Coptic Alphabet: vowels

There are 7 vowels in the coptic alphabet:

Ⲁ (Alpha)

Alpha is pronounced as the "a" in "father" or the "a" in "fan".

Ⲉ (Eey)

Eey is pronounced as the "ei" in "weight" or the "e" in "pen"

Ⲏ (Eta)

Eta is pronounced as a longer version of ⲉ(eey), for example, as the "a" in "fate", and it is also occasionally pronounced as the "ee" in "seek"

Ⲓ (Iota)

Before a vowel iota is pronounced as the "y" in "yes" and everywhere else it is pronounced as the "i" in "sing"

Ⲟ

O is pronounced as the short "o" in "hope"

Ⲩ (Upsilon)

Upsilon has several ways of being pronounced depending on the letters around it:

• Normally upsilon is pronounced as the "i" in "ring" just like iota
• If the upsilon comes after an alpha(ⲁ) or an eey(ⲉ) (E.g. ⲁⲩ, ⲉⲩ) it is pronounced as the "v" in "visit"
• If the upsilon comes after an o (E.g. ⲟⲩ) then both letters together are pronounced as the "oo" in "food"
• If the upsilon comes after an o and before an iota(ⲓ) or an alpha(ⲁ) (E.g. ⲟⲩⲓ, ⲟⲩⲁ) then the upsilon is pronounced as the "w" in "world"

Ⲱ (Omega)

Omega is pronounced as the long "o" in "board"