Hebrew Vowels: How to Read Niqqud

Walk into an Israeli shop and look at the sign. The letters are there, but the vowels seem to be missing. Open a textbook, and every letter has dots and dashes under it. It's the same writing system: the textbook shows the vowels, and the sign leaves them out.

Why vowels are written as dots and dashes

The ancient Hebrew alphabet consists of consonants. Vowels were not written: readers knew the language and worked out which word they were looking at. The vowel marks (in Hebrew נִקּוּד, "niqqud") were invented later, more than a thousand years ago. They were added as a hint, so that a word would be read the same way by everyone.

That's why vowels don't sit in the line alongside the consonants. They are written under a letter, over it or inside it. The letter comes first, the vowel after it: in the word קָפֶה you read "k", then "a", then "f", then "e".

Vowel marks are used where a word has to be read without mistakes: textbooks, children's books, dictionaries, poetry, prayer books. Newspapers, websites, shop signs, contracts and chat messages go without them. An Israeli adult looks at a word and just knows how it sounds. A beginner can't read that way yet and needs niqqud.

The vowel chart

All the signs are shown on the letter בּ (with the dot it's read "b"). The dot inside a letter is a dagesh, not a vowel. Look for the vowel under the letter, over it or beside it.

Shuruk is different from the rest: it's the letter ו with a dot inside, and it comes after a consonant. Kholam can also be a letter: וֹ, a dot over ו. More on that below.

There are also three compound signs, the khataf vowels: a vowel sign added to a shva. Khataf-patakh ֲ is read "a", khataf-segol ֱ is read "e", and khataf-kamats ֳ is read "o". They most often stand under the letters א, ה, ח, ע. You'll meet khataf-patakh in your very first word: אֲנִי ("ani", "I").

Nine signs, five sounds

The chart looks scary, but modern Hebrew follows a simple scheme. The signs group by sound:

• A: kamats ָ and patakh ַ;
• E: segol ֶ and tsere ֵ;
• I: khirik ִ;
• O: kholam ֹ;
• U: shuruk וּ and kubuts ֻ.

These signs used to differ in length and quality of sound. In everyday Hebrew today there's no difference, so five sounds are all you need to remember. The names will come in handy when you hear them from a teacher or see them in a textbook.

Shva: sometimes "e", sometimes silence

Shva ְ is two dots one above the other under a letter. It's read in one of two ways: as a short "e", or not at all. Some simple rules to begin with:

• inside a word, between syllables, shva is usually silent: מִסְפָּר is read "mispar" ("number"), and there's no vowel between "s" and "p";
• at the start of a word, shva gives a short "e" if the first letter is י, ל, מ, נ or ר: מְבִינָה "mevina" ("understands", said of a woman), לְהִתְרָאוֹת "lehitraot" ("see you");
• "e" is also pronounced under prefixes such as ב ("in") and ל ("to, for"): בְּבַקָּשָׁה "bevakasha" ("please");
• in other words, Israelis usually swallow a shva at the start: זְמַן "zman" ("time"), שְׁתַּיִם "shtayim" ("two", feminine).

There are other cases, but they are easier to hear than to memorize. If you're unsure, listen to the whole word.

The letters ו and י as vowels

Sometimes a vowel sound is written with a letter. These are the letters ו and י. They play two roles: consonants ("v" and "y") and vowel signs:

• וֹ is read "o" (kholam with the letter ו);
• וּ is read "u" (shuruk);
• בִּי is read "bi" (khirik with the letter י).

When a vowel is written with a letter, it's called ktiv male ("full spelling"). When there's no letter and only a mark remains, it's called ktiv khaser ("defective spelling"). Ordinary text without vowel marks follows the full-spelling rules: ו and י are added wherever the word could not be read otherwise.

Compare מוּזִיקָה ("music") with the same word without vowel marks: מוזיקה. The letters ו and י stay: they are the vowels "u" and "i". The other marks (khirik, kamats) are gone.

Six familiar words, step by step

International words are good for practice: you already know the meaning and can check whether you read them right. Read from right to left and look for the vowel under or beside the letter. The stressed syllable is highlighted in the transliteration.

Test yourself: cover the transliteration, read the word from the signs, and only then compare. Pay attention to the stress: in borrowed words it often falls on a syllable other than the last. Israelis say "banana", "telefon", "otobus".

Three small things that trip you up

• The dot inside a letter. The letters בּ and ב differ by a dot: with it "b", without it "v". Beginners take this dot for a vowel. A vowel stands under the letter, while the dagesh sits inside it.
• The letter ה at the end of a word. It's usually silent, as in קָפֶה. It shows that a vowel stands before it: "a" in בָּנָנָה and "e" in קָפֶה.
• Stress. Vowel marks don't show it. In Hebrew it more often falls on the last syllable, but not always. That's why the transliterations in this article highlight the stressed syllable.

How to move from text with vowel marks to text without them

Getting used to it takes three steps, and there's no need to rush.

1. Read with the marks. Until the signs become automatic, don't take them away. The goal: see בּ with a kamats and say "ba" at once.
2. Compare. Take a short text with vowel marks and the same text without them. Read the second one, peeking at the first.
3. Guess from context. In a text without marks you rely on words you already know and on the sense of the sentence.

This is why reading without vowel marks is sometimes hard. Three words are spelled the same way: ספר. With vowel marks they are three different words:

• סֵפֶר: "sefer", book;
• סִפֵּר: "siper", told;
• סַפָּר: "sapar", barber.

Another example: דוד can be דּוֹד ("dod", "uncle") or דָּוִד ("david", "David"). An Israeli picks the right word from the sentence. A beginner doesn't have that feel yet, and that's normal: it grows with every word you learn.

How to make it stick

Vowel marks are quick to learn if you read aloud and hear the result. In the Hebrew №1 app, lessons start with the alphabet and the vowel marks, and in your very first lesson you read a whole word. You can listen to any letter, word and line, and repetition brings a word back when you begin to forget it.

If you don't know the letters yet, learn the alphabet first: the vowel marks won't work without it. Your working minimum is five sounds (A, E, I, O, U), the shva rule "silent inside a word, often an 'e' at the start", and the letters ו and י as vowels. With that you can read simple words with vowel marks today.