Letters & Sounds
Every journey into the original languages begins with the letters. Tap any letter to hear its name, read the sound beside it, and practice until it feels familiar. Ten minutes a day for one week is enough to sound out your first verse.
The Greek Alphabet
24 letters. The New Testament and the Septuagint were written in Koine, the everyday Greek of the first century.
Breathing Marks and Accents
A small backward comma over a first vowel (ἁ) is a rough breathing and adds an h sound, as in ἁμαρτία, hamartia, “sin.” A forward comma (ἀ) is smooth and adds nothing. The accent marks (ά ὰ ᾶ) show which syllable gets the stress. Our sound guide puts that syllable in capitals, so λόγος becomes LO-gos.
Letter Pairs
αι sounds like ai in aisle, ει like ay in they, οι like oy in boy, ου like oo in food, αυ like ow in cow, and ευ like you. Double gamma (γγ) is ng, so ἄγγελος, “angel” or “messenger,” is AHN-geh-los.
The Hebrew Alphabet
22 letters, all consonants, read from right to left. Five letters take a different shape at the end of a word (ך ם ן ף ץ).
The Vowel Points
Hebrew was first written with consonants only. Around the 9th century, scribes called the Masoretes added small dots and dashes above and below the letters to preserve the reading. Here are the main vowels, shown on the letter ב:
| Mark | Name | Sound |
|---|---|---|
| בָ / בַ | Qamets / Patach | a as in father |
| בֵ / בֶ | Tsere / Segol | e as in they / pet |
| בִי | Hireq | ee as in machine |
| בֹ / וֹ | Holem | o as in tone |
| בֻ / וּ | Qibbuts / Shureq | oo as in food |
| בְ | Sheva | a quick uh, or silent |
Aramaic, used in parts of Daniel and Ezra and in Jeremiah 10:11, uses these same letters. Our study tool labels each Aramaic word so you can tell them apart.
Church Latin Sounds
The Latin alphabet is the one you already know. What changes is the sound. This guide follows Church (Ecclesiastical) Latin, the pronunciation used in the Mass, chant and hymns. Tap an example to hear it.
| Letters | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| c | before e, i, ae, oe: ch as in church; otherwise k | |
| g | before e, i: j as in joy; otherwise g as in go | |
| gn | ny as in canyon | |
| sc | before e, i: sh as in shine | |
| ti | before a vowel: tsee | |
| ae / oe | e as in pet | |
| j / i before a vowel | y as in yes | |
| h | silent (except in mihi, nihil: k) | |
| qu | kw as in quick | |
| v | v as in very | |
| a, e, i, o, u | ah, eh, ee, oh, oo, always pure | |
| x | ks as in box (ex- before a vowel: egz) |
Latin stress falls on the second-to-last syllable when it is long, and otherwise on the one before it: DOH-mee-noos, GLOH-ree-ah, ehk-SHEHL-sees. Words of two syllables are stressed on the first: DEH-oos.