Alphabet 3: What's the Same, What's Different

Alphabet: What's the Same

Many letters in the Greek alphabet are what we are used to seeing in English--or at least close enough that it's easy to relate to them.

We've already seen that most of the vowels are lookalikes for the ones we see in English:

α, ε, ι, ο, υ look quite a bit like: a, e, i, o, u.

Now let's look at consonants that are "look alikes" for the ones we see in English:

β, δ, κ, λ, τ look quite a bit like: b, d, k, l (with some imagination), t.

β | sound: b | name: beta (bey.tah)
δ | sound: d | name: delta (dehl.tah)κ | sound: k | name: kappa (kahp.pah)
λ | sound: l | name: lambda (lahm.dah)τ | sound: t | name: tau (tau)

Alphabet: What's Different
Some Greek consonants don't look like anything we've seen before. That's okay. Time to get acquainted:

γ | sound: g | name: gamma (gahm.mah)
ζ | sound: z | name: zeta (zey.tah)
θ | sound: th | name: theta (they.tah)μ | sound: m | name: mu (moo)
ν | sound: n | name: nu (noo)
ξ | sound: ks | name: xi (ksee)
π | sound: p | name: pi (pee)
ρ | sound: r | name: rho (hroh)
σ, ς | sound: s | name: sigma (seeg.mah)
τ | sound: t | name: tau (tau)
φ | sound: f | name: phi (fee)
χ | sound: k | name: chi (kee)
ψ | sound: ps | name: psi (psee)

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Note that some letters make two sounds in a row. Why? Often, this is what happens: the first sound ends one syllable; the second sound starts the next syllable. Like so:

δεξ¦ά¦με¦νοι| dehk.sah.meh.noi | after receiving
ἐ¦πε¦στρέψ¦ατε | eh.peh.strehp.sah.teh | you received

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Sometimes a γ sounds like n, making a word easier to pronounce:
γγ | sound: ng
γκ | sound: nk
γξ | sound: nks
γχ | sound: nk

εὐ¦αγ¦γέ¦λι¦ον | yoo.ahn.geh.lee.ahn | gospel

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While getting started, it's helpful to remember:
- η sounds like ey (not n)
- ν sounds like n (not v)
- ρ sounds like r (not p)

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