The Basic Elements
Module 1 introduces most of the basic building blocks required for
learning how to phonetically read Hebrew annotated with vowel
points, i.e., how to read Hebrew text that includes vocalized letters,
but without understanding it.
One important element that is being left out for now is the matter of
placing the accent on the correct syllable in multi-syllabic words.
Because this is a rather complex topic for this point in the course, it
will be revisited at a later time.
Modern Hebrew for Beginners
Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com
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Module 1/Page 1
The Hebrew Alphabet and Vowels - Overview
 Alphabet [alef-bet in transliterated Hebrew]
 Hebrew is written and read from right to left
 There are 22 letters in the alphabet
 There is only a single “case” – no upper-case/lower-case distinction
 There are two basic letter styles – block & script (some refer to the script
form as cursive)
 The alphabet is non-cursive, unlike, e.g., Latin and Arabic
 All letters in the Hebrew alphabet are consonants
 5 letters take on a different form when at the end of a word
 3 (fricative) letters possess dual consonantal properties (Modern Hebrew)
 A dot placed inside some letters (dagesh) may affect their pronunciation
 Vowels/Vocalizations [niqqud in transliterated Hebrew]
 Vowels are markings that appear under, following, & above consonants
 There are 5 vowel sounds, each with major/long and minor/short forms
 The schwa (Hebrew, shva) is a “neutral” vowel that yields the sound of
consonants
 There are 3 pseudo-vowels that replace the schwa on certain occasions
Modern Hebrew for Beginners
Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com
All rights reserved.
Module 1/Page 2
Our Rules for Transliteration and Vowel Sounds
Since Hebrew and its alphabet are so different from English and its Latin
alphabet, when Hebrew words are transliterated in terms of the Latin alphabet,
it is useful to define how they relate to each other.
The tables on the next few slides show the conventions that will be used for
this purpose.
The vocalizations used in transliteration from the Hebrew alef-bet into the Latin
alphabet will follow the Latin vowel sounds as illustrated below:
Vowel Sound Examples: (Sounds like “X” in “xxXxx”)
A
AH
Ah hA, Arc, pAlm, yAhoo
E
EH
bEg, End, gEt, rEnt
I
EE
bEE, EEry, fEEt, kEEp
O
OH
AUght, bOUght, nAUght, tAUght
U
OO
mOOn, OOze, rOOm, zOO
Modern Hebrew for Beginners
Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com
All rights reserved.
Module 1/Page 3
The Hebrew Alphabet
Name
Sound
Letter
#
Name
Sound
Letter
#
T
‫ט‬
9
alef
Silent*
‫א‬
1
‫י‬
10
bet
B***
‫ּב‬
tet
yod (yud)** Y/Silent*
kaf
CK
chaf
“Soft” CH
kaf sofit
CK
chaf sofit
“Soft” CH
lamed
L
mem
M
mem sofit
Modern Hebrew for Beginners
M
‫ּכ‬
‫כ‬
‫ּך‬
‫ך‬
‫ל‬
‫מ‬
‫ם‬
vet
gimmel
V
“Hard” G
11
12
dalet
D
hei
H
vav
V/Silent*
zayin
Z
13
het (khet)**
Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com
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KH
‫ב‬
‫ג‬
‫ד‬
‫ה‬
‫ו‬
‫ז‬
‫ח‬
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Module 1/Page 4
The Hebrew Alphabet (continued)
Name
Sound Letter
tsadi (tsadiq)**
TS
‫צ‬
tsadi sofit
TS
‫ץ‬
qof (quf)**
Q
reish (resh)
R
‫ק‬
‫ר‬
‫ׁש‬
‫ׂש‬
‫ת‬
shin
SH
sin
S
tav (taf)**
T
#
Name
nun
Sound Letter
N
18
‫נ‬
nun sofit
N
‫ן‬
19
samech
S
20
ayin
Silent*
pei
P
fei
F
fei sofit
F
‫ס‬
‫ע‬
‫ּפ‬
‫פ‬
‫ף‬
21
22
#
14
15
16
17
‫ ע‬,‫ א‬adopt the sound of the attached vowel. The letter ‫ י‬is silent when
The letter ‫ ו‬is used in “silent mode” for marking two major vowels.
