Though many high-school Classics scholars have become well-versed in Latin and all of its quirks, far fewer know much about the other Classical language, Ancient Greek. Ιn this article, I’ll be using English, Latin, German, and French words to explain how to pronounce Ancient Greek letters. Specifically,  I’ll be using the Attic Greek dialect’s pronunciation for these letters. Attic Greek was the dialect largely written and spoken by the Athenians at the height of their power in the 5th Century BCE, therefore being seen in the works of Aristophanes, Thucydides, and Plato, among many other famous Ancient Greek authors. Though its pronunciation slightly differs from other dialects, like the Homeric Greek seen in the Iliad or the Koine Greek seen in the New Testament, this guide will largely give you the knowledge needed to pronounce most Greek words.

Letters (In Alphabetical Order)

Αα – Alpha is pronounced like the A in “father” in English or “pater” in Latin.

Ββ – Beta is pronounced like the B in “book” in English or “benedictus” in Latin.

Γγ – Gamma is usually pronounced like the G in “gorilla” in English or “gens” in Latin.

Δδ – Delta is pronounced like the D in “direct” in English or “Dido” in Latin.

Εε – Epsilon is pronounced like the E in “bed” in English or “semper” in Latin.

Ζζ – Zeta is pronounced like the “dz” in “adze” in English. There is no true analogue to zeta in Latin, meaning that words in Latin containing the letter Z are either Greek or Persian loan words, such as “gaza”.

Ηη – Eta is pronounced like the a in “say” or “clay” in English or the e in “heu” in Latin.

Θθ – Theta was originally pronounced as an aspirated T sound, like the t in “top” in English. However, most Attic Greek scholars and students now pronounce the letter like the “th” in thyroid in English. There is no true analogue to theta in Latin, meaning that words in Latin containing the letters “th”, as theta was transcribed as “th” in both Latin and English, are either Greek or Persian loan words, such as “thalamus”.

Ιι – Iota has two pronunciations. If the ι is a short vowel, it’s pronounced like the i in “bit” in English or the i in “insula” in Latin. If the ι is a long vowel, it’s pronounced like the “ea” in “neat” or the i in “servi” in Latin.

Κκ – Kappa is pronounced like the k in “key” in English or the C in “benedicimus” in Latin.

Λλ – Lambda is pronounced like the l in “lamb” in English or the l in “latrare” in Latin.

Μμ – Mu is pronounced like the m in “moose” in English or the m in “patrem” in Latin.

Νν – Nu is pronounced like the n in “nice” in English or the n in “nomen” in Latin.

Ξξ – Xi is pronounced like the x in “fox” in English. There is no true analogue to xi in Latin, meaning that words in Latin containing the letter X are either Greek or Persian loan words, such as “Xenon”.

Οο – Omicron is pronounced like the o in “box” in English or the first o in “omnino” in Latin.

Ππ – Pi is pronounced like the p in “pig” in English or the p in “pater” in Latin.

Ρρ – Rho is pronounced like the r in “patrem”, as it is aspirated and rolled. There is no true analogue to ρ in English, as we neither aspirate nor roll words like “rhino” or “rheumatism” in English, which are derived from Greek roots with the letter ρ.

Σσς – Sigma is pronounced like the s in “mouse” in English or the s in “absto” in Latin. The form of sigma ς is only used if the last letter of the word is a sigma. If the letter is in any other place, σ is used.

Ττ – Tau is pronounced like the t in “tan” in English or the t in “tandem” in Latin.

Υυ – Upsilon has no true analogue in either Latin or English. It’s pronounced more like the German ü in words like “über”. In both Latin and English, upsilon is transcribed as the letter y in words like “lymph” in English or “thyrsus” in Latin. This also means that all words in Latin containing the letter y are either Greek or Persian loan words, like “psyche”.

Φφ – Phi was originally pronounced as an aspirated P sound, like the p in “pot” in English. However, most Attic Greek scholars and students now pronounce the letter like the “ph” in “elephant” in English. There is no true analogue to phi in Latin, meaning that words in Latin containing the letters “ph”, as phi was transcribed as “ph” in both Latin and English, are either Greek or Persian loan words, such as “elephas”.

Χχ – Chi is pronounced like the c in “cat” in English or the “ch” in “pulcher” in Latin. Many words containing the letters “ch” in Latin, like “chorus”, are Greek loan words, though not all of them are.

Ψψ – Psi is pronounced with the “p”, sounding like the “ps” in “lapse” in English or the “ps” in “lapsus” in Latin. Many words containing the letters “ps” in Latin, like “psyche”, are Greek loan words, though not all of them are.

Ωω – Omega is pronounced like the o in “home” in English or the o in “servo” in Latin.

Diphthongs

ΑΙ αι – Alpha followed by iota sounds like the “i” in “high” in English or the “ae” in “portae” in Classical Latin.

ΑΥ αυ – Alpha followed by upsilon sounds like the o in “ow” in English or the “au” in “laudare” in Latin.

ΕΙ ει – Epsilon followed by iota sounds like the “ei” in “eight” in English or the “ei” in “deinde” in Latin.

ΕΥ ευ – Epsilon followed by upsilon sounds like the “eu” in “feud” in English or the “eu” in “eundem” in Latin.

ΗΥ ηυ – Eta followed by upsilon sounds like eta gliding into upsilon. This sounds extremely similar to ευ, and the Greeks themselves lost the ability to distinguish between the two in the 4th Century B.C.E.

ΟΙ οι – Omicron followed by iota sounds like the “oy” in “boy” in English or the “oi” in “coepit” in Latin.

ΟΥ ου – Omicron followed by upsilon sounds like the “oo” in “food” in English or the first u in “unus” in Latin.

ΥΙ υι – Upsilon followed by iota has no true analogue in English. It sounds like the “ui” in the French “oui” or the “ui” in the Latin “qui”.

While reading words, you may find vowels with an iota subscript, such as ᾳ, ῳ, and ῃ. Though these were originally diphthongs, where the long vowel on top glided into an iota, most Attic Greek scholars and students now simply just pronounce the long vowel on top alone.

If any other vowels are next to each other besides these eight diphthongs, they are pronounced separately with a dieresis. For example, “αο” is pronounced as two separate sounds, as alpha followed by omicron.

Quirks of Γγ

While Γγ usually sounds like the English hard-g, if followed by the following four consonants only, it is pronounced differently.

ΓΓ γγ – Gamma followed by gamma sounds like the “ng” in “angel” or “sing” in English or the ng in “sanguis” in Latin.

ΓΚ γκ – Gamma followed by kappa sounds like the “nk” in “link” in English. There is no true analogue to this sound in Latin.

ΓΞ γξ – Gamma followed by xi sounds like the “nx” in “lynx” in English. There is no true analogue to this sound in Latin.

ΓΧ γχ – Gamma followed by chi sounds like the “nch” in “anchor” in English. There is no true analogue to this sound in Latin.

Βreathing Marks

If any word begins with a vowel (α, ε, η, ι, ο, υ, ω) or rho (ρ), there must be a breathing mark on top of the starting vowel that may affect the pronunciation of the word.

‘ – The rough breathing mark indicates that the word must be pronounced with a starting aspiration. This sound sounds like the “h” in the English “helicopter” or the “h” in the Latin “hunc”.

᾿ – The smooth breathing mark indicates that the word will not be pronounced with the starting aspiration, so the letter is pronounced as normal.