Ancient Greek was an amazing language. And it's not completely strange to us today; English has borrowed lots of words from Greek. The Greek alphabet is the ancestor of the Latin alphabet that we use in English, and we use Greek letters in advanced math sometimes. Below is an ancient Greek inscription. Do any letters look familiar?
Below is the Greek alphabet. Compare the Greek letters with the English letters, and then scroll down for some practice!
| Greek Letter | English |
|---|---|
| Α, α | A |
| Β, β | B |
| Γ, γ | G as in "girl" |
| Δ, δ | D |
| Ε, ε | E as in "get" |
| Ζ, ζ | Z |
| Η, η | Like the "ay" in "lay" |
| Θ, θ | Like "th" in "thing" |
| Ι, ι | Like "i" in "machine" |
| Κ, κ | K |
| Λ, λ | L |
| Μ, μ | M |
| Ν, ν | N |
| Ξ, ξ | Like "x" in "fox" |
| Ο, ο | A short "o" sound |
| Π, π | P |
| Ρ, ρ | Rolled "r" like in Spanish |
| Σ, σ (ς at end of a word) | S |
| Τ, τ | T |
| Υ, υ | "U"" sound with lips rounded |
| Φ, φ | F |
| Χ, χ | Rough sound in the throat, like Scottish "loch" |
| Ψ, ψ | "PS" sound as in "lips" |
| Ω, ω | Long "o" sound |