Read the Coptic letters so you can sound out the hymns

Every lesson writes the Coptic in English letters above the Coptic itself, never instead of it. The English letters are a ladder: they tell you what to sing today, while the letters underneath become familiar. There are 32 letters. The first 25 come from Greek, the last 7 from the older Egyptian writing, for sounds Greek had no letter for. Learn these and you can read any hymn in the library. The sound in square brackets, such as [tʃ] for the ch of church, is the same sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet, for anyone who reads it.

Letter	Name	Sound	As in
Ⲁⲁ	Alpha	a [a]	father
Ⲃⲃ	Vita	v [v]	van
Ⲃⲃ	Vita	b [b] doubled, at the end of a word, or in a name	boy
Ⲅⲅ	Gamma	g [g] before ⲉ, ⲏ, ⲓ or ⲩ	go
		gh [ɣ] before ⲁ, ⲟ or ⲱ, gargled
		gh [ɣ] before a consonant, gargled
		n [ŋ] before ⲅ, ⲕ, ⲭ or ⲝ	finger
Ⲇⲇ	Delta	th [ð]	then
Ⲇⲇ	Delta	d [d] in a name	David
Ⲉⲉ	Ei	e [e]	pen
Ⲋⲋ	Soou	so-ou only ever the number six, read as the number
Ⲍⲍ	Zita	z [z]	zone
Ⲏⲏ	Ita	ee [i]	see
Ⲑⲑ	Thita	th [θ]	think
Ⲑⲑ	Thita	t [t] after ⲥ or ϣ	top
Ⲓⲓ	Yota	i [i]	ski
Ⲕⲕ	Kappa	k [k]	king
Ⲗⲗ	Lavla	l [l]	lamp
Ⲙⲙ	Mi	m [m]	moon
Ⲛⲛ	Ni	n [n]	net
Ⲝⲝ	Eksi	ks [ks]	books
Ⲟⲟ	O	o [o]	or
		ou [u] written ⲟⲩ	soup
		ow [ow] written ⲟⲩ inside a word, before a vowel
Ⲡⲡ	Pi	p [p]	park
Ⲣⲣ	Ro	r [r]	rain
Ⲥⲥ	Sima	s [s]	sun
Ⲧⲧ	Taf	t [t]	table
Ⲩⲩ	Epsilon	i [i]	ski
Ⲩⲩ	Epsilon	v [v] after ⲁ, ⲉ or ⲏ	van
Ⲫⲫ	Fi	f [f]	fire
Ⲭⲭ	Ki	kh [x] in a Greek word, and in Ⲙⲓⲭⲉⲟⲥ	loch
		sh [ʃ] in a Greek word, before ⲉ, ⲏ, ⲓ or ⲩ	ship
		k [k] in a Coptic word	king
Ⲯⲯ	Epsi	ps [ps]	lapse
Ⲱⲱ	Omega	o [o]	hope
Ϣϣ	Shai	sh [ʃ]	ship
Ϥϥ	Fai	f [f]	fire
Ϧϧ	Khai	kh [x]	loch
Ϩϩ	Hori	h [h]
Ϫϫ	Janja	j [dʒ] before ⲉ, ⲏ, ⲓ or ⲩ
Ϫϫ	Janja	g [g] before anything else	go
Ϭϭ	Chima	ch [tʃ] in every word but one	church
Ϭϭ	Chima	sh [ʃ] in ϭⲟⲓⲥ, Lord	ship
Ϯϯ	Ti	ti [ti]	tea

Press a word to hear it. The words come first from the Creed as the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies says it in the Liturgy of St Basil; follow the whole Creed with its words.Words marked computer voice are said by one voice made with ElevenLabs: most of the Creed words are the Institute's own reading passed through it, which keeps their pronunciation in a single clear voice, and the sounds the Creed does not have are read by it directly. Each was checked by ear.

Two marks to know

The jinkim, the small stroke over a letter (ⲛ̀, ⲙ̀), makes that letter a syllable of its own, said with a short e in front: ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ is ente, ⲙ̀ⲡ̀ϭⲟⲓⲥ is emepshois. Over a vowel it starts a new syllable: ⲡⲓⲉ̀ϩⲟⲟⲩ is pi-ehoou.

A line over several letters marks a holy name written short. Ⲡ̅ⲟ̅ⲥ̅ is read in full as Epshois, the Lord; Ⲓⲏ̅ⲥ̅ Ⲡⲭ̅ⲥ̅ as Ieesous Pi-ekhristos, Jesus Christ.

Which pronunciation this is

The sounds here are modern Bohairic, the pronunciation the Church has used in its services since the reform under Pope Cyril IV in the 1850s. It is what the cantors of the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies recorded from the 1960s onwards, what the recordings in this library sing, and what is taught in hymns classes today. Learn it and you will be singing what the choir beside you sings.

If your church says it differently

If your church says it differently, follow your church in the spirit of unity. Different regions have always had different pronunciations of Coptic. Coptic was written in several dialects, Bohairic in the Delta, Sahidic in the south and others besides, and Bohairic itself has long been read aloud in more than one way. The older reading, Old Bohairic, is still heard in parts of Upper Egypt; Fr Shenouda Maher Ishak's Saji Neman (ⲥⲁϫⲓ ⲛⲉⲙⲁⲛ, Speak With Us) prints both readings side by side.

These are the places you are most likely to hear a difference:

ϭ: ch in most words, and sh in Ⲡ̀ϭⲟⲓⲥ, the Lord, Epshois; some say Epchois, and the older reading says sh throughout.
ⲃ before a consonant: Tovh or Tobh for ⲧⲱⲃϩ.
ϫⲉ: je or ge.
ⲭ in Greek words: sh or k between two vowels, psishee or psikee for ⲯⲩⲭⲏ.
The older reading throughout: b for ⲡ (Baniot for Peniot), d for ⲧ, t for ⲑ, and a for ⲏ in many words.

The rules here follow the letter tables in Saji Neman and Sameh Younan's So, You Want to Learn Coptic? A Guide to Bohairic Grammar, checked against the Arabic readings printed beside the Coptic in the service books.

Why there are two ways of reading Coptic is told in how Coptic stopped being spoken.

Ready to sing? Start the lessons.