The Hebrew Alphabet

¬The Hebrew alphabet consists of 23

consonants or letters.

¬The orthographic distinction between

v and f was implemented in the 5th

and 6th century AD.

Pronunciation

¬a and [ are silent and have no

phonetic value
–a is silent
–[ does have some phonetic value, but for
all practical purposes it is considered
silent

1
Pronunciation

¬When a and [ are encountered in a

word, they take the sound or the
phonetic value of their assigned vowel
¬If the vowel is an “o” sound the
consonants will sound like an “o”
¬If the vowel is an “a” sound the
consonants will sound like an “a”

Writing

¬ Hebrew is written from the right to the left

¬tfvrkcp[snmlkyjxzwhdgba

2
Consonantal Groups

¬k % %rd
¬m ~ ~[
¬ The Five Final Forms
¬n ! !qz
¬p @ @sk
¬c # #ra

Consonantal Group

¬ Pronounced in the
¬ FOUR back of the throat

GUTTURALS
¬[ x h a

¬ Sometimes r

3
Consonantal Groups

¬ Stops – BGDKPT letters

with a Daghesh Lene
have a hard pronunciation
¬ Begadkephat Letters – TPKDGB
¬ Spirants – BGDKPT
Letters without a Daghesh
Lene have a soft
pronunciation
– tpkdgb

Easily Confused Letters

¬b k
¬g n
¬h x t
¬f v
¬~ s
¬d r
¬c [
¬w z
¬w !
¬$ !

4
Sound Alikes

¬j T
¬K q
¬s f

Transliteration

¬Transliteration is important for studying

other books that refer to Hebrew without

using the Hebrew characters

5
Numerical Value

¬There is not a separate set of numerical

characters in Hebrew
¬Each Hebrew letter represents numerical
value
– a through j 1 to 9
– y through c 10 to 90 in multiples of 10
– Q through t 100, 200, 300, 400
– F through v both represent 300