Κοινή — the everyday tongue
Everyday Koine
Learn Biblical Greek and read the New Testament in the language it was written in, a few minutes at a time. Chapters that teach the grammar, recorded to be read aloud, vocabulary with audio on a schedule that brings each word back just as you are about to forget it, and the whole Greek text with every word parsed.
Open the appIt runs in your browser: no account, no ads, and it works offline once opened.
What is in it
27 chapters
From the letters to reading the text, in short parts with questions along the way. Every chapter will have audio: a voice reads it to you, tables and verses included, lighting each word as it is spoken. About a third of the chapters have it so far. What each chapter covers
817 words, with audio
The New Testament’s commonest words, down to about fifteen occurrences — nine words in ten of the running text — each with a recording and an example verse, on a spaced-repetition schedule.
Paradigms you can play
30 reference tables, 20 of them as fill-in-the-grid rounds against the clock, and a parsing drill marked against 1,477 real forms from the text.
The whole Greek New Testament
Every word parsed and glossed on a tap, dimmed or lit by what you already know, plus 12 graded passages and 630 sentence questions drawn from the text.
How a day goes
Open it and Today tells you what to do: the words the schedule has brought back, a few new ones, and the next part of the chapter you are on. Most days that is ten minutes or so. A wrong answer is not a failure — it just brings the word back sooner.
Accurate by construction
An app that teaches a language makes claims about it, and a confident wrong answer is worse than none. So the Greek the app shows is checked by program against the text itself: every form in the chapters, every quoted verse at its reference, every parse the drills mark you against. What a program cannot check — whether an explanation is right — is checked by a person, chapter by chapter.
Put it on your phone
Open everydaykoine.app in Safari, tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.
Open it in Chrome, tap the menu, then Install app or Add to Home screen. Or test the Google Play version.
It runs in any modern browser. In Chrome or Edge, the install icon in the address bar puts it in a window of its own.
Studying on two devices? Turn on sync in Settings: one device makes a private code and you type it on the other. There is still no account.
Test the Android app
Everyday Koine is in closed testing on Google Play, before it is released to everyone. Google will only release it once enough testers have had it installed for two weeks and used it. Join to get it now, free, and help us make it ready.
- Join the testers group
Signed in with the Google account your Android phone uses. Anyone can join, and you will get only the occasional update.
Join the group - Become a tester
Accept the invitation on Google Play, signed in with the same account.
Become a tester - Install it from Google Play
It can take a few minutes after you join before the Play Store offers it.
Open in Google Play
What testing involves, and how to send feedback: the tester guide. Stuck at any step? Write to support@everydaykoine.app and we will add you by hand.
Your privacy
No sign-up, no analytics, no advertising, no tracking. Your progress lives on your own device and goes nowhere unless you turn on sync. The details are in the privacy policy.
The textbook it follows
The chapters follow the order of a standard first-year grammar, David Alan Black’s Learn to Read New Testament Greek, so they line up if you are using it — though they are written to teach on their own, and none of the book’s text or exercises is reproduced. Everyday Koine is independent, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the author or the publisher.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. Everyday Koine is free and will stay free, with no advertising.
Do I need the textbook?
No. The chapters are written to teach on their own. They follow the order of David Alan Black's Learn to Read New Testament Greek, so they line up if you are using it, but none of the book is needed or reproduced.
How accurate is it?
Every piece of Greek the app shows is checked by program against the SBL Greek New Testament: each form in the chapters, each quoted verse at its reference, and each parse the drills mark you against. Explanations are checked by a person. The audio is a synthetic voice and not perfect; where a recording and a lesson disagree, the lesson is right. If you find a mistake, Settings has a problem report that opens an email to us.
Why Erasmian pronunciation, not modern Greek?
It is what most New Testament courses teach, and it keeps letters that modern Greek has merged sounding different from one another, which makes a word easier to spell once you can say it. Chapter 1 explains the choice.
Does it work offline, and where is my progress kept?
Once opened, it works without a connection. Your progress is stored on your own device, and you can export a backup from Settings at any time.
Can I use it on my phone and my computer?
Yes. Turn on sync in Settings: one device makes a private code, and you type it on the others. Your progress then stays the same on each, with no account.
I already know some Greek. Can I skip ahead?
Yes. In Settings, "Studied Greek before?" marks earlier chapters done and brings in the commonest words as familiar, spread over a fortnight.
Is there an Android app?
You can install the web app on an Android phone today: open it in Chrome and choose Install app. A Google Play version is being tested, and Google will not release it until enough people have tried it. To help, see how to join the test.
Can a class or a church group use it?
Yes, and please do. Everyone keeps their own progress on their own device, and because the chapters follow a standard first-year grammar, a group can work through them together at the same pace. A leader can share a passage from the reader as a link that opens it with the verses marked, and print each chapter's vocabulary and the paradigm tables as handouts.
Is it still being developed?
Yes. Everyday Koine is updated regularly, and the app tells you when a new version is ready; Settings → What's new lists the significant updates. Ideas and feature requests are welcome at support@everydaykoine.app.
Sources
- Greek text: the SBL Greek New Testament, with parsing from MorphGNT.
- Glosses for words the course does not teach: the Translators Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek, data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge, under CC BY 4.0, carrying the definitions of G. Abbott-Smith’s Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament; and Jeff Dodson’s public-domain lexicon.
- Pronunciation: the Erasmian system, with a synthetic voice; the lesson is always the authority where a recording falls short.
Other apps from Redeemer Church
Turn Aside
A free Android app that helps you turn from the scroll to Scripture. You choose the apps that pull you in, like Instagram, TikTok or Facebook, and how many minutes you get in them. When your minutes are up, those apps pause until you’ve spent a few minutes reading your Bible. Then your minutes start again.
Now in testing on Google Play.
turnaside.app →