Coptic Alphabet: Greek Consonants

There are 24 consonants in the Coptic language; 17 come from Greek.

Ⲃ (Beta)

Beta is pronounced as the "b" in "book" before other consonants and at the end of words, and it is pronounced as the "v" in "victory" everywhere else.

Ⲅ (Gamma)

Gamma is pronounced as the "g" in "good" when Ⲉ(Eey), Ⲏ(Eta), Ⲓ(Iota), or Ⲩ(Upsilon) come after it; everywhere else gamma is pronounced as the voiced velar fricative, just as gamma is pronounced in Greek and similar to how "g" is sometimes pronounced in Spanish. To produce the voiced velar fricative: position the back of your tongue very close to, but not touching the soft palate (the back part of the roof of your mouth) and breath out (trying to produced noise). If this is hard to imagine try watching a video on how to produce the voiced velar fricative (I plan on making a video in a week or two). Also, two gammas are pronounced as the "ng" in "angel".

Ⲇ (Delta)

Delta is pronouced as the "D" in "David" when in proper names (specific names for individual people, places, or things); everywhere else it is pronounced as the soft "th" in "this".

Ⲍ (Zeta)

Zeta is pronounced as the "z" in "zoo"

Ⲑ (Theta)

Theta is pronounced the "t" in "talk"

Ⲕ (Kappa)

Kappa is pronounced as the "k" in "king"

Ⲗ (Lola)

Lola is pronounced as the "l" in "light"

Ⲙ (Mey)

Mey is pronounced as the "m" in "might"

Ⲛ (Ney)

Ney is pronounced as the "n" in "now"

Ⲝ (Exi)

Exi is pronounced as the "x" in "excite"

Ⲡ (Pi)

Pi is pronounced as the "b" in "build"

Ⲣ (Ro)

Ro is pronounced as a rolled r

Ⲥ (Seema)

Seema is pronounced as the "c" in "receive"; never pronounce it as the "c" in "click".

Ⲧ (Tav)

Tav is pronounced as the "t" in "target" at the end of words and like the "d" in "dog" everywhere else.

Ⲫ (Phi)

Phi is pronounced as the "f" in "feel" when used in Greek loan words; everywhere else it is pronounced as a letter somewhere between a "b" and "p" sound.

Ⲭ (Chi)

Chi is pronounced as the "ch" in "loch" or "sh" in "shine" when used in greek loan words; everywhere else it is pronounced as the "k" in "kin".

Ⲯ (Epsi)

Epsi is pronounced as a "p" immediately followed by a "s"