Greek in English letters: online pronunciation converter
Paste Greek text into the box: right below it you will see how to say it, written in English letters.
The converter reads words by the rules of Greek: μπ at the start of a word is b, ου is oo, η is ee. It is a guide to the sounds, not a scientific transcription, and it uses the same respelling as the ohmygreek app’s English course.
The converter needs JavaScript. Without it, see the table of examples below.
Type the text in Greek letters: the converter leaves Latin letters as they are.
How to say it
How to read the result
- Syllables are joined by hyphens, and the stressed one is in capitals: pso-MEE. The stress comes from the text: the writer of the Greek word puts the ´ mark on it, and the converter carries it over. Untick “Show stress” to get the respelling in small letters.
- ah, eh, ee, o, oo are pure vowels: ah as in “father”, eh as in “bed”, ee as in “see”, oo as in “food”. The o is short, with no “w” at the end, as in Spanish “no”.
- dh and th are the two English “th” sounds: δ gives dh, as in “this”, and θ gives th, as in “think”.
- kh is the throaty sound of Scottish “loch” (the letter χ). Before ee and eh sounds it softens to hy, the h of “huge”. γ is gh, a soft growl, and before ee and eh sounds it becomes y, as in “yes”.
- r is one quick tap of the tongue, as in Spanish or Scottish English, never the English r.
- Letter pairs follow the rules: τσ is ts, τζ is dz, αι is eh, ει and οι are ee.
Examples
Check the converter against the recordings: that shows you how far you can trust it.
- ψωμίpso-MEE · bread
- τσάιTSAH-ee · tea
- ταξίtah-KSEE · taxi
- κουζίναkoo-ZEE-nah · kitchen
- ευχαριστώef-khah-ree-STO · thank you
- αύριοAHV-ree-o · tomorrow
What the converter knows
It applies the same rules as the alphabet pages:
- μπ: b at the start of a word, mb inside;
- ντ: d at the start of a word, nd inside;
- γκ and γγ: g at the start of a word, ng inside;
- τσ and τζ: ts and dz;
- ου, αι, ει, οι: oo, eh, ee, ee;
- αυ and ευ: av and ev before voiced sounds, af and ef before voiceless ones and at the end of a word;
- η, ι, υ: always ee.
What the converter can’t do
- Add the stress for you. If the text has no ´ mark, the respelling has no capitals either. This happens, for example, with words typed in capitals.
- Translate. It only shows how a word sounds. You will need to look up the meaning separately.
- Guess exceptions. Inside a word the converter always reads ντ as nd (αντίο as [ahn-DEE-o]), although in speech the n is often barely there: [ah-DEE-o]. In borrowed words it reads τζ as dz, although Greeks often say the “j” of “jeans”.
- Join words together. Each word is read on its own, but in speech sounds change where words meet: τον πατέρα sounds almost like [tom bah-TEH-rah]. That is normal.
- Replace real speech. In Cyprus people speak with local features, so what you hear may differ from the result. Check the respelling against the audio.
The reading rules fit into one evening. Once you know them, you will need the converter less and less.