GRK 110 | SECTION 1 | LETTERS, SOUNDS, AND MARKS
1. Letters, Sounds, and Marks
1.1. The Greek Alphabet
The Greek alphabet comprises twenty-four letters, reproduced in alphabetical order below. The table is provided so that you may have an overview and quick reference of the shapes and names of the characters. Do not worry about pronunciation just yet. A video clip explaining the pronunciation of all the letters is provided in Section 1.2.
The English transliteration provided in the far right column follows the conventions of the Society of Biblical Literature. They provide a guideline for transliterating Greek words into English for any publications with an audience that may not be literate in Greek.
| Name of Letter | Majuscule | Miniscule | English Equivalent (SBL Transliteration) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | Α | α | a |
| Beta | Β | β | b |
| Gamma | Γ | γ | g |
| Delta | Δ | δ | d |
| Epsilon | Ε | ε | e |
| Zeta | Ζ | ζ | z |
| Eta | Η | η | ē |
| Theta | Θ | θ | th |
| Iota | Ι | ι | i |
| Kappa | Κ | κ | k |
| Lambda | Λ | λ | l |
| Mu | Μ | μ | m |
| Nu | Ν | ν | n |
| Xi | Ξ | ξ | x |
| Omicron | Ο | ο | o |
| Pi | Π | π | p |
| Rho | Ρ | ρ | r |
| Sigma | Σ | σ, ς | s |
| Tau | Τ | τ | t |
| Upsilon | Υ | υ | u / y |
| Phi | Φ | φ | ph |
| Chi | Χ | χ | ch |
| Psi | Ψ | ψ | ps |
| Omega | Ω | ω | ō |
The letters in the second column of the chart are called majuscules or uncials. They were once the only letter forms used in Greek writing, and many of the earliest New Testament manuscripts were written using uncials without any spaces. Today the majuscules are used only as capitals. The letters in the third column are referred to as minuscules. These developed around the 9th century AD as a cursive form of writing and have remained in manuscripts and printing to this day (with some modifications). Note that the minuscule sigma has two forms: ς when it is written at the end of a word, and σ everywhere else. (English used to have two forms of the sibilant “s” as well: a medial ſ and a round s.)
Many of the letters of the Greek alphabet were derived from the Phoenician alphabet and have Semitic names. The Greeks introduced vowel letters like Υυ and Ωω. The form of the Greek alphabet that is given above had its root in Ionia and was later adopted in Athens in 403 BC. A number of the letters may look familiar since the alphabets of most European countries were developed from the Latin alphabet, and this in turn was derived from the Greek. However, a careful review of our English equivalents in the last column will show that this correlation is not always exact. Take particular note of Ηη, Ππ and Ρρ as these letters may confuse new students.
(At an earlier time the Greek alphabet employed other letter forms from local variants. These fell out of use when the alphabet was standardised. Two of these letters still affect the spelling of some Greek words and will be encountered later in your studies. The first was called digamma: Ƒ (ϝαῡ, vau) and stood after epsilon. The second was called koppa: Ϙ (κόππα), and stood after pi.)
1.2. Pronunciation of the Letters
The letters of the Greek alphabet, along with their modern pronunciation, are presented in the video below for you to review.
Memorise these letters by practising to write them. Say their names and sounds out loud to facilitate uptake. Once you have committed the letters to memory, complete the short exercises below.
Exercise 1A: Sort the Words
Exercise 1B: Sort the Words
Exercise 1C: Multiple Choice
1.2.1. Voiced and Voiceless Consonants
Greek letter sounds may be classified as voiced or voiceless, depending upon the degree of exertion upon the vocal chords. Voiced sounds result from a vibration of the vocal chords and so the letters are called sonant or “sounding”. The Greek vowels α, ε, η, ο, ω, and semivowels ι, υ are all voiced. The Greek voiced consonants are β, γ, δ, ζ, λ, μ, ν, and ρ.
