Keraia
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The Greek alphabet

Learn the 24 letters, the letter pairs and breathing marks, and how to sound out a word.

Reading Greek

Greek is read from left to right, like English. It has 24 letters, and unlike Hebrew, its vowels are letters. Each letter has a capital and a small form. Capitals begin names, paragraphs, and quotations.
Keraia transliterations mark the two long vowels with a line: Eta is ē and Omega is ō, so ἀγάπη is agapē.

The letters

  1. Alphaa as in fatherἀγάπηagapē“love”
  2. Betab as in boyβασιλείαbasileia“kingdom”
  3. Gammag as in goγῆgē“earth: planet”
  4. Deltad as in doorδόξαdoxa“glory”
  5. Epsilone as in betἐλπίςelpis“hope”
  6. Zetadz as in adzeζωήzōē“life”
  7. Etae as in theyἡμέραhēmera“day”
  8. Thetath as in thinθεόςtheos“God”
  9. Iotai as in machine or sitἸησοῦςIēsous“Jesus”
  10. Kappak as in kiteκόσμοςkosmos“world”
  11. Lambdal as in lookλόγοςlogos“word”
  12. Mum as in motherμαθητήςmathētēs“disciple”
  13. Nun as in nowνόμοςnomos“law”
  14. Xix as in boxξύλονxulon“wood”
  15. Omicrono as in obeyὄνομαonoma“name”
  16. Pip as in penπίστιςpistis“faith”
  17. Rhor as in run, rolledῥῆμαrhēma“declaration”
  18. SigmaFinal: ςs as in sunσῶμαsōma“body”
  19. Taut as in topτέκνονteknon“child”
  20. Upsilonu as in French tu (say “ee” with rounded lips)ὕδωρhudōr“water”
  21. Phiph as in phoneφῶςphōs“light”
  22. Chich as in Bachχάριςcharis“grace”
  23. Psips as in lipsψυχήpsuchē“soul”
  24. Omegao as in toneὥραhōra“hour”

Letters that look like English

  • Η ηLooks like H, n. Eta is a vowel: “ē” as in they.
  • Ρ ρLooks like P, p. Rho is “r”.
  • Χ χLooks like X, x. Chi is “ch” as in Bach; “x” is Xi, ξ.
  • νLooks like v. Nu is “n”.
  • ωLooks like w. Omega is a vowel: “ō” as in tone.
  • γLooks like y. Gamma is “g”.
  • υLooks like u, v. Upsilon is a vowel: “u”.

Letter pairs

Some pairs of vowels are said as one sound:
  • αιai as in aisleai
  • ειei as in eightei
  • οιoi as in oiloi
  • αυow as in cowau
  • ευeu as in feudeu
  • ουou as in soupou
  • υιwee as in weekui
For example, οἶκοςoikos“house: home”.
Gamma before another Gamma, or before Kappa, Xi, or Chi, is said “n”: γγ is “ng”, as in ἄγγελοςangelos“angel” and εὐαγγέλιονeuangelion“gospel”. A doubled consonant is said twice, as in ἐκκλησίαekklēsia“assembly”.

Breathing marks

A word that begins with a vowel has a small mark over it. A mark like a backwards comma, as in ἁ, is a rough breathing: say “h” before the vowel. A mark like a comma, as in ἀ, is a smooth breathing: say nothing extra.
On a letter pair, the mark sits on the second vowel, as in οἶκος. Rho at the start of a word always has a rough breathing and is written “rh”: ῥῆμαrhēma“declaration”.

Sounding out a word

Read from left to right, one sound at a time:
  1. ἀaAlpha, with a smooth breathing (no h)
  2. γάgaGamma and Alpha (the accent marks the stress)
  3. πηpēPi and Eta

Marks you can skip

The accent marks, as in ά, ὰ, and ᾶ, show which syllable is stressed. You can ignore them while you learn. A small Iota written under a vowel, as in ᾳ, ῃ, and ῳ, isn’t pronounced.

Transliteration in the interlinear

The interlinear writes each word in the form it has in the verse, so its endings vary: ψυχή can appear as psychēn. It also writes Upsilon as y rather than u, except in letter pairs like ου. Otherwise it’s the same as Keraia’s other transliterations.