Modern Greek/Lesson 01.2

This is the second section of lesson 1, on the modern Greek alphabet. The last section covered the 6 letters with the same form and pronunciation as Latin letters:

Α, α - alpha,

Ε, ε - epsilon,

Ι, ι - iota,

Κ, κ - kappa,

Ο, ο - omicron,

Τ, τ - tau

This section covers the 12 letters with sounds used in the Latin alphabet, but with different written forms in Greek.

Letter English Name Greek Name Pronunciation
Β β beta βήτα /v/ as in victory
Ζ ζ zeta ζήτα /z/ as in Zeus
Η η eta ήτα /i/ as in pantheism
Λ λ lambda λάμδα /l/ as in Lesbos
Μ μ mu μι /m/ as in Mediterranean
Ν ν nu νι /n/ as in nautical
Π π pi πι /p/ as in paraphrase
Ρ ρ rho ρο / r, ɾ / as in the Spanish word "pero or perro"•
Σ σ ς sigma σίγμα /s/ as in soap
Υ υ upsilon ύψιλον /i/ as in theology
Φ φ phi φι /f/ as in feta
Ω ω omega ωμέγα /o/ as in scope

Notes: • Β,β is always a strong “V” sound. There is no single letter in Greek with the ‘b’ sound. The sound “b”, in Greek, is written with the diphthong ( two letters pronounced with a unique sound) μπ, which will be covered in a later section. • Ρ,ρ makes the sound of a "tapped or trilled r". Both are made by vibrating your tongue against the roof of your mouth along the back of your front teeth. A "tapped r" is made by doing this only one time while a "trilled r" is made by holding the vibration. In Greek there isn't a difference if you make a trilled or tapped r", the speaker can do either. There are some people that can't perform this sound due to genetic factors.


Readed the following Greek words that are the same or similar to common English words (ο, η, το, all mean “the”):

η μαμά, Η Κίνα, τρία, το άτομο, η μονοτονία, το μωβ, Ο Νίκος, η πέννα, το φύλλο, ο καφέ, η ταβέρνα, το βιβλίο, Η Ασία, ο παπά, το πάρκο, Η Μαρία, Η Άννα, Ο Κώστας, Ο Αλέκος, Η Αμερική

More Examples

Ν ν
Greek Transliteration English
ΝΑΤΟ NATO North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation
Άννα Ánna Anna
Ιράν Irán Iran
Κίνα Kína China
Τίρανα Tírana Tirana
Ανόι Anói Hanoi
Μ μ
Greek Transliteration English
μαμά mamá mom
Μαρόκο Maróko Morocco
Ομάν Omán Oman
Αμμάν Ammán Amman
Μαρκ Mark Mark
Μαρία María Μaria
Μόνικα Mónika Monika
αρμονία armonía harmony
άτομο átomo atom
μονοτονία monotonía monotony
Ε ε
Greek Transliteration English
Αρμενία Armenía Armenia
Κορέα Koréa Korea
Κάρμεν Kármen Karmen
Κατερίνα Katerína Catherine
κέικ kéik cake
κρέμα kréma creme
κάμερα kámera camera
Λ λ
Greek Transliteration English
αλκοόλ alkoól alcohol
κιλό kiló kilo (kilogram)
Ιταλία Italía Italy
καραμέλα karaméla caramel