Greek Script

Here’s what you need to know before we start…

Greek Writing Rules

General Notes

Most Greek letters don’t change based on their position, except for the lowercase sigma (ς) at the end of a word.

Greek is written from left to right, so reading order stays the same as in English.

Key Features

Watch for accents that affect pronunciation.
Greek letters are always written above the baseline except for lowercase letters with a tail or loop feature.

Special Sounds

Greek has two letters for “O”:

Omicron (Ο, ο): has a short sound (like “top”).
Omega (Ω, ω): has a long sound (like “old”).

Practice writing the letters to get used to their unique shapes.

Video courtesy of AuralWriting

Koine Greek Alphabet Chart

Greek Script Practice Module

Breathing Marks in Koine Greek

Every word beginning with a vowel in Koine Greek has a breathing mark over the initial vowel. There are two types of breathing marks:

῾

ἡμέρα

hēmera ("day")

Adds an "h" sound.

᾿

ἀρχή

archē ("beginning")

No "h" sound.

῾

ἁγνός

hagnos ("pure")

Adds an "h" sound.

᾿

ἀνήρ

anēr ("man")

No "h" sound.

Common Names in Greek

Common Names in Greek Letters

Here are 20 common names written in Greek letters, divided into Western names and Greek names:

Western Names

Alice – Αλις

Christopher – Χριστοφερ

David – Δαβίδ

Emily – Εμιλυ

Helen – Ἑλένη

John – Ιωάννης

Laura – Λάουρα

Michael – Μιχαήλ

Paul – Παυλος

Rachel – Ραχελ

Greek Names

Andreas (Andrew) – Ἀνδρέας

Chloe – Χλόη

Iakobos (James) – Ἰάκωβος

Ioannis (John) – Ἰωάννης

Lydia – Λυδία

Maria – Μαρία

Matthaios (Matthew) – Ματθαῖος

Petros (Peter) – Πέτρος

Stephanos (Stephen) – Στέφανος

Timotheos (Timothy) – Τιμόθεος