The good news first

Greek is close to phonetic. A letter almost always makes the same sound, so once you know the rules you can read a word you have never seen and say it correctly. The work is small and finite: learn the few sounds below and your accent stops sounding like a tourist reading a phrasebook.

The sounds English speakers get wrong

These six are worth practising out loud. Most beginners guess them from the way the letters look and land on the wrong sound. The two that matter most are θ and δ, English writes both as "th", but Greek keeps them apart.

Letter	Sound	Example
θ	th as in think (hard)	θάλασσα (THA-la-sa, sea)
δ	th as in this (soft)	δέντρο (DHEN-dro, tree)
γ	a soft throaty g, like Spanish agua	γάλα (GHA-la, milk); before e or i, like y in yes
χ	like the ch in Scottish loch	χαρά (ha-RA, joy)
ρ	a lightly tapped or rolled r	ρόδα (RO-dha, wheel)
β	v, never b	βιβλίο (vi-VLI-o, book)

Five pure vowels, no more

English has a dozen shifting vowel sounds. Greek has five, and they stay put. A vowel does not glide or soften near the end of a word the way it does in English, so you say each one fully and cleanly.

Letters	Sound	Example
α	a as in father	μαμά
ε	e as in bet	πέντε
η ι υ	i as in machine	μίλι
ο ω	o as in got	μόνο
ου	u as in food	ούζο

Sounds that are not there

It also helps to know what Greek does not have. There is no "sh", no "j" as in jam, and no hard English "h". When you see β your instinct will say "b", but it is always "v".

Practice with your ears, not just your eyes

The fastest fix for pronunciation is to read a sentence while you hear it. Start with the alphabet, then vowel combinations. When you are ready, read an A1 story with read-aloud audio and copy what you hear.

Generate your first story