Column 1 Hebrew Letter
Column 2 Final Form
Column 3 Name of Letter
Column 4 Transliteration
Column 5 English Pronunciation
Hebrew has twenty-two letters (plus final forms) and is written from the right to the left.
Vowels: Contrary to what some books say the Hebrew Alphabet has five vowel letters (not discussed here). In the Biblical Hebrew now called the “dificient spelling” they didn’t write vowels that were not needed. The five vowel letters are in blue below, they are א,ה,ו,י,ע.
א
| א | אלףʾ ʾalef | ʾa | ʾalef is transliterated with a light breathing mark (like an apostrophe) because it has no consonantal value of its own. Similar to the silent h in English, it conforms to the sound of the vowel which accompanies it. Listen to the sound produced when you inhale. |
ב
| ב | בית beth | b | b as in boy |
ג
| ג | גמל gimel | g | g as in girl. |
ד
| ד | דלת daleth | d | d as in dawn |
ה
| ה | הי hey | h | h as in hay |
ו
| ו | וו wav | w | w as in wow. Listen to the sound produced when you exhale. The name of this letter is showing its grammatical usage; it is never the hard “v” sound at the beginning or in the middle of words only at the end, except for foriegn words that came into the language. Don’t confuse the conjunction “and” (which is the wav) prefixed to words it is pronounced “v.” |
ז
| ז | זין zayin | z | z as in zoo |
ח
| ח | חית ḥeth | ḥ | ḥ or ch as in Bach. This sound is produced deep in the back of the throat and it is not replicated in English. Do not confuse this letter with ה “hey.” |
ט
| ט | טית ṭeth | ṭ | ṭ or t as in two |
י
| י | יוד yod | y | y as in yes |
כ
| כ | ך | כך kof | k | k as in kitchen |
ל
| ל | למד lamed | l | l as in look |
מ
| מ | ם | מים mem | m | m as in men |
נ
| נ | ן | נון nun | n | n as in never |
ס
| ס | סמך samek | s | s as in sun |
ע
| ע | עין ʿayin | ʿa | mostly silent |
פ
| פ | ף | פי pey | p,f | p as in play and f as in foot |
צ
| צ | ץ | צדי ṣade | ṣ | ṣ or ts as in sits |
ק
| ק | קוף qof | q | q as in quick |
ר
| ר | רישׁ resh | r | r as in ripe |
ש
| שׁ,שׂ | שׁין sheen | ś, š | שׂ or s as in sun שׁ or sh as in shine. |
ת
| ת | תו taw | ṯ | ṯ or th as in anthem |
Degesh Lene – Six of the Hebrew Letters take a dot in them at certain times they are ב ג ד כ פ ת this dot is called dagesh lene. With the dot the letter is hard without the dot the letter is soft as such, respectively: b, bh, g, gh, d, dh, k, kh, p, ph (f), t, th.
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