Pronunciation of Greek Letters

Greek pronunciation is consistent: each letter has a fixed sound and there are no silent letters. The table below lists the approximate pronunciation of each letter along with its transliteration. For example, beta (β) is pronounced “VEE‑tah” and gamma (γ) is pronounced “GHAH‑mah”【321285440465495†L172-L200】.

Letter	Pronunciation	Translit.
Α α	AHL‑fah	a
Β β	VEE‑tah	b
Γ γ	GHAH‑mah	g
Δ δ	THEL‑tah	d
Ε ε	EHP‑see‑lon	e
Ζ ζ	ZEE‑tah	z
Η η	EE‑tah	ē
Θ θ	THEE‑tah	th
Ι ι	YO‑tah	i
Κ κ	KAH‑pah	k
Λ λ	LAHM‑thah	l
Μ μ	mee	m
Ν ν	nee	n
Ξ ξ	ksee	x
Ο ο	OH‑mee‑kron	o
Π π	pee	p
Ρ ρ	roh	r
Σ σ	SEE‑gh‑mah	s
Τ τ	tahf	t
Υ υ	EWP‑see‑lon	u/y
Φ φ	fee	ph
Χ χ	hee	ch
Ψ ψ	psee	ps
Ω ω	oh‑MEH‑ghah	ō

Diphthongs and Combination Sounds

Some sounds in Greek are produced by combining two letters. The ThoughtCo guide explains that the hard d sound uses “nt,” the j sound uses “tz” and the hard g sound uses “gk”【321285440465495†L156-L168】. Likewise, Greek has several diphthongs such as αυ (au), ευ (eu) and ου (ou). Learning these combinations will help you read Greek words fluently.