Notes on Alphabet

Type of writing system: abjad Direction of writing: right to left in horizontal lines. Number of letters: 22 consonants, plus final letters and diacritics Used to write: Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Ladino, Yiddish and many other Jewish languages. Some letters (kaf, mem, nun, fe and tzadi) have a final form (sofit), which is used when they appear at the end of a word. There are no separate numerals in Hebrew, instead standard western numerals (1, 2, 3, etc) are used.

Consonants

Alphabet Regular Consonants
ג (Geemel)  /g/ - Like g in go.	ד (Dalet)  /d/ - Like d in david.
ה (Heh)  /h/ - Like h in hen.	ו (Vav)  /v/ - Like v in voice.
ז (Zayeen)  /z/ - Like z in zoo.	ט (Tet)  /t/ - Like t in sting.
י (Yod)  /y/ - Like y in yes.	ל (Lamed)  /l/ - Like l in love.
מ (Mem)  /m/ - Like m in man.	נ (Nun)  /n/ - Like n in no.
ס (Samekh)  /s/ - Like s in sand.	צ (Tsadee)  /ts/ - Like z in grazia.
ק (Quf)  /k/ - Like k in kiss.	ר (Resh)  /ʁ/ - Like r in rue.
ת (Tav)  /t/ - Like t in tick.	ח (Khet) is regular, but difficult.

There are four consonants in Hebrew in which their pronunciation varies. This variation cannot be identified from the text in "unpointed" spelling, but instead must be realized through context. These consonants are:

Alphabet Consonants that Vary
בּ (Bet)  /b/ or ב (Vet)  /v/	כּ (Kaf)  /k/ or כ (Khaf)  /χ/
פּ (Peh)  /p/ or פ (Feh)  /f/	שׁ (Sheen)  /ʃ/ or שׂ (Seen)  /s/

Notes on Consonants

Three of these consonants use a geresh to render sounds that are not native to Hebrew, but are used in the language as foreign words are adopted. They are:

/ʤ/	ג׳ (Geemel with Geresh) - Like j in joy.
/ʧ/	צ׳ (Tsadee with Geresh) - Like ch in chair.
/ʒ/	ז׳ (Zayeen with Geresh) - Like ge in beige.

Some Hebrew consonants will be difficult for the English speaker to pronounce. They are:

ח (Khet)  /χ/

כ (Khaf)  /χ/

Consonants that Sound-alike

There are four pairs of consonants which sound alike and often present problems for the speller new to the language. They are:

ח (Khet)  /χ/		כ (Khaf)  /χ/
ק (Koof)  /k/		כּ (Kaf)  /k/
ט (Tet)  /t/		ת (Tav)  /t/
ס (Samekh)  /s/		שׂ (Seen)  /s/

Vowels

File:Hebrew Grammar - Vowels.ogg
IPA	Diactric	Sound	Transliteration
/a/	ָ (Kamats), ַ (Patakh), ֲ (Khataf patakh)	father	a
/e/	ֵ (Tsere), ֶ (Segol), ֱ (Khataf segol), ְ (Shva na'), ֵי (Tsere male)	bed	e
/i/	ִ (Kheereek khaser), ִי (Kheereek male)	see	ee
/o/	‍ֹ (Kholam khaser), וֹ (Kholam male), ָ (Kamats katan), ֳ(Khataf kamats)	story	o
/u/	וּ (Vav with Shoorook), ֻ (Kooboots)	boot	oo
/∅/	ְ (Shva nakh')		'

Notes on Vowels

The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are consonantal. Vowels are mostly indicated by markings placed below or above these consonants. In Israel, Modern Hebrew texts are printed without these vowel markings which are often reserved for children's books, poetry, and liturgical pieces. That means that the correct pronunciation of every word must be learned and subsequently read from context.

At first, this may seem near impossible. However, if you apply this practice to English you will soon realize it is indeed possible to read in such a way. Dn't gv p nw!

• With vowels: אִמָּא
• Without vowels: אימא

There are only five vowel sounds in Modern Hebrew and they are all pronounced fully like Italian. They are: a like in far, e like in less, o like in more, ee like in free, and oo like in food.

Semi-consonants also Acting as Vowels

Final Letters

In Hebrew, five letters appear differently when they occur at the end of a word. They are: