It is not too difficult to learn how to read Greek.  Some courses in Greek teach the students how to read Greek on the very first day of class.  Of course, to understand what you are reading would require weeks of study as is true with any language. 

For the person not trained in the Greek language, learning the Greek alphabet and learning how to read are important skills which will help you to look up words in a Greek lexicon (a Greek dictionary) and will help you to be able to to do some basic reading in a Greek-English Interlinear New Testament.

1A.  The Alphabet.

If you know the word "ALPHABET," then you already know the first two letters of the Greek Alphabet (Alpha and Beta).  If you know Revelation 1:8, then you already know the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet (Alpha and Omega).  So you only need to learn 21 more letters and many of these are similar or identical to English letters. You may have learned some Greek letters when you took courses in mathematics (Delta, Pi, etc.).

2A.  Pronunciation of Diphthongs (two vowels together).

We also have diphthongs in English:  feud, aisle, oil, team, etc.

Here are the common diphthongs in Greek, showing how each one is pronounced:

Another type of diphthong is called IOTA SUBSCRIPT. This occurs when the ι (iota) is written very small under the letters (vowels)  α , η  or  ω  to form a special diphthong:

When you see this, don't worry about it. It's pronounced the same as the letter or vowel would be pronounced if the small iota were not there.

3A.  Other Rules that Must Be Understood In Order To Read Greek.

1B.  When the letter γ (Gamma) comes before another γ   or  κ   or  χ  the  γ   is pronounced like ng  (as in song).

Examples: 

Compare the English word "angle."  If this were a Greek word it would be spelled "aggle" but it would be pronounced as "angle."

Compare the English word "ankle."  If this were a Greek word it would be spelled "agkle" but it would be pronounced as "ankle."

The Greek word for angel is  

and is pronounced "angelos."  The Greeks, if they were spelling in English, would probably spell "angel" as "aggel."   

2B.  The letter Sigma is written as  ς   when it comes at the end of a word, elsewhere it is written as  σ.  It is the same letter but it appears in two different forms according to the rule just stated.

Example:   The Greek word for Christ is  χριστός (Christos).  Notice that the letter Sigma is found twice in this word but in two different forms. The last Sigma takes a different form because it comes at the end of the word.

3B.  A vowel or diphthong at the beginning of a word always has a breathing.   When these breathing marks are placed on the letter Alpha, they look like this:

The rough breathing indicates that an h-sound is to be pronounced before the initial vowel or diphthong; the smooth breathing (the breathing mark is curved in the opposite direction from the rough breathing mark) indicates that no such h-sound is to be pronounced.

Examples:

The letter Rho (ρ) always has a rough breathing when it occurs at the beginning of a word:

and is pronounced rh.  Compare the English words rhythm, rhino, rhetoric, etc.

4B.  There are three accent marks in Greek: 

In pronunciation you should stress the syllable that has an accent mark.

Examples: 

	APOSTLE, accent on second syllable
	MAN, accent on first syllable
	LITTLE, accent on last syllable
	GIFT, accent on first syllable

5B.  Punctuation

The four marks of punctuation in Greek are:

1.  The comma  ( , )

2.  The period    ( . )

3.  The colon   (•).  The Greek colon is used for both colon and semicolon (Greek simplifies; they have one mark whereas English has two).  Remove the lower dot from the English colon and you have the Greek colon.

4.  The question-mark  ( ; )    Do not confuse this with the English semicolon.

YOU ARE NOW READY TO READ GREEK!

4A.  Exercises in Reading and Pronunciation.

1B.  Reading common Greek words.

Practice reading the following Greek words aloud:

 

 

2B.  Reading familiar Bible verses in Greek.

Practice reading the following verses aloud:

3B.  A Greek Acrostic--THE SIGN OF THE FISH.

The Greek word for FISH (ιχθυς), pronounced ick-thuse, was used by the early Christians as a code word because each of the letters of the word FISH stood for a key word representing the Christian faith. Even today people use the sign of the fish as a sign that they are Christians.

Here are what the words are:

What then is the message of the fish? 
 Jesus Christ, God (the) Son, (our) Saviour!

Is He your Saviour?