Hebrew Vowel Marks

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Hebrew was originally written with the consonants only, and generally still is - except for the Bible, dictionaries, and texts for learners such as children books. The vowel mark system in Hebrew is somewhat complicated, and Modern Hebrew pronunciation ignores much of its subtleties (such as consonant doubling and vowel length). But not all - which is why I've created this page :) The rules listed here may hopefully assist you in remembering the (mainly) verb patterns affected by them.

This page is intended for learners of Modern Hebrew, so it doesn't include information on other vocalization systems historically used with Hebrew - these can be found in many good web pages - but does list several basic rules which affect the inflection of Hebrew words.

Vowels - תְּנוּעוֹת

Modern Hebrew has five vowels:

• a as in father
• e as in get
• i as in sip
• o as in order
• u as in boot, but short

The English examples are approximations, but would be enough to make you understood, at least until I study IPA :)

Hebrew also has three vowel lengths: long, short, and half-vowel (super-short). Modern Hebrew pronounciation is stress-based and ignores vowel length.

	a	e	i	o	u
Long	ָ קָמַץ	ֵ צֵירֵה	חִירִיק גָּדוֹל ִי	חוֹלָם ֹ,וֹ	שוּרֻק וּ
Short	ַ פַּתָּח	ֶ סֶגּוֹל	ִ חִירִיק קָטָן	ָ קָמַץ קָטָן	ֻ קֻבּוּץ
Half-vowel	ֲ חֲטַף-פַּתָּח	ֱ חֲטַף-סֶגּוֹל	—	ֳ חֲטַף-קָמַץ	—

Notes:

• All vowel names (except for the half-vowels) start with the corresponding vowel.
• Long i is distinguished from short i by a following י (with no vowel mark on it).
• Long o has two forms: a dot above the letter itself on the left, or a following וֹ (with no vowel mark on the letter itself).
• Long u is marked by a following וּ (with no vowel mark on the letter itself).
• Long a and short o are identical in form, but short o is very rare.
• The half-vowels are simply the corresponding short vowels with ְ (schwa) on the right.

When הַ, חַ, עַ appear as the last letter of a word, the vowel a is inserted before them: שָׂמֵחַ glad is pronounced sameakh. This is called פַּתָּח גְּנוּבָה (patakh gnuva).

In unvocalized text, the letters י and ו are very often added to denote the vowels i (sometimes e) and o/u respectively. This has nothing to do with the original vowel length. א is also added sometimes to denote the vowel a (mostly in foreign words). Consonantal ו is often doubled to וו to distinguish it from a vowel.

Schwa - שְוָא

The schwa is marked ְ (two vertical dots) and basically indicates the lack of a vowel, as in the s in past. This is called a "silent schwa" (שווא נח). However, it may also stand for a slight e sound somewhat like the tt in kettle. This is called a "mobile schwa" (שווא נע).

The schwa is rarely written under the last letter of a word, but must be written under any other letter not followed by a vowel; otherwise, that letter will not be pronounced.

In Modern Hebrew, the schwa is generally pronounced either as no vowel or as a simple e, as is comfortable. However, the classification of the schwa may affect the pronounciation of following בג"ד כפ"ת letters, as described below.

• A schwa at the end of the word is silent, as in אַתְּ.
• A schwa after a short vowel is either silent or floating (see below).
• A schwa at the beginning of a word, or after a long vowel, is mobile, as in שְוָא, שוֹמְרִים.
• Of two consecutive schwas in the middle of a word, as in תַּשְבְּצִים, the first is silent and the second is mobile.
• Hence, a schwa under a letter with a strong dagesh (see below) is always mobile, as in סִפְּרוּ.

Floating schwa: two consecutive schwas at the beginning of a word are forbidden. The first would become a short vowel, and the second is essentially mobile and considered a "floating schwa" (שווא מרחף). This happens, for instance, in the Imperative: the future form תִּכְתְּבִי is reduced to כְּתְבִי, which is then modified to כִּתְבִי.

Dagesh - דָּגֵש

The dagesh (emphasis) is a dot appearing in the middle of a letter to denote that it is pronounced more strongly. There are three kinds of dagesh:

Mapiq (מַפִּיק): a dagesh in a final ה, as in שְמָהּ her name indicates that the letter is not silent, and the pronounciation should be shmah. Generally ignored in Modern pronounciation.

Light dagesh (דָּגֵש קַל): a dagesh in one of the letters בג"ד כפ"ת denoting that it should be pronounced strongly - בּ=b, ב=v. In Modern pronounciation only ב, כ, פ are actually pronounced differently. בג"ד כפ"ת letters invariably take a light dagesh in the beginning of a word, and after a silent schwa. Yes, this is pretty much the main rule for which this entire page was created... :)

Strong dagesh (דָּגֵש חָזָק): a dagesh in any letter except for א, ה, ח, ע, ר, indicating the doubling of a consonant (like -tt- in Italian). Generally ignored in Modern pronounciation - except that בג"ד כפ"ת letters with a strong dagesh are pronounced "hard" as if they had a light dagesh. Strong dagesh comes either as part of a pattern, or due to assimilation of similar consonants.