Elementary Modern Greek/Lesson I

This is the first lesson in Elementary Modern Greek. This lesson will cover the Greek Alphabet, pronunciation, Greek typography, as well as some introductory phrases.

The Alphabet

There are 24 characters in the modern Greek alphabet. They are shown below, along with their pronunciations.

Character	Name	Pronunciation	Notes
Α α	Alpha	'a' as in 'father'
Β β	Beta	'v' as in 'vespa'
Γ γ	Gamma	between a soft 'g' and a 'y'
Δ δ	Delta	'th' as in 'this' or 'd' as in 'drab'
Ε ε	Epsilon	'e' as in pet
Ζ ζ	Zeta	'z' as in 'zap'
Η η	Eta	'ee' as in 'screen'
Θ θ	Theta	'th' as in 'think
Ι ι	Iota	'ee' as in 'screen'
Κ κ	Kappa	'k' as in 'kick'
Λ λ	Lambda	'l' as in 'light'
Μ μ	Mi	'm' as in 'morbid'
Ν ν	Ni	'n' as in 'new'
Ξ ξ	Xi	'x' as in 'excellent'
Ο ο	Omicron	'o' as in 'organize'
Π π	Pi	'p' as in 'pot'
Ρ ρ	Rho	'r' as in 'road'	Often rolled like in Spanish
Σ σ ς	Sigma	's' as in 'sick'	The 'σ' is used at the beginning or in the middle of a word, and the 'ς' is used at the end.
Τ τ	Tau	't' as in 'touch'
Υ υ	Upsilon	'ee' as in 'screen' or 'i' as in 'pit'
Φ φ	Phi	'f' as in 'fit'
Χ χ	Chi	'ch' as in 'loch' or 'h' as in 'human'
Ψ ψ	Psi	'ps' as in 'lapse'
Ω ω	Omega	'o' as in 'ode' or 'o' as in 'lord'

Two Letter Sounds

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