Αυ αυ — alfa-ipsilon
«alfa-ipsilon» is a digraph of Greek, the “Greek alphabet” script, read as “av or af, decided by the next sound”. Av before a voiced sound and at the end of a word, af before a voiceless one. For example, in the word “αύριο” — tomorrow. The Greek alphabet has 37 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. αύριο comes out "avrio", αυτός "aftos". One rule: after an a, υ adapts to the next sound. It appears, for example, in the word “αυτός” — he.
In short
| Character | Αυ αυ |
| Name | alfa-ipsilon |
| Sound | av or af, decided by the next sound |
| What it is | a digraph |
In our course the character comes 29th of 37: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ου and ευ, appears in 65 words of this site.
How it sounds
Av before a voiced sound and at the end of a word, af before a voiceless one
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- αύριοávriotomorrow
The character in the “the letter pairs” group
Eleven pairs of letters read as one sound. Nothing can be read without them: Greek has no separate letters for the oo, b, d and g sounds at all — they are written with the pairs ου, μπ, ντ, γκ.
- Αι αιe as in "met", written αιalfa-iota
- Ει ειee as in "see", written ειepsilon-iota
- Οι οιee as in "see", written οιomikron-iota
- Ου ουoo as in "food"omikron-ipsilon
- Ευ ευev or ef, decided by the next soundepsilon-ipsilon
- Μπ μπb as in "book"mi-pi
- Ντ ντd as in "door"ni-taf
- Γκ γκg as in "go"gama-kapa
- Τσ τσts as in "cats"taf-sigma
- Τζ τζa voiced dz, close to j as in "jam"taf-zita
Words with this character
- αυτόςaftóshe
- αυτοίaftíthey
- Πόσο κάνει αυτό;póso káni aftó?how much do I owe?
- το αυτίto aftíear
- αυτή την εβδομάδαaftí tin evdomádathis week
- καυτερόςkafteróshot (spicy)
- η συναυλίαi sinavlíaconcert
- ο σταυρόςo stavrósa cross
- η αυλήi avlíyard
- ο τραυματισμόςo travmatizmósinjury
- το έγκαυμαto éngavmaburn
- μιλάω για τον εαυτό μουmiláo ya ton eaftó muto talk about yourself
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «alfa-ipsilon» it is “av or af, decided by the next sound”, as in the word “αύριο”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 37 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Greek character αυ read?
As “av or af, decided by the next sound” — it is a digraph of the “Greek alphabet” script. Av before a voiced sound and at the end of a word, af before a voiceless one. For example, in the word “αύριο” — tomorrow.
What is the letter αυ called?
Alfa-ipsilon. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Greek script: it is called “alfa-ipsilon” and reads as “av or af, decided by the next sound”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can αυ be confused with?
αύριο comes out "avrio", αυτός "aftos". One rule: after an a, υ adapts to the next sound. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.