How to learn Greek by reading

Greek has been written in the same alphabet for nearly three thousand years, and English speakers already know more of it than they think: theater, music, problem, telephone, democracy. Modern Greek, the living language of Greece and Cyprus, is the descendant of the language of Homer and Plato, and much of its vocabulary would look familiar to them. Its grammar and its sound have moved on.

For readers, Greek offers a short, logical alphabet, an accent mark that tells you where every word is stressed, and a literature that runs from the Odyssey to Cavafy, Kazantzakis and the Nobel laureates Giorgos Seferis and Odysseas Elytis.

What makes Greek hard to read

• The alphabet’s look-alikes. Some letters look like Latin ones but sound different: Η and η are “ee,” Ρ and ρ are r, Ν and ν are n (lowercase ν looks like a v), Υ and υ are “ee” too, Χ and χ are a rasping kh, like the ch in Scottish loch, Β and β are v, Δ and δ are the th of “this,” and Γ and γ are a soft gh or y.
• One sound, many spellings. The “ee” sound can be written ι, η, υ, ει, οι or υι. O can be ο or ω, and e can be ε or αι. Spelling reflects history, and you learn each word’s spelling by meeting it.
• Letter pairs. ου is “oo,” μπ is b, ντ is d, γκ is g. Μπανάνα is a banana; ντομάτα is a tomato.
• The accent mark. Every word of two or more syllables carries a written accent on its stressed syllable. Sometimes it’s the only difference between two words: πότε means “when?” and ποτέ means “never.”
• A question mark that looks like a semicolon. Πού είσαι; is “Where are you?”
• The grammar. Four cases (nominative, genitive, accusative and vocative), three genders, and articles even before names: ο Οδυσσέας, “the Odysseus.” Verbs come with two stems for two aspects (γράφω, “I write” or “I’m writing,” and να γράψω, “to write,” once), and να does the work of the English infinitive: “I want to go” is θέλω να πάω, literally “I want that I go.” Object pronouns usually come before the verb: τον βλέπω, “I see him.”

New to the Greek alphabet? Our guide to learning a new script shows how to learn it by reading with audio.

Greek reading at each level

Here is roughly what each CEFR level looks like in Greek:

• A2, elementary. Short sentences in the present, the simple past and the future with θα, the main cases, and constructions with να in place of the infinitive.
• B1, intermediate. The imperfect alongside the simple past, the perfect (έχω γράψει), both aspects in the future (θα γράφω, θα γράψω), simple passive forms, relative clauses with που, and clitic pronouns in pairs (του το έδωσα, “I gave it to him”).
• B2, upper intermediate. Participles, the full range of passive forms, and a more learned vocabulary, including words that keep older forms.
• C1, advanced. Close to the original, with some passages condensed. C2 is the complete book.

CEFR levels explained covers the scale in general.

The Odyssey at A2 and at B2

Two moments from Homer’s story, retold in modern Greek for this page at two levels:

A2

Ο Οδυσσέας θέλει να γυρίσει στο σπίτι του, στην Ιθάκη. Το ταξίδι όμως είναι μεγάλο και δύσκολο. Η γυναίκα του, η Πηνελόπη, τον περιμένει είκοσι χρόνια.

Odysseus wants to return to his home, to Ithaca. But the voyage is long and hard. His wife, Penelope, waits for him for twenty years.

B2

Για να ξεφύγει από τον Κύκλωπα, ο Οδυσσέας του είπε ότι τον έλεγαν «Κανένα». Έτσι, όταν ο τυφλωμένος γίγαντας φώναξε για βοήθεια, κανείς δεν τον βοήθησε.

To escape the Cyclops, Odysseus told him that his name was “Nobody.” So when the blinded giant shouted for help, nobody helped him.

The A2 text shows the να construction in place of an infinitive (θέλει να γυρίσει, “wants to return”), articles before names (Ο Οδυσσέας, η Πηνελόπη), and a pronoun before its verb (τον περιμένει, “waits for him”). The B2 sentence uses the Greek way of giving a name, τον έλεγαν, literally “they called him,” and puts Κανένα in the accusative. It ends with a double negative that Greek requires: κανείς δεν τον βοήθησε, literally “nobody didn’t help him.”

Building a Greek reading habit

1. Read with the narrator. Play a section and keep your eyes on the highlighted word. With six ways to spell one vowel, hearing the words is what makes the spelling stick.
2. Read aloud, trusting the accent marks. Greek tells you where the stress goes in every word. Use it, then check yourself against the narrator.
3. Tap for the base form. Verbs change their stems with aspect, so γράψω may not look like γράφω at first. Tap, note the pair, and keep going.
4. Reread. A second pass is where the alphabet becomes invisible and the language takes over.

You’ll meet familiar roots everywhere, but a familiar root isn’t the same as a known word. Paul Nation (2006, “How large a vocabulary is needed for reading and listening?”) estimated that reading unsimplified novels in English takes a vocabulary of around 8,000 to 9,000 word families. Greek’s figures differ, but no learner starts anywhere near a native reader’s vocabulary, which is why reading at your level and moving up gradually works. For the numbers, see how many words you need to read a novel; for the method, extensive reading and reading while listening.

Classics to start with

• The Odyssey, retold in modern Greek, is the obvious first choice: the Cyclops, Circe, the Sirens and the long way home to Ithaca, episode by episode.
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea has a chapter in the Greek archipelago, where the Nautilus passes Santorini during a volcanic eruption. A long, rewarding read at B1 or B2.
• The Count of Monte Cristo has a Greek heroine, Haydée, whose story is one of the novel’s turning points. A gripping B2 read.
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is short and playful, good at A2 or B1.
• Treasure Island is an ideal first novel, full of dialogue, at A2 or B1.

Reading Greek with Lexo

Lexo’s Greek editions are in modern Greek, at every level from A2 to C2, and you choose the level book by book: The Odyssey at A2 now, the fuller story later.

Tap a word and a card shows what it means in that sentence, its base form and its part of speech, which links γράψω back to γράφω and Κανένα back to κανένας. It also gives the word’s reading in Latin letters, a handy check in your first weeks with the alphabet, when ν still looks like a v and ρ like a p. Phrases and idioms are explained as a whole, the whole sentence is translated into English, and words you want to keep go into your Words list.

With six ways to spell one vowel, hearing words is half of learning to read them. Every word can be played on its own, and the whole book is narrated, with different voices for different characters and each word highlighted as it’s read. Sentence-by-sentence mode isolates one sentence at a time, with its audio and translation.

If no one has asked for a book in Greek at your level yet, Lexo writes the edition for you: chapter 1 is ready in a few minutes, the app can notify you when it is, the rest follows while you read, and you keep a dated “First edition” mark. Books download for offline reading on iPhone and iPad, and there’s no sign-up.

The Cyrillic alphabet grew out of Greek, which gives you a head start on Russian. Greece’s northwestern neighbor speaks Albanian, and Italian shares much of Greek’s learned vocabulary.

Lexo is coming soon to the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Get notified at launch.