Hebrew is written right-to-left. It has 22 letters, all consonants. Five letters have special final forms when they appear at the end of a word. Vowel sounds are typically indicated by niqqud (vowel points) in beginner texts and are omitted in standard adult print.
Tip: Five letters have final forms used only at the end of a word: כ→ך, מ→ם, נ→ן, פ→ף, צ→ץ
The 22 Hebrew Letters
| Letter | Name | Sound | Final Form | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| א | Alef | silent / glottal stop | — | Carries the vowel sound of the niqqud attached to it |
| בּ / ב | Bet / Vet | b (with dagesh) / v | — | בּ with dot = b sound; without = v sound |
| ג | Gimel | g (hard) | — | Always hard like in "go" |
| ד | Dalet | d | — | |
| ה | He | h (often silent at word end) | — | |
| ו | Vav | v / o / u | — | Used as consonant (v) and as vowel letter (o, u) |
| ז | Zayin | z | — | |
| ח | Khet | kh (guttural, like loch) | — | Back-of-throat sound |
| ט | Tet | t | — | Same sound as Tav in modern Hebrew |
| י | Yod | y / i | — | Also used as vowel letter |
| כּ / כ | Kaf / Khaf | k (with dagesh) / kh | ך | Same guttural kh sound as Khet when without dagesh |
| ל | Lamed | l | — | |
| מ | Mem | m | ם | |
| נ | Nun | n | ן | |
| ס | Samekh | s | — | Same sound as Sin in modern Hebrew |
| ע | Ayin | silent / guttural | — | Like Alef, carries the vowel; traditionally guttural |
| פּ / פ | Pe / Fe | p (with dagesh) / f | ף | |
| צ | Tsadi | ts (as in "bits") | ץ | |
| ק | Qof | k | — | Same k sound as Kaf with dagesh in modern Hebrew |
| ר | Resh | r (uvular) | — | Similar to French r |
| שׁ / שׂ | Shin / Sin | sh / s | — | Dot above right = sh; dot above left = s |
| ת | Tav | t | — | Same t sound as Tet in modern Hebrew |
Final Forms: Five letters change shape when they appear at the very end of a word. These are called sofit (final) forms: כ becomes ך, מ becomes ם, נ becomes ן, פ becomes ף, and צ becomes ץ. You must use the correct final form — using the wrong one is a spelling error.