The voiceless consonant sounds are produced without tension on the vocal chords, so these are also called surd or “hushed” consonants. They are θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, and ψ.
| Voiced Consonants | Voiceless Consonants |
|---|---|
| β | θ |
| γ | κ |
| δ | ξ |
| ζ | π |
| λ | σ, ς |
| μ | τ |
| ν | φ |
| ρ | χ |
| ψ |
The pronunciation of the Greek sigma varies depending on which letter follows the sigma. If the sigma is followed by a vowel or a voiceless consonant then it is pronounced as a voiceless sibilant equivalent to the English “s.” If the sigma is followed by a voiced consonant, then the sigma is also voiced, like the English “z.”
1.2.2. Nasal Consonant Blends
You may have noted that the Greek alphabet has no letters corresponding to the English voiced sounds b, d or g. There are no individual letters that produce these sounds. However, these three sounds do actually occur in Greek as part of a consonant blend. Voiced nasal consonants (mu or nu), which are sounded by passing the flow of air through the nose, may blend their sound with an adjacent unvoiced consonant.
There are three nasal consonant blends in modern Greek that should be practised:
- μπ is pronounced “mb” as in embed.
- ντ is pronounced “nd” as in ended.
- νκ is pronounced “ng” as in ingot.
You will not encounter the third consonant blend, νκ, within individual words in NT Greek. Eventually it was replaced by the γκ combination which also has an “ng” sound. (For example, the words ἐν + κρίνω ▶ ἐνκρίνω ▶ ἐγκρίνω.) Though you will almost never see νκ clustered together, note that when native speakers speak Greek quickly, adjacent words mat also blend together. So when the words τὸν κύριον, for example, are spoken quickly the ν from τὸν and the κ from κύριον blend together.
Review the pronunciation video below to getter a better grasp of these consonant blends.
1.2.3. Gamma Nasal
The letter gamma has a nasal sound when it precedes a guttural. Gutturals are given that name because their sound is produced at the back of the mouth or throat.
There are four letters that represent guttural sounds in the Greek alphabet:
- Γγ (Gamma)
- Κκ (Kappa)
- Χχ (Chi)
- Ξξ (Xi)
To avoid an awkward sounding cluster of consonants and ensure an easier glide of the tongue, gamma has a nasal sound when it precedes a guttural. Thus, the initial gamma in the consonant pairs γκ, γγ, γχ, and γξ is pronounced similar to the n in the word think or song. This initial gamma is known as the gamma-nasal.
- γγ is pronounced “ng” as in ingot.
- γκ is pronounced “ng” as in ingot.
- γχ is pronounced is pronounced “nch.” (The chi sound does not occur in English, but this combination is similar to the Spanish “nj” in conjetura.)
- γξ is pronounced “nks” as in thinks.
Note that the gamma-nasal is written as an “n” and not a “g” in the SBL standard English transliteration. The SBL standards for the gamma-nasal consonent pairs are as follows.
| Consonants Pair | English Equivalent (SBL Transliteration) |
|---|---|
| γγ | ng |
| γκ | nk |
| γχ | nch |
| γξ | nx |
The best way to get familiar with consonant blends is to practice pronouncing them. Review the pronunciation video below.
1.3. The Classification of Vowels
1.3.1. Proper Vowels
The Greek alphabet has five proper vowels:
- Αα (Alpha)
- Εε (Epsilon)
- Ηη (Eta)
- Οο (Omicron)
- Ωω (Omega)
These may be classified by type and length. In Classical Greek, the length of alpha, iota and upsilon depended on their syllable. The long form of these vowels was written ᾱ, ῑ, ῡ, respectively. By the time of Koine Greek, the pronunciation of the long vowels ᾱ, ῑ, ῡ, and ω had all been reduced to their shorter equivalents.
In Koine Greek the vowel length affects the accenting of words (i.e. where the emphasis is placed when pronouncing the word). For this reason it is important to remember which vowels were traditionally “long” and which were “short.” Note the summary table below.
| A-type | E-type | O-type | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short | α | ε | ο |
| Long | ᾱ or η | η | ω |
1.3.2. Semivowels
There are also two semivowels in the Greek alphabet:
- Ιι (Iota)
- Υυ (Upsilon)
These may behave as vowels or consonants. The semivowels may be either long or short. When they function as vowels they are pronounced like the eta in modern Greek. These two semivowels are significant because they may affect the spelling of certain Greek words. For now, it is only important to know that the pronunciation of semivowels is influenced by the proper vowels that precede them.
