Graded Ancient Greek is hard to find, because Greek written for learners comes mostly inside textbooks. You can read it in those books and in apps, or listen to it in recordings.
That's comprehensible input: Greek where you catch most of the words. Read a few sentences. If most have about one new word, keep reading. If you can't tell what's happening, pick something easier. The Ancient Greek app comparison covers courses and tutors, and this page covers what to read and hear.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Ancient Greek. You learn from Ancient Greek you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes your Ancient Greek lessons. If a sentence is hard to follow, ask Poppy to explain it.
With Regenerative Review™, words you save show up again in new lessons, so that you can review words in new contexts without having to use flashcards.
A first Classical Greek sentence looks like Ὁ παῖς γράφει. (The boy writes.)
- Poppy writes each text for the goal and level you set, such as Plato, Homer and myths, the New Testament or the Divine Liturgy.
- Lessons have audio, and you can tap a word to see what it means.
- Ask Poppy about a word or a line while you read.
- Regenerative Review™ puts the words you save into new lessons.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Learn every letter and its sound in the free Classical Greek Alphabet course.
- You can't turn your own Greek books into lessons. However, you can paste a page in the chat, and Poppy will explain it.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
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Other Apps We Looked At (2)
- AKRO: Ancient Greek & LatinOriginal texts with audio synced to the text, and a tap on any word for its meaning and forms. It also has guided lessons and flashcards. Short definitions are free, and Premium opens the full dictionary entries.
- BiblingoTakes learners from zero knowledge to reading the New Testament in Koine Greek, and also lists Biblical Hebrew and Latin.
Athenaze tells the story of an Attic farmer and his family in the early years of the Peloponnesian War, and the Greek readings start in the first unit. The Biblical Language Center's Living Koine Greek builds Koine from scenes and a continuing story, with pictures and audio for the vocabulary and cartoons of the story every two weeks.
Mastronarde's Introduction to Attic Greek reads real passages from Xenophon, Lysias, Plato, Aristophanes and Thucydides, and its companion site AtticGreek.org plays pronunciation examples of more than 100 basic Greek words from the early units. When you are ready for an author, Dickinson College Commentaries gives you the Greek with notes and vocabulary beside it, and Scaife Viewer holds the texts themselves.
Ancient Greek has more than one way of sounding, so a recording may not match the pronunciation your book teaches. Choose one and keep it for a while. Bubblegum's lessons play in the sound of the journey you pick, and the Biblical Greek and Orthodox Greek pages say how those sounds differ.
| What You Can Follow | Try This | You're Ready to Move On When |
|---|---|---|
| A few words, like logos | A Bubblegum lesson on your goal, or the first units of a textbook | You can say what a one-line text is about |
| Simple sentences | A Bubblegum lesson with the audio on, or an Athenaze reading | You can say who does what to whom without looking back |
| Short stories with a dictionary | A short text in AKRO with the audio on, or a Bubblegum lesson | You finish a page and look up only a few words |
| Adapted texts | A Bubblegum lesson at Level 4, or Mastronarde's later readings | You follow the plot without the English beside it |
| Real prose | A Greek selection with notes from Dickinson College Commentaries | You read a paragraph and understand most of it |
| Great authors | Homer, Plato or Thucydides in Scaife Viewer, with Logeion open | You read a page aloud and can say what happens in it |
An app's menus can be in your language while its Greek lessons are in English. Try one lesson to see.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 76 | Supported language pairs |
| AKRO: Ancient Greek & Latin | 5 | Full list |
| Biblingo | 1 | Full list |
Which Ancient Greek app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Ancient Greek, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. A beginner who wants a book can start with Athenaze, and one who wants to read the New Testament can try Biblingo.
What does easy Ancient Greek look like?
It looks like Ὁ παῖς τὸν ἵππον ὁρᾷ. (The boy sees the horse.) Each sentence is short and says one thing, and the ending of ἵππον shows that the horse is the one being seen.
When should I try a real author?
A page of Plato or Thucydides crowds many unfamiliar forms into each sentence, so adapted texts come first. Dickinson College Commentaries adds notes and vocabulary once you try the real text.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Bubblegum: Ancient Greek
- AKRO: Ancient Greek & Latin on the App Store
- Biblingo on the App Store (Koine Greek)
- Biblical Language Center: Living Koine Greek
- Oxford University Press: Athenaze, 3rd edition, by Maurice Balme (Books I and II)
- University of California Press: Introduction to Attic Greek, 2nd edition
- Dickinson College Commentaries
- Scaife Viewer, the Open Greek and Latin reader
- Perseus Digital Library
- Logeion on the App Store (University of Chicago)
- Wikipedia: Ancient Greek
