Greek vowels

From Wikiversity

Greek vowels have similar pronunciations as other Romance languages do; if you know Spanish or Italian, then you will have an easy time, because the vowels are pronounced the same. Do not automatically apply standard English vowel pronunciations to Greek words! You will probably be pronouncing them wrong. Please refer to the page linked at the end of this article for sound clips of the correct prounciations.

Letter	Name		Pronunciation	Notes
	Greek	English
Α α	Άλφα	Alpha	[a]	Pronounced somewhere between apple and father. You will do better leaning toward the "apple" pronunciation. πάλι source
Ε ε	Έψιλον	Epsilon	[e]	Pronounced like elk or tent.
Η η	Ήτα	Eta	[i]	Pronounced like eel or feet.
I ι	Iώτα Γιώτα	Iota	[i]	Pronounced the same as η. νύχτα source
Ο ο	Όμικρον	Omicron	[o]	Pronounced between "hope" and "hop." You need to pronounce this without rounding your lips into the "oo" sound that English has at the end of a long o. Listen carefully; many English speakers have trouble noticing they are making that "oo" sound. μυαλό source
Υ υ	Ύψιλον	Upsilon	[i]	Pronounced the same as η and ι.
Ω ω	Ωμέγα	Omega	[o]	Pronounced the same as ο.

You will probably have noticed that some of the vowels are redundant; Greek has three vowels representing the sound ee and two representing the sound o. This is because in Classical Greek, the different vowels did actually have different sounds. However, over the centuries, the pronunciations shifted to what they are today.

[edit] External links

• The Greek Alphabet