The Greek language seems to be hard at first. It sounds very melodic, so phonetically it may be easy to learn, but the alphabet… it doesn’t resemble the Latin alphabet at all.
The first step in Greek language acquisition is to learn all the letters and their pronunciation. Then, you can start building first words and phrases.
This article serves as a little sneak peak on the Greek language: we show you the alphabet and the most simple phrases you should learn at the beginning, especially before your journey to Greece.
GREEK ALPHABET
The ancient Greeks didn’t invent the alphabet. However, they may be credited with inventing an alphabet – a new form of alphabetic writing, one that added signs for vowels to signs for consonants. Their alphabet is the world’s first fully phonetic alphabetic script, which emerged sometime around 800 BC.
The uppercase and lowercase forms of the twenty-four letters are:
| Letter | Greek | Phoenician original | English | Greek (Modern) |
| Α | ἄλφα | aleph | alpha | [ˈalfa] |
| Β | βῆτα | beth | beta | [ˈvita] |
| Γ | γάμμα | gimel | gamma | [ˈɣama] |
| Δ | δέλτα | daleth | delta | [ˈðelta] |
| Η | ἦτα | heth | eta | [ˈita] |
| Θ | θῆτα | teth | theta | [ˈθita] |
| Ι | ἰῶτα | yodh | iota | [ˈʝota] |
| Κ | κάππα | kaph | kappa | [ˈkapa] |
| Λ | λάμβδα | lamedh | lambda | [ˈlamða] |
| Μ | μῦ | mem | mu | [mi] |
| Ν | νῦ | nun | nu | [ni] |
| Ρ | ῥῶ | reš | rho | [ro] |
| Τ | ταῦ | taw | tau | [taf] |
GREEK PHRASES
Below you will find the most basic phrases! They may be especially helpful at the very beginning.
| English | Greek | Sounds like |
| Hello/Goodbye | Γεια σου | Yassu |
| How are you? | Τι κάνεις; | Tee kanis? |
| I’m fine, thank you | Καλά, ευχαριστώ | Kala, efharisto |
| Nice to meet you | Χάρηκα | Harika |
| Good morning | Καλημέρα | Kalimera |
| Good evening/night | Καληνύχτα | Kalinichta |
| Please | Παρακαλώ | Parakalo |
| Thank you | Ευχαριστώ | Efharisto |
| Yes | Ναι | Neh |
| No | Όχι | O’hee |
| Excuse me | Συγγνώμη | Signomi |
| What is your name? | Πώς σε λένε; | Pos se leneh? |
| My name is… | Με λένε… | Me leneh… |
| Do you speak English? | Μιλάτε Αγγλικά; | Milate Agglika? |
| What time is it? | Τι ώρα είναι; | Ti hora ineh? |
| How much is this? | Πόσο κάνει; | Poso kani? |
| Cheers! (when drinking) | Γεια μας! | Yamas! |
| A beer/coffee/tea/shot, please | Μια μπύρα/έναν καφέ/ένα τσάι/ ένα σφηνάκι, παρακαλώ | Miah mpira/enan kafe/ena chai/ena sfinaki, parakalo |
| Όpa! (when dancing) | Ώπα! | Opahh! |
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