24 letters · 1 final form · read left to right

Twenty-four letters. You already know how this goes.

Greek took the same Phoenician letters Hebrew uses — alpha is alef, beta is bet, gamma is gimel, delta is dalet — then did what Hebrew never did: it promoted some of them to vowels, written on the line like any other letter. No pointing system to learn this time. Pronunciation follows the Erasmian / seminary standard used by Greek grammars and Bible colleges. (A reconstructed Koine pronunciation exists and is closer to what John's first readers said; Erasmian is what your grammar, your professor, and this site use.)

Tap any letter for detail ● vowel ● double letter — two sounds in one

Numbers: like Hebrew, every Greek letter doubles as a numeral — that's the system behind χξϛ = 666 in Revelation 13:18. The gaps in the sequence (no 6, no 90, no 900) belong to three archaic letters that died as letters but kept their numeric jobs: ϛ stigma = 6, ϟ koppa = 90, ϡ sampi = 900. You'll meet them only in numerals.

Two kinds of trouble: Greek letters that resemble each other, and Greek letters that resemble Latin letters they have nothing to do with. The second kind is sneakier — your English-reading reflexes will fight you. Learn the tells.

Hebrew hangs its marks under the letters; Greek floats them on top. Most are recognition-only — but breathing marks change the word. Learn those cold, nod at the rest.

Breathing — the one that matters

Every word that starts with a vowel (or ρ) carries a breathing mark. Rough means say an h first; smooth ᾿ means no h — just the vowel. That single curl is the only difference between whole words:

The three accents — recognition, not mastery

Nearly every Greek word carries one accent. They marked musical pitch in classical times; by the Koine era they were settling into plain stress — stress the accented syllable and move on. Recognize the three shapes; leave the placement rules to second-year grammar.

Two quiet marks
ᾳ ῃ ῳ
Iota subscript — a tiny iota tucked under a long vowel. Silent in pronunciation, loud in grammar: it often marks the dative case. τῷ λόγῳ tō logō — “to the word.” Don't say it; don't miss it.
ϊ ϋ
Diaeresis — two dots meaning “these vowels do not form a diphthong; say them separately.” Μωϋσῆς Mō-y-sēs, Moses — three syllables, not two. Same two dots as in naïve.
Difficulty
Correct 0 Missed 0 Streak 0 Best streak 0 Accuracy

Letter data hand-compiled for this site; pronunciation follows the Erasmian convention of standard grammars (Mounce, Machen). Greek type: Gentium Plus.