Reading Hebrew
Hebrew is read from right to left. All 22 letters are consonants. The vowels are indicated by small marks written below, above, or beside the letters. Most words are built around a root of three consonants.
Keraia transliterations include a dot between syllables: חֶסֶד is che.sed. The same letters and marks are used for the parts of Ezra and Daniel that are written in Aramaic, which is closely related to Hebrew.
The letters
Final forms
Five letters have a different shape at the end of a word.
Letters that look alike
- ב כBet has a little foot at the bottom right; Kaf is rounded.
- ד רDalet has a sharp corner at the top right; Resh is rounded.
- ה ח תHe has a gap at the top left; Het is closed; Tav has a foot at the bottom left.
- ו ז ןVav has a hook at the top; Zayin has a crossbar; final Nun reaches below the line.
- ס םSamekh is rounded at the bottom; final Mem is square.
- ע צAyin has two arms meeting at the bottom; Tsade has a flat foot.
A dot inside a letter
A dot inside Bet, Kaf, and Pe makes a hard sound. Without it, the sound is soft: בּ is “b” and ב is “v”, כּ is “k” and כ is “kh”, פּ is “p” and פ is “ph”. In Gimel, Dalet, and Tav a dot doesn’t change the sound.
After a vowel, the same dot doubles the letter: צַדִּיק is tsad.diq, with the Dalet pronounced twice. A dot over Shin tells you how to say it: שׁ (on the right) is “sh”; שׂ (on the left) is “s”.
Vowels
Each vowel is shown here on the letter Bet. A vowel is said after the letter it’s written with: בַ is “ba”. Vav and Yod can also stand for vowels, as in בוֹ (“bo”), בוּ (“bu”), and בִי (“bi”).
- בַPatacha as in fathera
- בָQametsa as in fatherSometimes o, in a short closed syllable, as in כָּל kol, “all”.a
- בֵTseree as in theye
- בֶSegole as in bede
- בִHiriqi as in machinei
- בֹHolemo as in goo
- בוֹHolem with Vavo as in goo
- בֻQubutsu as in ruleu
- בוּShurequ as in ruleu
- בְShewaSilent, or a quick “uh” at the start of a syllableWritten only when it’s sounded, as in בְּרִית be.rit.e
- בֲHateph Patacha quick aa
- בֱHateph Segola quick ee
- בֳHateph Qametsa quick oo
Sounding out a word
Read from right to left, one letter (and its vowel) at a time:
- שָׁshaShin (sh) with Qamets (a)
- לוֹloLamed (l) with Holem written on a Vav (o)
- םmFinal Mem (m)
Marks you can skip
In the reader and the interlinear, the Hebrew also has small marks above and below the words that indicate how to chant the text out loud, such as the ones in בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית. You can ignore these.
Transliteration in the interlinear
The transliterations in the interlinear are more precise. They include marks for the letters and vowels that sound alike. For example, be.re.shit is transliterated as bə·rê·šîṯ.
- ’ ‘
- Aleph and Ayin (silent)
- ḥ
- Het (ch)
- ṭ
- Tet (t)
- ṣ
- Tsade (ts)
- š ś
- Shin (sh) and Sin (s)
- ḇ ḵ p̄
- Bet, Kaf, Pe without the dot (v, kh, ph)
- ḡ ḏ ṯ
- Gimel, Dalet, Tav without the dot (g, d, t)
- w
- Vav (v)
- ə
- a quick vowel (Shewa)
- ă ĕ ŏ
- the quick vowels (Hateph)
- ā ē ō ū
- long vowels
- â ê î ô û
- long vowels written with Vav or Yod
- ·
- between syllables