The alphabet

The pronunciation of Koine (Common) Greek at the time of the New Testament is a matter of debate. The system given here is an adaptation of the pronunciation recommended by the Classical Association.

To see the Greek text correctly, you will need the Greek font SPIonic

Name	Capital	Small	Pronunciation		Remarks
Name	Capital	Small	Koine	Modern	Remarks
Alpha	A	a	a as in cat	ah as in father
Beta	B	b	b	v
Gamma	G	g	g	y or gyh	for gg, gk, gx, gc the g is pronounced as the "n" in sing, ink, etc.
Delta	D	d	d	th as in that
Epsilon	E	e	e as in get	e as in get	the name means "simple e"
Vau or Digamma	V	v	w or fw		the letter dropped out of use before the time of the New Testament. The name "Vau" reflected its Semitic name; the Greeks called it Digamma because it looked like two superimposed Gammas
Zeta	Z	z	dz as in adze	z as in zoo	if dz is difficult to pronounce, just use z
Eta	H	h	ey as in grey	ee as in see
Theta	Q	q	th as in thin	th as in thin
Iota	I	i	i as in it	ee as in see	Before other vowels i can sound as y in yes
Kappa	K	k	k	k
Lambda	L	l	l	l
Mu	M	m	m	m
Nu	N	n	n	n
Xi	C	c	x as in six	x as in six
Omicron	O	o	o as in got	ou as in bought	the name means "little o"
Pi	P	p	p	p
Koppa	J		k		the letter dropped out of use before the time of the New Testament.
Rho	R	r	r	r as in very	r at the beginning of a word is aspirated : "hr"
Sigma	S	s	s as in see	s as in see	terminal sigma is written j
Tau	T	t	t	t
Upsilon	U	u	u as in put	ee as in see	the name means "simple u"
Phi	F	f	ph or f	ph or f
Chi	X	x	ch as in (Scots) loch, (German) ach, (Spanish) gente
Psi	Y	y	ps as in tips	ps as in tips
Omega	W	w	o as in home	ou as in bought	the name means big (broad) o

Diphthongs

Combination	Pronunciation
Combination	Koine	Modern
ai	ai as in aisle	e as in get
au	au as in Faust	ahf or ahv
ei	ei as in veil	ee as in see
eu	eu as in feud	ehf or ehv
oi	oi as in oil	ee as in see
ou	oo as in boot	oo as in boot
ui	ui as in suite	ee as in see

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Diphthongs