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Hebrew Pronunciation Guide for English Speakers
Hebrew has five basic vowel signs (niqqud) and a relatively small
set of consonants, some of which do not exist in English. This guide
uses IPA and notes important pronunciation distinctions between
Modern Israeli Hebrew (the standard today) and
traditional/liturgical Hebrew. Examples are shown
with Hebrew script, niqqud (vowel points), and transliteration.
| Hebrew Letter |
Pronunciation Symbol |
Example (Hebrew) |
Similar English Sound |
| ַ (pataḥ) |
/a/ |
בַּיִת [ˈbajit] "house" |
Like "a" in "father" |
| ֵ (tsere) |
/e/ |
סֵפֶר [ˈsefer] "book" |
Between "bait" and "bet" (without glide)
|
| ִ (ḥiriq) |
/i/ |
מִי [mi] "who" |
Like "ee" in "machine"
|
| ֹ (ḥolam) |
/o/ |
יוֹם [jom] "day" |
Like "o" in "story" |
| וּ (shuruq) |
/u/ |
שׁוּק [ʃuk] "market" |
Like "oo" in "food" |
| ח (ḥet) |
/χ/ or /ħ/ (traditional)
|
חַג [χag] "holiday" |
Scottish "loch" (no English equivalent)
|
| כ/ך (khaf) |
/χ/ |
כָּל [kol] "all" |
As above |
| ק (qof) |
/k/ |
קָטָן [kaˈtan] "small" |
Like "k" in "kite" but deeper in the throat
|
| ע (ʿayin) |
/ʔ/ or silent in Modern Hebrew
|
עֵץ [ets] "tree" |
Glottal stop (like the break in "uh-oh")
|
| ר (resh) |
[ʁ] or [r] |
רוֹשׁ [ʁoʃ] "head" |
French "r" or Spanish "r"; not English "r"
|
| שׁ (shin) / שׂ (sin) |
/ʃ/ vs /s/ |
שֵׁם [ʃem] "name" / שָׂר [sar] "prince"
|
"sh" in "shoe" vs "s" in "see"
|
| צ (tsadi) |
/ts/ |
צָרִיךְ [tsaˈrix] "need" |
Like "ts" in "cats" |
Stress in Hebrew
In Modern Hebrew, stress usually falls on the last syllable of a
word, but many common words preserve older patterns with penultimate
stress. Unlike Spanish, Hebrew does not use written accents to mark
stress. Examples: בַּיִת [ˈbajit] (penultimate),
לָכוּד [laˈχud] (final).
Dialect Notes at a Glance
Modern Israeli Hebrew: Standard in schools/media;
guttural ע and ח often weakened.
Sephardic tradition: Historical basis of modern
pronunciation; clear distinction of vowels.
Ashkenazi Hebrew: Still used in prayer; stress
often moves to penultimate syllable; some vowel shifts (e.g. kamatz
→ /o/).
Mizrahi traditions: Preserve pharyngeal sounds [ħ,
ʕ] for ח and ע.
Helpful Symbols and Conventions
IPA brackets [ ] indicate detailed sounds. Slashes / / indicate
phonemes. Hebrew spelling does not always reflect vowel quality,
since most vowels are not written without niqqud. Letters ב, ג, ד,
כ, פ, ת may have a "hard" [b g d k p t] or "soft" [v ɣ ð χ f θ] form
historically, but only ב/כ/פ remain distinct today (as [v], [χ],
[f]).
