Greek
Ελληνικό αλφάβητο
Alphabet · 24 letters
One letter per sound, vowels included, written in the line like consonants. This is the Latin system: the simplest to learn, and the quickest to pay off.
What pays off on the road
- Two countries write it, Greece and Cyprus: seeing it places you. Road signs generally repeat the name in Latin; shop signs and street plates seldom do.
- The street words: ΟΔΟΣ street, ΛΕΩΦΟΡΟΣ avenue, ΠΛΑΤΕΙΑ square.
- Reading a name: the five false friends first — Β reads v, Η i, Ρ r — are what turn ΠΑΤΡΑ into “Patpa”.
How it works
Twenty-four signs, and nothing to memorise
Reading Greek does not require speaking Greek. Place names almost always transliterate sign by sign: ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ becomes Thessaloniki as soon as you can render each letter, and the word never needed understanding.
That is what makes Greek pay off in a round: twenty-four signs cover all of Greece and Cyprus, where a script with ligatures asks ten times as many before the first word.
Road signs carry the name twice, Greek then Latin. The trap is elsewhere: shop fronts, street plates, adverts and vans, where there is only Greek.
The five that cost you points
Β is not b but v: ΒΟΛΟΣ is Volos. Η is not h but i: ΧΑΝΙΑ is Chania. Ρ is not p but r: ΠΑΤΡΑ is Patra. Υ reads i, not u. Χ is the Spanish jota, not an x.
These five are the only ones wearing a Latin disguise. Every other letter is either faithful or foreign enough to raise no doubt. Half an hour on these five beats a week on the rest.
Greek has no b and no d
There is no letter for either sound: modern Greek writes them with two signs. ΜΠ reads b, ΝΤ reads d, ΓΚ reads hard g. A ΜΠΑΡ sign is a bar, not an "mpar".
Three vowel pairs read as one sound: ΟΥ is ou, ΑΙ is e, ΕΙ and ΟΙ are i. A name transliterated letter by letter without the pairs yields a word that does not exist — the commonest mistake of the first three weeks.
Final sigma, and the endings that give Greece away
Sigma is written σ everywhere, except at the end of a word where it becomes ς. Two shapes, one letter. It is the only Greek sign that changes with its position.
One accent only, the tonos, marking the stressed syllable and never changing the sound: Αθήνα reads like Αθηνα. It is visible from far away and useless for transliteration.
Place names end in -ΟΣ, -Α, -Ι and -ΑΚΙ more often than chance. Seeing a word in capitals end in ΟΣ is often enough to call Greece without reading the rest.
Cheat sheet
The ones you already read
Same shape as Latin, same sound. Nine free letters: they are recognised without being learnt, and that is already one Greek word in three.
| Α α | alpha | a | the a in "father" |
| Ε ε | epsilon | e | the e in "bed" |
| Ζ ζ | zêta | z | the z in "zone" |
| Ι ι | iota | i | the i in "machine" |
| Κ κ | kappa | k | the k in "kilo" |
| Μ μ | mu | m | the m in "man" |
| Ν ν | nu | n | the n in "no" |
| Ο ο | omicron | o | the o in "pot" |
| Τ τ | tau | t | the t in "top" |
The false friends
Same shape as Latin, different sound. These are the five that turn "Patra" into "Patpa". The whole difficulty of Greek sits in this family.
| Β β | bêta | v | the v in "very" |
| Η η | êta | i | the i in "machine" |
| Ρ ρ | rhô | r | a rolled r, as in Italian |
| Υ υ | upsilon | y | the i in "machine" |
| Χ χ | khi | ch | the Spanish jota, a scraped h |
The shapes of its own
No resemblance to Latin, so no trap: you either know them or you do not. Many are already familiar from mathematics.
| Γ γ | gamma | g | a softened g; before e and i, the y in "yes" |
| Δ δ | delta | d | the th in "this" |
| Θ θ | thêta | th | the th in "thing" |
| Λ λ | lambda | l | the l in "law" |
| Ξ ξ | xi | x | the x in "taxi" |
| Π π | pi | p | the p in "pot" |
| Σ σ | sigma | s | the s in "sack" |
| Φ φ | phi | f | the f in "for" |
| Ψ ψ | psi | ps | the ps in "lapse", both sounds voiced |
| Ω ω | oméga | o | the o in "pot" |
The pairs
Two signs, one sound. Modern Greek has no b and no d and spells them with two letters; three vowel pairs likewise read as one. Without them, transliteration yields a word that does not exist.
| ΟΥ ου | omicron-upsilon | ou | the oo in "food" |
| ΑΙ αι | alpha-iota | e | the e in "bed" |
| ΕΙ ει | epsilon-iota | i | the i in "machine" |
| ΟΙ οι | omicron-iota | i | the i in "machine" |
| ΜΠ μπ | mu-pi | b | the b in "bar"; mid-word, rather mb |
| ΝΤ ντ | nu-tau | d | the d in "door"; mid-word, rather nd |
| ΓΚ γκ | gamma-kappa | g | the hard g in "garden" |
| ΑΥ αυ | alpha-upsilon | av | av, or af before a voiceless consonant |
| ΕΥ ευ | epsilon-upsilon | ev | ev, or ef before a voiceless consonant |
| ΤΣ τσ | tau-sigma | ts | the ts in "tsar" |
The marks
What sits on the writing rather than in its line. Two marks, and Greek is already better off than most: no ligature, no inherent vowel, no positional forms — save one.
| Σ ς | sigma final | s | the s in "sack" |
| Ά ά | tonos | a | no change: it marks the stressed syllable |
| Ϊ ϊ | dialytika | i | no change: it splits two vowels instead of reading them as a pair |
The words on signs
| ΟΔΟΣ | odos | street |
| ΛΕΩΦΟΡΟΣ | leoforos | avenue |
| ΠΛΑΤΕΙΑ | plateia | square |
| ΚΕΝΤΡΟ | kentro | centre |
| ΑΓΙΟΣ | agios | saint |
| ΝΕΑ | nea | new |
| ΠΟΛΗ | poli | city |
| ΧΩΡΙΟ | chorio | village |
| ΝΗΣΟΣ | nisos | island |
| ΠΑΡΑΛΙΑ | paralia | beach |
| ΛΙΜΑΝΙ | limani | harbour |
| ΒΟΡΕΙΟΣ | voreios | north |
| ΝΟΤΙΟΣ | notios | south |
| ΑΝΑΤΟΛΙΚΟΣ | anatolikos | east |
| ΔΥΤΙΚΟΣ | dytikos | west |
| ΑΝΩ | ano | upper |
| ΚΑΤΩ | kato | lower |
| ΣΤΑΘΜΟΣ | stathmos | station |
| ΕΞΟΔΟΣ | exodos | exit |
| ΕΙΣΟΔΟΣ | eisodos | entrance |
| ΠΡΑΤΗΡΙΟ | pratirio | petrol station |
| ΦΑΡΜΑΚΕΙΟ | farmakeio | pharmacy |
| ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ | trapeza | bank |
| ΑΣΤΥΝΟΜΙΑ | astynomia | police |
| ΤΑΧΥΔΡΟΜΕΙΟ | tachydromeio | post office |
| ΦΟΥΡΝΟΣ | fournos | bakery |
| ΚΑΦΕΝΕΙΟ | kafeneio | coffee house |
| ΕΛΛΑΔΑ | Ellada | Greece |
| ΚΥΠΡΟΣ | Kypros | Cyprus |