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The Greek Alphabet
Sight and Sounds of the Greek Letters (Part 1)
The Letters and Pronunciation of the Greek Alphabet

1.0 Introduction

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The NTGreek alphabet encompasses twenty-four individual letters. These letters and their phonetic sounds are introduced in this lesson and further developed in lessons two through five. Mastering the sight and sounds of the alphabet lays thecornerstone for learning the sight and sounds of Greek words in all subsequent lessons. The first and single most important step in learning New Testament Greek is to memorize the sight and sounds of the alphabet. Students who do not thoroughly learn the Greek alphabet are sowing the seed for future failure. Studying the Greek alphabet (orthographical symbols) together with their sounds(phonological sounds) will achieve the following: • To know the name of an alphabetical letter is to know how to correctly pronounce the vowel or consonant • Barricade of strangeness of the Greek language will deteriorate • Emphasis of learning Greek is placed both upon sight and sound • Facilitate the use of a Greek-English lexicon when learning new words • Communicate to others when speaking about aGreek word(s)/phrases The English approximations to the Greek letter sounds in this course are designed to provide a practical and consistent method of pronunciation. The pronunciation of the letters is not an attempt to emulate how they were pronounced in First Century Greek (no one knows how they were pronounced!). Instead, a standardized pronunciation system is adopted as an aid to memorizationused widely in universities, Bible colleges, and seminaries today. It is important from the beginning to distinguish the sight as well as the sound of each Greek letter. This may be achieved by pronouncing each Greek alphabetical letter carefully and deliberately. In addition, practice writing each letter as it is heard will aid in embedding it into memory. The SPIonic font used for the Greekcharacters in this lesson, and the lessons to follow, is similarly found in printed books, which date from the middle ages. We are now ready to begin one of the most rewarding experiences of a lifetime: the study of the Greek New Testament in its original language.
© Dr. William D. Ramey InTheBeginning.org

LESSON 1: The Greek Alphabet: Sight and Sounds of Greek Letters (Part 1) Page 2______________________________________________________________________

1.1 The Greek Alphabet

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One begins learning New Testament Greek by seeing and then correctly pronouncing and writing the individual letters. The pronunciation of each Greek alphabetical letter is learned by proper pronunciation of its alphabetical name. For example, the first letter in the Greek alphabet is a, and a ispronounced as the first letter in its alphabetical name, a!lfa. Therefore, knowing how to pronounce the character’s alphabetical name is to know how to pronounce the alphabetical letter. This is also true for the remaining letters in the alphabet. An alphabetical letter has the same pronunciation as does the opening sound of its alphabetical name. Learning the Greek alphabet will be approached in asimplistic four-step manner: • • • • See each Greek letter; Hear each Greek letter; Learn to write the alphabetical character; and finally Pronounce each letter in their alphabetical order.

The twenty-four letters in the Greek alphabet are divided into two categories: seven are vowels and the remaining seventeen are consonants. Their order, beginning on the next page, does not reflect these separatecategories, but their alphabetical sequence. Memorizing them in this order will prove helpful later when using a Greek-English lexicon, since all entries are alphabetically listed. Beginning on the next page, each of the twenty-four Greek letters are represented. Each alphabetical character has two forms. The first letter illustrated is the capital letter, and then its corresponding small...