Hebrew Vowels -

Introduction to the Sheva

The sheva is a mark placed under a letter that does not have a vowel. The
sheva directly affects how to divide a Hebrew word into syllables.

Notes:

The Sheva may be vocal or silent:

o The vocal sheva (sheva na, or moving sheva) represents the
sound of a letter without a vowel. When it opens a syllable it
sounds almost as if you were trying to pronounce the letter
by itself. Usually we will transliterate a vocal sheva with an
"e" (or sometimes with an apostrophe).
o The silent sheva is used to provide a stop to a syllable. We
will not transliterate the silent sheva (sheva nach, or resting
sheva) at all.

The Hebrew guttural letters cannot take a vocal sheva but use
chateph forms instead (the Chateph forms are really a combination of
the sheva with one of the other vowel signs). Hebrew gutturals can
take a silent Sheva.
A sheva at the end of a word is always considered silent.

The Vocal Sheva

There are four cases when the Sheva is vocal:

Note: When a Sheva is not vocal, it is silent.

Readings

Case 1: At the beginning of a word

Case 2: Second of two in a row:

Case 3: Under a Dagesh Forte letter:

Case 4: When following a long vowel:

The Sheva is also vocal when it is the first of two of the same
sounding letters, such as in the word hallelujah (hal-le-lu-yah).

Exercise 1

Each word below has one or more sheva. For each word, identify the
type of sheva (vocal or silent) and provide a transliteration. The first two
words are done for you.

Exercise 2

Read the following words aloud until you can do so fluently:

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