The Basics of Biblical Greek

The books of the New Testament were originally written in Greek, but not the same Greek as is spoken today. Instead, the original language is referred to as koine Greek or “common” Greek; this Greek is also different than the classical Greek used in literature such as that written by Aristotle or Homer.

This page is designed to help you start your journey of learning the Greek words in the New Testament by showing the Greek alphabet and some basic vocabulary.

Let’s begin with the Greek alphabet:

Uppercase	Lowercase	Name	Sound	English Equivalent
Α	α	alpha (“all-fuh”)	“ah” as in “all”	a
Β	β	beta (“bay-tuh”)	“b”	b
Γ	γ	gamma	“g”	g
Δ	δ	delta	“d”	d
Ε	ε	epsilon	“eh” as in “echo”	e
Ζ	ζ	zeta (“zay-tuh”)	“z”	z
Η	η	eta (“ey-tuh”)	“ey” as in “obey“	e
Θ	θ	theta (“they-tuh”)	“th” as in “thick”	th
Ι	ι	iota (“yote-uh”)	“ih” as in “igloo”	i
Κ	κ	kappa	“k”	k
Λ	λ	lambda	“l”	l
Μ	μ	mu (“moo”)	“m”	m
Ν	ν	nu (“noo”)	“n”	n
Ξ	ξ	xi (“ksee”)	“x”	x
Ο	ο	omicron	“o” as in “Oscar”	o
Π	π	pi (“pea”)	“p”	p
Ρ	ρ	rho (“row”)	“r”	r
Σ	σ / ς	sigma	“s”	s
Τ	τ	tau (“tao”)	“t”	t
Υ	υ	upsilon	“u” as in “push”	u/y
Φ	φ	phi (“fee”)	“ph” as in “phone”	ph/f
Χ	χ	chi (“kee”)	“ch” as in “Christ”	ch/k
Ψ	ψ	psi (“psee”)	“ps” as in “autopsy”	ps
Ω	ω	omega	“oh” as in “go“	o

You will notice that the sigma has two lowercase versions; the second, “ς”, is used only when the sigma appears at the very end of a word. You will also notice that there are some sounds we use in English which are not present in Greek, such as the “ch” in “chicken” – instead, every “ch” in Greek is like the “ch” in “archaeology”.

By using the above table to sound words out, you can better understand what they are. Some words in English derive from Greek words – you will see a few in the vocabulary list below. Additionally, Greek has many different endings for words and you can dive into those through additional study in grammar and syntax (there is a small list at the end of this page with books and study materials you can buy to learn more).

Breathing marks are present on words which start with vowels. These apostrophes on top of the first letter indicate whether the word has a “soft” start (simply starting with the vowel’s sound) or a “hard” start (starting with a hard breath out – an “h” sound before the vowel’s sound).
The soft breathing mark “opens” (the apostrophe’s curve arch opens) away from the word, like in ἀρχή, giving no additional sound to “arche“.
The hard breathing mark “opens” toward the word, like in ἅγιος, giving the “h” sound to “hagios“.
On words with a capitalized first letter, you will see the breathing mark immediately preceding the letter.

You will also notice accent marks on various vowels; these function the same as accent marks in many other languages, pointing out the emphasized part of the word.

Greek word	Greek “sounded out”	English meaning
καρδία	“kardia”	heart (“cardio”)
Χριστός	“Christos”	Christ
Ἰησοῦς	“Iesous”	Jesus
ἅγιος	“hagios”	holy
θεός	“theos”	God (“theology”)
ἁμαρτία	“hamartia”	sin
βασιλεία	“basileia”	kingdom
μαρτυρία	“marturia”	witness/testimony (“martyr“)
ἀρχή	“arche”	beginning (“archaic”)
λόγος	“logos”	word

Lastly, here are a few simple verses in Greek which you can sound out!

Greek text	Greek “sounded out”	English translation
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.	“En archey eyn ho logos, kai ho logos eyn pros ton theon, kai theos eyn ho logos.”	In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and God was the word. (John 1:1)
ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν οὐκ ἔγνω τὸν θεόν, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν.	“ho mey agapown ouk egno ton theon hoti ho theos agapey estin.”	He who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)
πάντες γὰρ ἥμαρτον καὶ ὑστεροῦνται τῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ	“pantes gar heymarton kai husterountai teys doxeys tou theou”	for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)
αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί⸃.	“autos humas basilei en neumati hagio kai puri” (the π in πνεύματι is silent, just like in “pneumonia”)	he will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire. (Matthew 3:11b)

I hope you enjoyed learning the basics of koine Greek!