Symbol |
Common name |
Alternative names |
Type |
Scientific name |
Hebrew |
IPA |
Transliteration |
Comments |
בְ |
Sh'va |
sheva |
Israeli |
švaʾ |
שְׁוָא |
[e̞] or Ø |
ə, e, ’, or nothing |
In modern Hebrew, shva represents either /e/ or Ø, regardless of its traditional classification as shva naḥ (Hebrew: שווא נח) or shva na (Hebrew: שווא נע). Examples:
Niqqud |
Shva denoting the vowel /e/ |
Shva denoting Ø (absence of a vowel) |
shva naḥ |
- קִמַּטְתְּ [kiˈmate̞t]
- הִתְמוֹטַטְתְּ [hitmo̞ˈtate̞t]
|
- קִפַּלְתְּ [kiˈpalt]
- הִתְקַפַּלְתְּ [hitkaˈpalt]
|
shva na |
- שָׁדְדוּ [ʃade̞ˈdu]
- לְאַט [le̞ˈat]
|
- שָׂרְדוּ [sarˈdu]
- זְמַן [zman]
|
|
Tiberian |
šəwāʾ |
שְׁוָא |
|
|
חֱ |
Reduced segol |
hataf segol |
Israeli |
ẖataf seggōl |
חֲטַף סֶגּוֹל |
[e̞] |
e or é |
|
Tiberian |
ḥăṭep̄ səgōl |
חֲטֶף סְגוֹל |
[ɛ̆] |
ĕ |
|
חֲ |
Reduced patach |
hataf patah |
Israeli |
ẖataf pattaẖ |
חֲטַף פַּתָּח |
[a] |
a or á |
|
Tiberian |
ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ |
חֲטֶף פַּתַח |
[ă] |
ă |
|
חֳ |
Reduced kamatz |
hataf kamats |
Israeli |
ẖataf qamaṣ |
חֲטַף קָמָץ |
[o̞] |
ŏ |
|
Tiberian |
ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ |
חֲטֶף קָמָץ |
[ɔ̆] |
ŏ |
|
בִ |
Hiriq |
hiriq |
Israeli |
ẖīrīq |
חִירִיק |
[i] |
ī |
Usually promoted to Hiriq Malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation |
Tiberian |
ḥīreq |
חִירֶק |
[i] or [iː] |
ī |
|
בִי |
Hiriq malei |
hiriq yod |
Israeli |
ẖīrīq maleʾ |
חִירִיק מָלֵא |
[i] |
ī |
|
Tiberian |
ḥīreq mālēʾ |
חִירֶק מָלֵא |
[iː] |
ī |
|
בֵ |
Zeire |
tsere, tzeirei |
Israeli |
ṣērē |
צֵירֵי |
[e̞] |
e |
|
Tiberian |
ṣērē |
צֵרי |
[eː] |
ē |
|
בֵי, בֵה, בֵא |
Zeire malei |
tsere yod, tzeirei yod |
Israeli |
ṣērē maleʾ |
צֵירֵי מָלֵא |
[e̞] |
ē |
More commonly ei (IPA [ei̯]) |
Tiberian |
ṣērē mālēʾ |
צֵרֵי מָלֵא |
[eː] |
ē |
|
בֶ |
Segol |
segol |
Israeli |
seggōl |
סֶגּוֹל |
[e̞] |
e |
|
Tiberian |
səḡōl |
סְגוֹל |
[ɛ] or [ɛː] |
e or é |
|
בֶי, בֶה, בֶא |
Segol malei |
segol yod |
Israeli |
seggōl maleʾ |
סֶגּוֹל מָלֵא |
[e̞] |
e |
With succeeding yod, it is more commonly ei (IPA [ei̯]) |
Tiberian |
səḡōl mālēʾ |
סְגוֹל מָלֵא |
[ɛː] |
ệ |
|
בַ |
Patach |
patah |
Israeli |
pattaẖ |
פַּתָּח |
[a] |
a |
A patach on a letters ח, ע, ה at the end of a word is sounded before the letter, and not after. Thus, נֹחַ (Noah) is pronounced /ˈno.ax/. This only occurs at the ends of words and only with patach and ח, ע, and הּ (that is, ה with a dot (mappiq) in it). This is sometimes called a patach ganuv (פַּתָּח גָּנוּב), or "stolen" patach (more formally, "furtive patach"), since the sound "steals" an imaginary epenthetic consonant to make the extra syllable. |
Tiberian |
páṯaḥ |
פַּתַח |
[a] or [aː] |
a or á |
|
בַה, בַא |
Patach malei |
patah he |
Israeli |
pattaẖ maleʾ |
פַּתָּח מָלֵא |
[a] |
a |
|
Tiberian |
páṯaḥ mālēʾ |
פַּתַח מָלֵא |
[aː] |
a |
|
בָ |
Kamatz gadol |
kamats |
Israeli |
qamaṣ gadōl |
קָמָץ גָּדוֹל |
[a] |
a |
|
Tiberian |
qāmeṣ gāḏōl |
קָמֶץ גָּדוֹל |
[ɔː] |
ā |
|
בָה, בָא |
Kamatz malei |
kamats he |
Israeli |
qamaṣ maleʾ |
קָמָץ מָלֵא |
[a] |
a |
|
Tiberian |
qāmeṣ mālēʾ |
קָמֶץ מָלֵא |
[ɔː] |
â |
|
בָ |
Kamatz katan |
kamats hatuf |
Israeli |
qamaṣ qatan |
קָמָץ קָטָן |
[o̞] |
o |
Usually promoted to Holam Malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. Also, not to be confused with Hataf Kamatz. |
Tiberian |
qāmeṣ qāṭān |
קָמֶץ קָטָן |
[ɔ] |
|
בֹ |
Holam |
holam |
Israeli |
ẖolam |
חוֹלָם |
[o̞] |
o |
Usually promoted to Holam Malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. The holam is written above the consonant on the left corner, or slightly to the left of (i.e., after) it at the top. |
Tiberian |
ḥōlem |
חֹלֶם |
[oː] |
ō |
|
בוֹ, בֹה, בֹא |
Holam malei |
holam male |
Israeli |
ẖōlam mālēʾ |
חוֹלָם מָלֵא |
[o̞] |
ō |
The holam is written in the normal position relative to the main consonant (above and slightly to the left), which places it directly over the vav. |