1.4. Vowel Digraphs and Diphthongs
A diphthong (from the Greek δίς and φθόγγος: “double sound”) involves a glide of the tongue to combine two vowel sounds in a single syllable, as in the English words I, oil, or boy. In the case of the words oil and boy, the diphthong sound is represented by two letters: “oi” or “oy.”
However, consider the English word soup. Though there are two adjacent vowel letters “ou”, these letters only produce a single sound (or monophthong). The technical term for this is a digraph (from the Greek δίς and γράφω: “double writing” ). By the time of the New Testament many Greek diphthongs had reduced to digraphs.
- All Greek vowel digraphs contain either an iota or an upsilon semivowel as the second letter. If the second letter of the pair is not a semivowel, then it is not a vowel digraph.
1.4.1. Iota Digraphs
- In modern Greek any short vowel (α, ε, ο) that is followed by an iota becomes a digraph.
- When the semivowel upsilon behaves as a vowel it may also form a digraph with iota.
- All these iota-class digraphs are pronounced as E-type vowel sounds.
| Digraph | Vowel Length | Vocal Equivalent | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|
| αι | short | same as ε | "e" as in end |
| ει | long | same as ι, η, υ | "ee" as in tree |
| οι | short | same as ι, η, υ | "ee" as in tree |
| υι | long | same as ι, η, υ | "ee" as in tree |
1.4.2. Upsilon Digraphs
- When upsilon follows omicron it forms a vocalic digraph ου, pronounced “ou” as in you.
- Upsilon will be pronounced as a consonant when it follows any A- or E-type vowels, in other words: alpha, epsilon or eta.
- If the upsilon of a consonantal digraph (αυ, ευ, ηυ, not ου) precedes another vowel or voiced consonant the upsilon is pronounced like the Greek letter β.
- If the upsilon of a consonantal digraph precedes another voiceless consonant then the upsilon is pronounced like the Greek letter φ.
Technically, the resulting consonantal digraphs αυ, ευ, and ηυ are no longer single vowel sounds (vocalic monophthongs). However, because their sound does not correspond to normal values of the letters we choose to classify them as digraphs.
One last thing to note with upsilon digraphs. Whenever upsilon forms part of a digraph the SBL convention for transliteration is that the upsilon be represented by the English letter “u” and not “y” as is the customary. Thus, the Greek digraphs αυ, ευ, ηυ, and ου are transliterated as au, eu, ēu, and ou, respectively.
| Digraph | Vowel Length | Equivalent | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|
| αυ | same as αβ or αφ | "av" as in avast or "af" as in affair | |
| ευ | same as εβ or εφ | "ev" as in evidence or "ef" as in effort | |
| ηυ | same ηβ or ηφ | "eev" as in eve or "eef" as in beef | |
| ου | long | "ou" as in you |
Let us review the pronunciation of Greek digraphs with the video below.
Exercise 1D: Select the Words
1.4.3. Diaeresis ( ΅ )
Sometimes a digraph is pronounced as two vowels (diphthong) and not as a single sound (monophthong). To show that the vowels should be pronounced as separate sounds, a special mark, called a diaeresis ( ΅ ) is placed over the second vowel, as with the word ἀΐδιος (eternal).
1.4.4. Gamma and Chi before E-type Vowels
There are two consonants, gamma and chi, whose sound is influenced by the vowel that accompanies them. Short and long E-type vowel sounds (for example ε, η, ι, and υ) change the sound of γ and χ since the vowel sound is produced toward the front of the mouth. The consonants that precede these vowels are also sounded towards the front of the mouth so the tongue may remain forward:
- As you have learnt, the single gamma sound is usually a continuous “gh”—a voiced fricative, produced by restricting airflow against the back of the throat.
- When gamma is followed by an E-type vowel it sounds like the English “y” in yes.
