The Hebrew Alphabet: All 22 Letters, Sounds, and a Free Chart

The Hebrew alphabet chart

Here's the heart of the page: the full Hebrew alphabet chart with all 22 letters in order, from alef to tav. Each row gives you the letter, its name, a plain-English sound hint, and a real example word so the letter sticks.

The transliterations and Hebrew script stay the same in every language. Read the table from top to bottom, but remember that inside each Hebrew word you start at the right edge and move left. A few letters carry two sounds depending on a small dot (the dagesh); those are noted in the Sound column.

Want to keep going after the letters? The Hebrew hub gathers beginner lessons, and you can bookmark this chart as your everyday reference.

How is the Hebrew alphabet written? (right-to-left, no capitals)

Hebrew runs right-to-left. You start each word at its rightmost letter and move left, and whole sentences, pages, and books follow the same direction. A Hebrew book opens from what an English reader would call the back cover. Numbers are the exception: they're written left-to-right, just like in English.

There are no capital letters. The script is unicameral, so there's only one case for every letter. A name at the start of a sentence looks exactly like the same word in the middle of a line. If you've been reading English your whole life, the right-to-left habit takes a week or two to feel natural, so go slow and let your eyes retrain.

Does Hebrew have vowels? (nikkud)

Hebrew has vowel sounds but no vowel letters. Because all 22 letters are consonants, Hebrew is an abjad. To show vowels in pointed text, the Masoretes of Tiberias added a system of small dots and dashes called nikkud (niqqud), written mostly below the letter, with a few sitting above or inside it. Each mark attaches to the consonant you say before it, so you read consonant + vowel as one syllable.

Here are the main vowel points you'll meet first:

In a few words kamatz is a "kamatz katan," pronounced "o" as in "more" (translit o), but you can safely treat kamatz as "a" while you're starting out.

Classically these marks separated long and short vowels, but Modern Israeli Hebrew has merged most of those lengths, so kamatz and patach now sound identical, and tzere usually merges with segol. Here's the part beginners often miss: everyday Modern Hebrew is written without nikkud. Newspapers, websites, signs, and texting all skip the marks, and readers infer vowels from context and the 'mother' letters א, ה, ו, and י. Nikkud is reserved for learners' materials, children's books, dictionaries, poetry, prayer books, and the Bible. Start with pointed texts, then wean yourself off.

What are the 5 final (sofit) letters?

Five Hebrew letters take a special final form, called sofit (סופית), when they land at the end of a word. The sound and the name don't change; only the shape does. These aren't capitals and they aren't new letters, so כ and ך are the same letter in your dictionary. A handy memory aid: the five letters spell roughly 'kamnapatz'.

Most final forms grow a long tail that drops below the line. Mem is the oddball: instead of a tail, ם seals into a closed box. Once you know the five, you'll spot word boundaries faster, which speeds up everything else.

Which Hebrew letters look alike? (beginner cheat sheet)

A few Hebrew letters are near-twins, and mixing them up is the most common beginner stumble. Learn them in pairs, not alone, so you train your eye on the contrast. Here are the ones that trip people up most:

• ב bet / כ kaf: Bet has a flat foot with a little heel jutting out to the bottom-right. Kaf is one smooth curve with no protruding foot, like a backwards 'C'. No heel = kaf.
• ד dalet / ר resh: Dalet has a square top-right corner with a heel sticking out past the line. Resh is a single rounded corner with nothing sticking out. Heel = dalet, round = resh. (Dalet means 'door,' so picture a door-corner; resh means 'head,' so picture it round.)
• ה he / ח chet / ת tav: He has a detached left leg with a gap at the top-left. Chet is fully sealed shut, no gap. Tav has a closed left leg with a small foot curling at its bottom. Gap = he, closed-and-plain = chet, closed-and-footed = tav.
• ו vav / ז zayin / נ nun: Vav is a plain vertical stroke with a small head on top. Zayin's head sticks out on both sides like a little crown. Nun has a foot that kicks left at the bottom. Head-only = vav, crowned = zayin, bottom-kick = nun.
• ס samekh / ם mem sofit: Both are closed, rounded boxes, so position is your strongest clue. Samekh appears anywhere in a word, while ם (final mem) shows up only at the very end. Samekh is more circular; final mem is squarer with a flat bottom.
• כ kaf / פ pe: Kaf is one clean curve with an empty inside. Pe has the same outer curve but with an inward-curling 'tongue' tucked inside it. Tongue inside = pe, empty inside = kaf.
• ש shin / sin: Three prongs like a 'shhh' shrub. Dot on the right branch = SHin (sh); dot on the left = Sin (s). Right-Sh, left-S.

Grouping the alef-bet into look-alike families (the box family ה/ח/ת, the stick family ו/ז/נ) beats memorizing 22 shapes in isolation.

Print vs cursive Hebrew: same letters, different styles

Hebrew has two writing styles you'll meet right away. Print, also called block or 'square' script (Ktav Ashuri), is what you see in books, on signs, on screens, and in this chart. Cursive, or script, is what Israelis actually write by hand, and several letters look almost nothing like their printed cousins. Alef, lamed, and tsadi are dramatic examples.

My advice for beginners: learn to read print first. It's everywhere you'll practice, and the letter shapes in the chart above are the print forms. Once print recognition feels easy, pick up cursive as its own separate set when you want to write by hand. There's also Rashi script, a third style used mainly in traditional religious commentary, but you don't need it as a beginner.

What do Hebrew letters mean as numbers? (gematria)

Every Hebrew letter doubles as a number. This system is called gematria, and it's still used today for Hebrew calendar dates, Bible chapter and verse numbers, and list labels (א, ב, ג work like a, b, c). The values run in three groups:

• Ones: א=1, ב=2, ג=3, ד=4, ה=5, ו=6, ז=7, ח=8, ט=9
• Tens: י=10, כ=20, ל=30, מ=40, נ=50, ס=60, ע=70, פ=80, צ=90
• Hundreds: ק=100, ר=200, ש=300, ת=400

In the standard system, the five final forms keep their normal values (ך=20, ם=40, ן=50, ף=80, ץ=90). An optional 'large' system gives them 500 to 900, but you can ignore that as a beginner. Letter names are also words (bet means 'house,' kaf means 'palm,' ayin means 'eye'), which reflects the alphabet's pictographic roots and gives you ready-made mnemonics.

Is Modern Hebrew the same alphabet as Biblical Hebrew?

Yes. Modern (Israeli) Hebrew and Biblical or Classical Hebrew use the same 22 letters in the same order. The differences are mostly in pronunciation and in how vowels are handled. Biblical and prayer texts are usually fully pointed with nikkud (and cantillation marks), so the exact pronunciation is fixed on the page. Everyday Modern Hebrew is normally written without those marks.

A few sounds have also shifted over the centuries, and the hard/soft distinctions that once applied to ג, ד, and ת have disappeared in Modern Hebrew. Today only bet (בּ/ב), kaf (כּ/כ), and pe (פּ/פ) still change sound with a dagesh. The good news for you: learn this one alef-bet and you can read both. To plan how much vocabulary comes next, this guide on how many words you need to be fluent sets realistic expectations, and the Hebrew hub keeps your next steps in one place.