NEKUDOT
(VOWELS AND POINTS)
Like
most early Semitic alphabetic writing systems, the Alef-Bet
has no vowels. People who are fluent in the language do not
need vowels to read Hebrew, and most newspapers, magazines,
or books of general use written in Hebrew are written without
vowels. Siddurim (Prayer Books) and Tanach (Torah,
Neviyim, and Kethubim ) are the exceptions to the
rule.
Around
the 8th century, the Rabbis realized the need for aids to pronunciation,
so they developed a system of dots and dashes called Nikud
(points). These dots and dashes are written above, below or
inside the letter, in ways that do not alter the spacing of
the line. Text containing these markings is referred to as "pointed"
text. See some examples below.
Most nikud
are used to indicate vowels. The table below illustrates the vowel
points, along with their pronunciations. Pronunciations are approximate;
there are quite a bit of variation in vowel pronunciation.
Vowel points are
shown in blue. The letter Alef,
shown in red, is used to illustrate
the position of the points relative to the consonants. The letters
shown in purple are technically
consonants and would appear in unpointed texts, but they function
as vowels in this context.
Vowel |
Name |
Approximate Sound |
|
kametz |
Sephardic "a" as in father
(Ashkenazic "aw" as in saw) |
Hear it! |
|
chataf kametz |
Sephardic "a" as in father
(Ashkenazic "aw" as in saw) |
Hear it! |
|
patach |
"a" as in father |
Hear it! |
|
chataf patach |
"a" as in father |
Hear it! |
|
segol |
"e" as in egg or met |
Hear it! |
|
chataf segol |
"e" as in egg or met |
Hear it! |
|
tsayreh |
"ey" as in they |
Hear it! |
|
tsayreh |
"ey" as in they |
Hear it! |
|
chirik chaser |
"i" as in kilo |
Hear it! |
|
chirik malay |
"i" as in kilo |
Hear it! |
|
cholam chaser |
"o" as in alone |
Hear it! |
|
cholam malay |
"o" as in alone |
Hear it! |
|
shuruk |
"u" as in moon |
Hear it! |
|
kubutz |
"u" as in moon |
Hear it! |
|
shva |
At end of syllable: silent.
In middle of syllable: like "a" as in alone |
Hear it! |
SOME
LETTERS GET TWO SOUNDS
"Hard"
and "Soft" Sounds
There are a
few other nikud, illustrated in the table at right.
The dot
that appears in the center of some letters is called a
dagesh. With most letters,
the dagesh does not significantly affect pronunciation.
With the letters Bet, Kaf and
Pay, however, the dagesh
indicates that the letter should be pronounced with its
"hard" sound (the red
sound) rather than the "soft" sound (the black
sound).
In Ashkenazic pronunciation (the pronunciation
used by many Jews of European descent), Tav
also has a "soft" sound, and is pronounced as
an "s" when it does not have a dagesh. See the
letter Sav.
Vov,
usually a consonant pronounced as a "v," is sometimes
a vowel pronounced "oo" (u) or "oh" (o). When it is pronounced
"oo", pointed texts have a dagesh. When it is pronounced
"oh", pointed texts have a dot on top.
Shin
is pronounced "sh" when it has a dot over the right branch
and "s" when it has a dot over the left branch. See the
letter Shin.
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Below are two examples of pointed text. For emphasis, the Nikud
points in the illustrations are in blue and somewhat larger
than they would ordinarily be written.
example
1
The
line of text above would be pronounced in Sephardic pronunciation,
(which is what most people today use): V-ah-hav-ta L'ray-a(ch)a
ka-moh-(ch)a. (And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Vayikra - Leviticus 19:18).
example
2
The
above line of text would be pronounced (in Sephardic
pronunciation): Vah-yhee eh-rev vah-yhee voh-kehr yohm ha-shee-shee.
Va-y(ch)oo-loo ha-sha-ma-yeem v-ha-ah-retz v-(ch)ol tz-vah-am.
(And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
And the heaven and the earth were finished, the whole host of
them. Bereishit - Genesis Ch. 1-2).
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