- Because the letter chi is already pronounced with a long iota vowel sound in its name, you have already learnt how to pronounce the letter when it occurs before an E-class vowel.
- When chi occurs before a vowel sound that is pronounced towards the back of the mouth or throat, it is pronounced in the back of the throat, similar to the “ch” in Bach. (Practice saying the Greek χώρα and you will note that you cannot make the “chi” sound with your tongue towards the front of your mouth.)
1.5. Accents and Additional Marks
1.5.1. Accent Marks
Ancient Greek manuscripts did not have accent marks. These were developed by Aristophanes of Byzantium around 200 BC to instruct non-Greek speaking people how to correctly pronounce the language. Originally these accents denoted musical pitch but by the New Testament period the pitch system was replaced with a simple stress system, similar to what we have in English. Almost every Biblical Greek word has an accent mark to show which syllable receives the stress.
There are three accent marks in Greek: the acute (´), the grave (`), and the circumflex (῀). The acute accent used to show that the syllable was pronounced with a raised tone. The grave accent was a lower pitch tone, and was considered in Ancient Greek to belong to every syllable that was not accented. Later it came to replace a final acute where the word was followed by a subsequent word in the sentence. Thus, the word μετά (with, after) is written with an acute accent when it stands alone, but with a grave in the phrase μετὰ τὴν μάχην (after the battle).
The circumflex was formed by merging the acute and the grave (´+` = ῀) and was pronounced as a rising tone followed by a drop in pitch. (Thus, the word παῖς (boy) is from the union of πάὶς.)
Accenting informs meaning in Greek, but for now it is only important to note which syllable has an accent and to place the stress there as you pronounce the word.
1.5.2. Punctuation Marks
Current printed texts of the Greek New Testament use punctuation marks similar (but not identical) to English:
| Character | Description | Greek Meaning | English Equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| παῖς, | comma | comma | boy, |
| παῖς. | period | period | boy. |
| παῖς· | period above the line | semicolon | boy; |
| παῖς; | semicolon | question mark | boy? |
In Greek it is rare to have two vowel sounds adjacent to one another. Commonly there is a glide or consonant between them. In instances where a preposition ends in a vowel and is followed by a word beginning with another vowel, the preposition will drop its final vowel. This is called elision. The letter that has been dropped is marked with an apostrophe (ʼ), similar to the English contraction “haven’t.” For example: μετά αὐτῶν (with them) becomes μετʼ αὐτῶν.
1.5.3. Breathing Marks
In classical Greek every word that began with a vowel or digraph had either a rough or smooth breathing. The smooth breathing was not sounded. Words with a rough breathing were pronounced with an initial h sound. Since the Attic Greek dialect used the letter H to represent the majuscule eta, it could not be allocated to the h sound. Consequently, one half of the majuscule (├) was used for h, and the other half (┤) came to represent a smooth breathing. It is from these forms that the classical breathing marks emerged: the backward-facing apostrophe (‘) for the rough breathing and the forward-facing apostrophe (’) for the smooth breathing.
The pronunciation of the initial rough breathing had fallen away by the time Koine Greek emerged, so you are not required to pronounce the rough breathing. However, the breathing marks are still required for proper Greek spelling.
- A rough breathing mark is transliterated to English as the letter “h” before its vowel, or after an initial rho. Thus, ὑπακούω is transliterated as hypakouō, and ῥοιζηδόν is transliterated as rhoizēdon.
Here are some general rules for breathing marks. Memorise them!
Four Rules for Breathing Marks
- Every word with an initial vowel must have a breathing mark.
- An initial upsilon always has the rough breathing.
- An initial rho always has the rough breathing.
- Initial digraphs take the breathing mark over the second vowel, for example εὖ.
Exercise 1E: Reading
Practice sounding out and reading the following verses from John 1:1-5. Comprehension of the Greek is not important at this stage. Simply read the verses out loud, observing punctuation marks, accents, and focusing on the pronunciation of letters and digraphs.
(1.1) Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. (2) οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. (3) πάντα διʼ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν (4) ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων· (5) καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.