Greek is the original European alphabet — used continuously for over 2,500 years. Modern Greek is one of the most regular languages to read aloud, with every letter mapping cleanly to one sound. The catch? Several letters that look familiar to English readers (B, P, X, H) make completely different sounds. By the end of this page, you'll have unlearned the Latin lookalikes — and you'll be reading Greek as confidently as you read your own language.
What you'll walk away with
- Hear all 24 Greek letters from a native Athens voice
- Crack the letters that look Latin but aren't (B = V, P = R, X = K, H = I)
- Master the digraphs that turn pairs of letters into single sounds
The Greek alphabet, one tap at a time
Every letter below is tap-to-hear. The first form is the letter; the italic name is what you say when reciting the alphabet — that's what plays when you tap. Example words are tap-to-hear in modern Greek.
- Α άλφα — /a/ — αγάπη (love)
- Β βήτα — /v/ — βιβλίο (book)
- Γ γάμμα — /ɣ / ʝ/ — γάτα (cat)
- Δ δέλτα — /ð/ — δέντρο (tree)
- Ε έψιλον — /e/ — ελιά (olive)
- Ζ ζήτα — /z/ — ζάχαρη (sugar)
- Η ήτα — /i/ — ήλιος (sun)
- Θ θήτα — /θ/ — θάλασσα (sea)
- Ι ιώτα — /i/ — ιστορία (history)
- Κ κάππα — /k / c/ — καφές (coffee)
- Λ λάμδα — /l/ — λουλούδι (flower)
- Μ μι — /m/ — μάνα (mother)
- Ν νι — /n/ — νύχτα (night)
- Ξ ξι — /ks/ — ξύλο (wood)
- Ο όμικρον — /o/ — όνομα (name)
- Π πι — /p/ — πατέρας (father)
- Ρ ρω — /r/ — ρόδι (pomegranate)
- Σ σίγμα — /s / z/ — σπίτι (house)
- Τ ταυ — /t/ — τραπέζι (table)
- Υ ύψιλον — /i/ — ύπνος (sleep)
- Φ φι — /f/ — φίλος (friend)
- Χ χι — /x / ç/ — χρόνος (time)
- Ψ ψι — /ps/ — ψωμί (bread)
- Ω ωμέγα — /o/ — ώρα (hour)
The 'looks Latin but isn't' letters — and the digraphs that hide whole sounds
Six insights that turn Greek from looking like math homework into looking like a language.
- Several letters share sounds. Η, Ι, Υ are all /i/. Ο and Ω are both /o/. Ε and ΑΙ are both /e/. Spelling matters historically; pronunciation often doesn't distinguish them. Greek has more letters than sounds.
- Sigma has two lowercase forms: σ at the start or middle of a word, ς at the end. Σήμερα (today), χρόνος (time). Capital is always Σ.
- Common digraphs hide whole sounds: ΟΥ = /u/, ΑΙ = /e/, ΕΙ/ΟΙ = /i/, ΑΥ = /av/ or /af/, ΕΥ = /ev/ or /ef/. Once you know these five pairs, you can read.
- B = V, not /b/. To write the /b/ sound, Greek uses ΜΠ (e.g. μπύρα — beer).
- *Δ is the th in "this", not /d/. To write the /d/ sound, Greek uses ΝΤ (e.g. ντομάτα* — tomato).
- Stress is always marked with an acute accent (´) on the stressed vowel of words with two or more syllables. This is a gift — Greek tells you exactly where to put the emphasis.
Why Greek looks foreign but reads cleanly
Greek looks foreign for about ten minutes. After that, the rules are tight, the digraphs are predictable, and the stress marks practically read the words to you. The only hard part is unlearning the Latin lookalikes — once you do, you'll read any Greek word as confidently as your own.
Ready to turn these sounds into real conversation?
Knowing the alphabet is step zero. Sounding native is the goal. Lingden teaches Greek through real sentences, with native audio and IPA on every word — so the sounds you just heard become words, the words become sentences, and the sentences become conversation. Free forever for one language. No card required.