* Silent letters: The letters
without a vowel.
** Letter names in parentheses: These are common alternate spelling.
*** Highlighted rows (in light blue): Indicate groupings of same letters with different sounds.
Modern Hebrew for Beginners
Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com
All rights reserved.
Module 1/Page 5
The Hebrew Alphabet (continued)
Special letters used only for transliteration
into Hebrew from other languages
Sounds like “X” in “xxXxx”
Letter
“Soft” G
GeorGe
‫ג׳‬
“Soft” (French) J
Jacques
‫ז׳‬
“Hard” CH
CHarles
‫צ׳‬
Sound
English letters that require the use of more
than one letter in the Hebrew alphabet
Letter
Example
Letters
X
eXcuse
X
eXample
W
aWard
‫קס‬
‫גז‬
‫וו‬
Modern Hebrew for Beginners
Special symbols used for
transliterating two Hebrew
letters with guttural sounds
into the Latin alphabet
Symbol
Letter
h
‫ח‬
‫ע‬
a/A, e/E, i/I, o/O, u/U
Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com
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Module 1/Page 6
The Hebrew Alphabet (continued)
Types of dagesh (a dot placed inside a letter)
Hebrew name
What does it mean? The effect
dagesh hazaq
Strong dagesh
A “doubling” of a letter for a prolonged
pronunciation.
Light dagesh
An explosive pronunciation of (only) the
fricative consonants ‫ פ‬,‫ כ‬,‫ב‬.
The letters ‫ ת‬,‫ ד‬,‫ ג‬get this dot when at
the beginning of a word or syllable, but
without affecting their pronunciation.
Accentual dagesh
An emphasis on a letter without a vowel
(e.g., ‫ ּה‬appearing at the end of a word).
dagesh qal
mapiq
dagesh letif’eret Dagesh for reading An emphasis for elegant pronunciation
ha’qri’ah
elegance
only.
Modern Hebrew for Beginners
Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com
All rights reserved.
Module 1/Page 7
The Hebrew Vowels
Minor/Short Vowels
Hebrew Name Sound
patah
AH
Case
ַ‫א‬
Major/Long Vowels
Latin
Vowel Hebrew Name Sound Case
A
qamats [gadol]
tseire
segol
hiriq haser
qamats qatan
qubbuts
EH
EE
OH
OO
ַ‫א‬
‫א‬
ַ
E
I
ַ‫*א‬
O
ַ‫א‬
U
AH
EH/EI
tseire male
EI
segol male
EH
hiriq male
EE
holam male
OH
holam haser
OH
shuruq
OO
ַ*
‫א‬
ַ‫א‬
‫אי‬
‫אי‬
‫אי‬
‫אֹו‬
ַ‫א‬
‫אּו‬
* qamats gadol and qamats qatan use the same symbol.
Modern Hebrew for Beginners
Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com
All rights reserved.
Module 1/Page 8
The Hebrew Vowels (continued)
Schwa and Pseudo-Vowels*
Hebrew Name
*
Sound
Case
shva
Be**
hataf qamats
OH
hataf patah
AH
hataf segol
EH
‫ַּב‬
ַ‫***א‬
ַ‫א‬
ַ‫א‬
A letter marked with a schwa or pseudo-vowel, or one without a vowel, never becomes
the accented syllable of a word.
** The B-sound [the letter ‫ ]ּב‬is used here since the letter ‫ א‬cannot support the shva. The
superscripted letter e is used for the vocalization of the shva – a very short “EH”-sound.
*** The only letters that may be assigned pseudo-vowels are
Modern Hebrew for Beginners
‫ ע‬,‫ ח‬,‫ ה‬,‫א‬.
Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com
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Module 1/Page 9
Sentence Punctuation Marks
English Name
Usage & Effect Hebrew Name
Mark
Period
nequdah
.
Comma
psiq
,
Semicolon
nequdah u’fsiq
;
Colon
nequdotayim
:
siman sheeilah
?
siman qri’ah
!
Hyphen
maqaf
‫־‬
Parentheses
sograyim
()
Quotation marks
mercha’ot
""
Apostrophe
tag
Question mark
Exclamation mark
Modern Hebrew for Beginners
Same as in
English
Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com
All rights reserved.
'
Module 1/Page 10