Tiberian |
ḥōlem mālēʾ |
חֹלֶם מָלֵא |
[oː] |
ō |
|
בֻ |
Kubutz |
kubuts (shuruk - Ashkenazi) |
Israeli |
qubūṣ |
קֻבּוּץ |
[u] |
u |
Usually promoted to Shuruk in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation |
Tiberian |
qībūṣ |
קִבּוּץ |
[u] or [uː] |
u or ú |
|
בוּ, בוּה, בוּא |
Shuruk |
shuruk (melopum - Ashkenazi) |
Israeli |
šūrūq |
שׁוּרוּק |
[u] |
ū |
The shuruk is written after the consonant it applies to (the consonant after which the vowel /u/ is pronounced). The dot in the shuruk is identical to a dagesh, thus shuruq and vav with a dagesh are indistinguishable. (see below). |
Tiberian |
šūreq |
שׁוּרֶק |
[uː] |
ū |
|
בּ |
Dagesh |
dagesh |
Israeli |
dageš |
דָּגֵשׁ |
varied |
varied |
Not a vowel, "dagesh" refers to two distinct grammatical entities:
- "dagesh kal", which designates the plosive (as opposed to fricative) variant of any of the letters בגדכפת (in earlier forms of Hebrew this distinction was allophonic; in Israeli Hebrew ג, ד and ת with or without dagesh kal are acoustically and phonologically indistinguishable, whereas plosive and fricative variants of ב, כ and פ are sometimes allophonic and sometimes distinct phonemes (e.g., אִפֵּר /iˈper/ applied make up vs. אִפֵר /iˈfer/ tipped ash).
- "dagesh hazak", which designates gemination (prolonged pronunciation) of consonants, but which, although represented in most cases when transliterated according to standards of the Academy of the Hebrew Language,[7] is acoustically and phonologically nonexistent in Modern Hebrew (except occasionally in dramatic or comical recitations, in some loanwords—such as a few Arabic profanities—and pronunciations exaggerated for the sake of disambiguation).
For most letters the dagesh is written within the glyph, near the middle if possible, but the exact position varies from letter to letter (some letters do not have an open area in the middle, and in these cases it is written usually beside the letter, as with yod).
The guttural consonants (אהחע) and resh (ר) are not marked with a dagesh, although the letter he (ה) (and rarely א) may appear with a mappiq (which is written the same way as dagesh) at the end of a word to indicate that the letter does not signify a vowel but is consonantal.
To the resulting form, there can still be added a niqqud diacritic designating a vowel. |
Tiberian |
dāḡēš |
דָּגֵשׁ |
|
|
בֿ |
Rafe |
rafe |
Israeli |
rafe |
רָפֵה |
Ø |
a˺, e˺, i˺, o˺, or u˺ |
No longer used in Hebrew. Still seen in Yiddish (especially following the YIVO standard) to distinguish various letter pairs. Some ancient manuscripts have a dagesh or a rafe on nearly every letter. It is also used to indicate that a letter like ה or א is silent. In the particularly strange case of the Ten Commandments, which have two different traditions for their cantillations which many texts write together, there are cases of a single letter with both a dagesh and a rafe, if it is hard in one reading and soft in the other. |
Tiberian |
rāfa |
[◌̆] |
ă, ĕ, ĭ, or ŭ |
Niqqud, but not a vowel. Used as an "anti-dagesh", to show that a בגדכפת letter is soft and not hard, or (sometimes) that a consonant is single and not double, or that a letter like ה or א is completely silent |
שׁ |
Shin dot |
shin dot |
Israeli and Tiberian |
šin dot |
שִׁי"ן, שִׁי״ן יְמָנִית, "right Shin" |
[ʃ] |
š/sh |
Niqqud, but not a vowel (except when inadequate typefaces merge the holam of a letter before the shin with the shin dot). The dot for shin is written over the right (first) branch of the letter. It is usually transcribed "sh". |
שׂ |
Sin dot |
sin dot |
Israeli |
śin dot |
שִׂי"ן, שִׁי״ן שְׂמָאלִית, "left Shin" |
[s] |
ś/s |
Niqqud, but not a vowel (except when inadequate typefaces merge the holam of the sin with the sin dot). The dot for sin is written over the left (third) branch of the letter |
Tiberian |
Some linguistic evidence indicates that it was originally IPA [ɬ]. |