HEBREW l 1.6 Transliteration l #(13) l Utah VidDevo l VidDevoChurch

Hebrew Consonants - Hebrew Transliteration Scheme

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	Writing Hebrew words in the English alphabet is called "transliteration" and is as much an art as a science. For Hebrew consonants, the following transliteration scheme will be used:

	Hebrew Consonants Summary Page (PDF file)
	Notes: Because people pronounce things differently, there are no “official rules” for transliterating Hebrew letters and words into the English alphabet. Because there are various transliteration schemes, often you will find different transliterations (and hear different pronunciations) for the same Hebrew word! For example, Ashkenazi (German and eastern European) pronunciations common in English-speaking countries often shift “a” sounds towards “o,” turn some “t’s” into “s’s,” and accent the next-to-last syllable whereas Israelis accent the last syllable. For example, Ashkenaz say “Shab•bos” instead of “Shab•bat”; “Mo•shi•ach” instead of “Ma•shi•ach”; and “Tal•lis” instead of “Tal•lit”. Of course, Hebrew vowels marks are also transliterated using English vowel letters (A E I O and U). See Section 2.9 for more information. On this web site, transliterations will use dots to separate syllables and the accented syllable will be shown in boldface. For example: Advanced Grammatical Note (You may ignore this information if you are just learning the Aleph-Bet) The Begedkephat letters are transliterated as indicated in the table above, though you should be aware that the dagesh in any one of these letters may be Chazak (strong) rather than Kal (weak). If the dagesh is Chazak, the Begedkephat letter will be preceded by a vowel; in other words, if the dageshed letter opens a syllable (or word), then you can assume it is Kal, not Chazak. This will become more important in Unit Three when discussing how to divide Hebrew words into syllables. The Dagesh Chazak “doubles” the consonantal value whereas the Dagesh Kal does not. Return to Unit One
			Hebrew for Christians Copyright © John J. Parsons All rights reserved.

HEBREW l 1.5 Begedkephat Letters l #(12) l Utah VidDevo l VidDevoChurch

Hebrew Consonants - The Begedkephat Letters

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Six Hebrew letters you have studied, namely, Bet, Gimmel, Dalet, Kaf, Pey, and Tav may appear with or without a dot placed within them. This dot is called a "Dagesh Kal" (or Dagesh Lene). For example:

	Collectively these letters are sometimes called "Begedkephat letters" as an acronym for the names of letters:

If one of these six letters has a Dagesh Kal mark it will have a hard pronunciation, otherwise it has a softer pronunciation. However, in modern Hebrew, only three letters change their sound when there is no dot inside: Bet, Kaf, and Pey (the other three letters are pronounced exactly the same as their non-dotted cousins). Consequently you only need to remember to pronounce these three letters differently when they do not have the Dagesh Kal mark:

	Notes:

In the table above, the Hebrew is read right to left (i.e., בּ/ב) whereas the English is read left to right (i.e., Bet/Vet). Use the acronym BaKPak to remember the three letters that change their sound. If you have already studied Section 1.1, you already know these letters and how to write them. The letter Vet, for example, is simply the letter Bet without the dot (i.e., Dagesh Kal) inside. The presence or the absence of the dot only affects the way you will pronounce the word. Ashkenazi Jews (those Jews of Eastern European descent) tend to pronounce the Aleph-Bet differently that Sephardic Jews (those Jews of Spain, Northern Africa, and Israel). For example, Ashkenazi pronunciation of Tav - without the Dagesh Kal - is pronounced as a "s" sound. In this book we will use the Sephardic pronunciation since it is the one used in the land of Israel. Remember: Only three letters change their sound when there is a dot inside: the other three Begedkephat letters are pronounced exactly the same as their non-dotted cousins:

	Advanced Grammatical Information The Dagesh Kal only appears in these six letters (Bet, Gimmel, Dalet, Kaf, Pey, and Tav) and will only appear: At the beginning of a word or After a Sheva Nach (silent sheva) In other words, it will only appear if it opens a syllable. Most commentaries are of the opinion that the Dagesh Kal is different then the Dagesh Chazak. While the Dagesh Chazak tells us of a missing letter the Dagesh Kal does not. The Dagesh Kal is just another pronunciation of a letter. Its purpose is to form a new sound and not to notify us of any missing letters. Finally, these Begedkephat letters may also have a Dagesh Chazak, though the Dagesh Chazak will appear identical to the Dagesh Kal. The rule of thumb is this: if the Begedkephat letter has a vowel preceding it, the dagesh is Chazak instead of Kal. In other words, if there is no vowel preceding it (e.g., the letter starts a syllable or word), then the dagesh is Kal and not Chazak. This should be clearer after you have finished Unit 3.
	Return to Unit One
				Hebrew for Christians Copyright © John J. Parsons All rights reserved.