Hebrew Letters & Vowel Marks
A reference chart of the letters and vowel marks used in Classical Hebrew. Hebrew is written from right to left and is primarily consonantal; vowel marks (niqqud) are small dots and dashes written above, below, or inside the letters.
Hebrew Letters (28)
- Hebrew is traditionally said to have 22 letters, but this chart includes the five final forms (sofit) and treats sin and shin as separate letters, for a total of 28.
- Final forms (sofit) appear only at the end of a word and have the same pronunciation as their standard forms.
- Sin (שׂ) and shin (שׁ) are distinguished by the position of the dot (shin dot), which appears on the upper left or upper right. When the dot is omitted, the intended reading is determined by context.
- Romanizations follow standard academic notation (š = /ʃ/, ḥ = pharyngeal fricative, ṭ/ṣ = emphatic consonants). The BeGaDKePhaT letters ב・ג・ד・כ・פ・ת alternate between stop and fricative depending on the dagesh. See the Dagesh section for details.
Dagesh (the dot inside)
A dagesh is a small dot written inside a Hebrew letter. It appears in two forms, each with a different function.
A dagesh lene occurs only in the six BeGaDKePhaT letters (בגדכפת). When present, it marks the letter as a stop; without it, the letter is pronounced as a fricative.
| Bet | Gimel | Dalet | Kaf | Pe | Tav | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dagesh Lenepresent | בּ b |
גּ g |
דּ d |
כּ k |
פּ p |
תּ t |
| No Dagesh | ב v |
ג gh |
ד dh |
כ kh |
פ f |
ת th |
A dagesh forte can appear in almost any letter. It indicates gemination, meaning that the consonant is doubled.
Example: מַלְכָּה (malkāh) contains a doubled kaf.
Traditionally, the guttural letters א, ה, ח, ע, and usually ר as well, do not normally take a dagesh forte. There are a few exceptional cases in the Masoretic tradition, but for beginners it is usually sufficient to treat them as letters that do not take it.
- Distinguishing the Two — Dagesh lene and dagesh forte look identical. In a BeGaDKePhaT letter, a dagesh at the beginning of a word or after a consonant with silent shewa is usually a dagesh lene. A dagesh that follows a vowel is typically a dagesh forte.
- Modern Pronunciation — In many modern pronunciations of Biblical Hebrew, the stop/fricative distinction for ת, ד, ג (t/th, d/dh, g/gh) is often not maintained. In practice, the contrast is most commonly preserved in פ, כ, ב.
Vowel Marks (17)
- ə represents a reduced schwa vowel. A vocal sheva is pronounced as a brief reduced sound, while a silent sheva is not pronounced.
- Qamets (long ā) and qamets hatuf (short o) share the same symbol. Which one is intended depends on the syllable type, so beginners should check the context and consult a lexicon.
- The vowel marks shown here are illustrated using bet (ב) as the base letter. In practice, however, they can be attached to any consonant.
- Matres lectionis (ו・י・ה — waw, yod, and he) are consonant letters used to indicate or lengthen the preceding vowel.