouns, and country names, exactly as English does. What's different is the stress mark, the little acute accent (´) that sits above one vowel in every multi-syllable word to show which syllable is stressed.

So άνθρωπος ('anthropos', person) is stressed on the first syllable, and καφές ('kafes', coffee) on the second. If you drop the accent in handwriting it's not fatal, but in typed text it changes meanings for some minimal pairs (πότε means 'when', ποτέ means 'never'), so keep them in from the start.

Before 1982, Greek used a much more elaborate accent system with breathings and grave, circumflex, and iota subscript marks. You'll still see this in church texts and older books, but modern school Greek dropped all of it in favour of the single acute stress mark, which is what you type on your phone.

What to do once you can read the letters

The alphabet unlocks everything, but on its own it doesn't say much. The natural next stop is the two verbs that power most beginner sentences.

• είμαι (ime), 'to be'. Learn all six persons (είμαι, είσαι, είναι, είμαστε, είστε, είναι) and you can build 'I am tired', 'you are Greek', 'we are here'.
• έχω (echo), 'to have'. Same drill (έχω, έχεις, έχει, έχουμε, έχετε, έχουν) and you can build 'I have a car', 'she has a cat', 'they have children'.

Add numbers 1 to 20 and the days of the week, and you've got enough Greek to survive a bakery. Kwame from Accra hit that milestone in his third week and said reading the alphabet was 90% of the mental effort, everything after that felt like building on solid ground.