How to pronounce Greek numbers

The stress and the accent

Modern Greek has one written accent, the tonos (´), and it marks stress, not pitch or vowel length. Every number word of two or more syllables carries exactly one: τέσσερα (TE-se-ra), τριάντα (tree-AN-da), εκατό (e-ka-TO). One-syllable words take none, which is why τρεις has no accent. The stress falls on one of the last three syllables of the word and no further back.

A number written as two or three words keeps each word's own stress: είκοσι ένα is EE-ko-see E-na, two stresses in a row.

The sounds that catch English speakers

Greek has five vowels and no long or short pairs, so each vowel letter or pair has one value. The consonants below are the ones in number words that English does not spell the same way.

The basic words, with IPA

Every other number is built from these. The respelling is a guide for English readers; the IPA, a broad transcription, gives the exact sounds.

εφτά or επτά: two sets, both correct

Seven, eight and nine each have an everyday spoken form and a more formal one: εφτά / επτά, οχτώ / οκτώ, εννιά / εννέα. The spoken forms are easier to say (ft and kht instead of pt and kt) and εννιά is a syllable shorter. This site uses the spoken set throughout; the formal set is equally correct and appears in print, on documents and in announcements.