Alef
ʾ · /ʔ ~ ∅/
Usually silent in Modern Hebrew, but it can mark a glottal stop or support a vowel
Hebrew Alphabet
Explore the 22 Hebrew letters, hear their names, copy each character, and compare the five forms used at the end of words.
22 letters · Written right to left · 5 final forms
Hebrew Letters
Bet
b / v · /b ~ v/
Pronounced b with dagesh and v without it
Gimel
g · /ɡ/
Dalet
d · /d/
He
h · /h/
Vav
v / o / u · /v ~ o ~ u/
Represents v as a consonant and can help mark o or u as a vowel letter
Zayin
z · /z/
Het
kh · /χ/
Tet
t · /t/
Yod
y / i · /j ~ i/
Kaf
k / kh · /k ~ χ/
Pronounced k with dagesh and kh without it
Lamed
l · /l/
Mem
m · /m/
Nun
n · /n/
Samekh
s · /s/
Ayin
ʿ · /ʔ ~ ∅/
Often silent in Modern Israeli Hebrew; other traditions preserve a consonantal sound
Pe
p / f · /p ~ f/
Pronounced p with dagesh and f without it
Tsadi
ts · /ts/
Qof
k · /k/
Resh
r · /ʁ ~ r/
Shin
sh / s · /ʃ ~ s/
The right dot marks sh; the left dot marks s and the letter is called Sin
Tav
t · /t/
Final Forms
Final Kaf
kh · /χ/
Final Mem
m · /m/
Final Nun
n · /n/
Final Pe
f · /f/
Final Tsadi
ts · /ts/
How the Hebrew Alphabet Developed
Hebrew uses a right-to-left consonantal writing system descended from ancient Northwest Semitic scripts. The square letter forms used today developed from the Aramaic script and became standard in Jewish writing.
Modern Hebrew uses 22 basic letters. Five letters have a separate form at the end of a word, while vowel points called niqqud are usually omitted in everyday text.
Sources and further reading
Letter names and sound values are concise Modern Hebrew learning references; pronunciation varies by tradition and context.
- The Unicode Consortium, Hebrew (U+0590-U+05FF)
- Academy of the Hebrew Language, The Hebrew Alphabet