Transliteration of Greek
A correspondence table between the Greek script and Latin letters: 37 letters, with names and sounds. The rendering is practical — it exists so you can read aloud and be understood, not to meet a scholarly standard.
Greek character → Latin
| Character | Name | In Latin | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Α α | alfa | a as in "father" | A pure open a, steady as in "father"; an unstressed a never fades to "uh" |
| Β β | vita | v as in "van" | An ordinary v |
| Γ γ | gama | a throaty g, or y before e and i | A voiced throaty g, deeper than the g of "go"; before e and i it softens almost into a y |
| Δ δ | dhelta | th as in "this" | A voiced th: the tongue between the teeth, as in English "this" |
| Ε ε | epsilon | e as in "met" | A short e as in "met" |
| Ζ ζ | zita | z as in "zoo" | An ordinary z, always voiced |
| Η η | ita | ee as in "see", written η | Reads as ee — the very same sound as ι and υ |
| Θ θ | thita | th as in "think" | A voiceless th: the tongue between the teeth, as in English "think" |
| Ι ι | iota | ee as in "see", the basic letter ι | A pure ee |
| Κ κ | kapa | k as in "kite" | An ordinary k, with no puff of air |
| Λ λ | lamda | l as in "lamp" | A light l, the tongue at the upper teeth |
| Μ μ | mi | m as in "map" | An ordinary m |
| Ν ν | ni | n as in "no" | An ordinary n |
| Ξ ξ | ksi | x as in "taxi" | Ks in one letter |
| Ο ο | omikron | o as in "pot" | A short o. Unstressed, it never decays into "uh" |
| Π π | pi | p as in "pen" | An ordinary p, with no puff of air |
| Ρ ρ | ro | a tapped r | A single tap of the tongue, lighter and shorter than the English r |
| Σ σ | sigma | s as in "sun" | An ordinary s; before a voiced consonant it turns to z |
| Τ τ | taf | t as in "top" | An ordinary t, with no puff of air |
| Υ υ | ipsilon | ee as in "see", written υ | On its own it reads ee; in the pairs αυ and ευ it turns into a v or an f |
| Φ φ | fi | f as in "fun" | An ordinary f |
| Χ χ | khi | kh as in Scottish "loch" | A rough kh from the back of the throat; before e and i it softens, like the ch of "chemist" |
| Ψ ψ | psi | ps as in "lapse" | Ps in one letter |
| Ω ω | omega | o as in "pot", written ω | The same o as ο — neither longer nor lower |
| Αι αι | alfa-iota | e as in "met", written αι | Reads as a plain e, like ε |
| Ει ει | epsilon-iota | ee as in "see", written ει | Reads as ee |
| Οι οι | omikron-iota | ee as in "see", written οι | Reads as ee |
| Ου ου | omikron-ipsilon | oo as in "food" | Reads as oo |
| Αυ αυ | alfa-ipsilon | 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 |
| Ευ ευ | epsilon-ipsilon | ev or ef, decided by the next sound | Ev before a voiced sound, ef before a voiceless one |
| Μπ μπ | mi-pi | b as in "book" | A plain b at the start of a word, an mb in the middle |
| Ντ ντ | ni-taf | d as in "door" | A plain d at the start of a word, an nd in the middle |
| Γκ γκ | gama-kapa | g as in "go" | A plain g at the start of a word, an ng in the middle |
| Τσ τσ | taf-sigma | ts as in "cats" | One fused ts |
| Τζ τζ | taf-zita | a voiced dz, close to j as in "jam" | One fused dz, close to the j of "jam" |
| ΄ | tonos | the stress mark | No sound of its own: the dash shows which syllable to stretch |
| ¨ | dialytika | the two dots | No sound of its own: the two dots split the pair into two separate vowels |
How practical transliteration differs from the scholarly kind
Any script has several Latin renderings, and they solve different problems. The scholarly one (ISO, GOST) is reversible: the original spelling can be restored character for character — which is why it is full of marks that are not on any keyboard and that nobody ever reads aloud correctly.
The practical one solves the reverse problem: a person reads it aloud and is understood. That is what the table above uses, and that is what our courses use.
What to watch out for
Twelve letters that read as they look. These letters read just as they look, and they make up exactly half the alphabet. Reading starts with them: κάνω, μένω, τι, καλά are assembled from these alone.
A familiar look — a different sound. The main difficulty of Greek. The letter is recognized at first glance but sounds different: β is a v, η and υ are ee. ω is an o, χ is a kh. A word read the way it looks, math-class style, a native speaker will not recognize.
The remaining consonants. Six letters with sounds of their own. Two of them are dental — δ and θ, the tongue between the teeth. Two more pack two sounds into one sign: ξ is ks, ψ is ps.
The letter pairs. 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.
The marks over the vowels. Stress in Greek is not a dictionary hint but an obligatory part of the spelling. A word longer than one syllable without its dash is written with a mistake. The two dots are rarer — needed where two vowels in a row must be read separately.
Frequently asked
How to write Greek text in Latin letters?
Using the table above, character by character. The practical rendering records sound, not spelling, so the original text cannot always be restored from it backwards.
Why do transliterations differ across sources?
Because they solve different problems: the scholarly one is reversible and precise, the practical one is readable, the passport one is fixed by the country's rules. They are not required to agree.