Hebrew Aleph-Bet
Letter/Name Value Meaning(s)
א Aleph 1 Ox, Strength, Thousand, Teaching (positive/negative), Master/Creator
ב Beit 2 House/Tent, Within
ג Gimel 3 Camel, Bridge, Weaning, Benevolence
ד Dalet 4 Door, Poor Man, Lifting Up (elevating)
ה Hei (Hey) 5 Broken, Take Seed, Window, Behold, Revelation
ו Vav (Waw) 6 Spine, Hook, Tent-Peg, Nail
ז Zayin 7 Weapon, Ornament/Crown, Species-Gender, Sustain
ח Chet 8 Fence, Fear, Life, Love
ט Tet 9 Inclination, Staff-serpent, Below, Bed
י Yud 10 Hand, To Thrust/throw, Work
ך כ Kaf 20 Palm (of hand), Clouds, Power to Suppress
ל Lamed 30 To Learn, To Teach, Shepard Staff, Ox-goad
מ ם Mem 40 Water, Blemish, Flowing–as blood
נ ן Nun 50 Fish, Propagate/Offspring, Heir to the Throne
ס Samekh 60 Support, Rely On, Ordination, Construct Form (grammar)
ע Ayin 70 Eye, Color, Spring/Fountain, Sheep (Aramaic)
פ ף Pei (Pey) 80 Mouth, Here (present)
צ ץ Tsadi 90 Side, To Hunt, Righteous, Fishhook, Chaos (Aramaic)
ק Quf 100 Monkey, Circuit of Space/Time, Back of head, Needle’s Eye (Aram.)
ר Reish (Resh) 200 Head, Beginning, Poison, Poverty
ש Shin 300 Year, Tooth/Ivory, Scarlet, Serenity, Sleep, Two, Sharp, Old
ת Tav (Taw) 400 Sign, Mark, Impression-Pain/Wound, Code, More (Aramaic)
v Aside from the 22 letters in the Aleph-Bet, 5 of the letters also have a Sofit or ‘final’ form which ONLY
comes at the end of a word. Interestingly, the SINGLE exception to this rule comes in Isaiah 9:6 where
a Mem Sofit is in the MIDDLE of the Hebrew word for ‘Increase’ –
indicating that the peace AND the increase of the government of Messiah Yeshua will NEVER end.
Hebrew Vowel Pointers
Sh’va –בְ syllable break
Segol – רֶ short ‘e’ as in egg
Patach – הַ short ‘a’ as in watch; a Patach UNDER the letter Chet when it is at
the end of a word is pronounced BEFORE the letter – as in Noach
Kamatz – וָ short ‘o’ as in common
Chiriq – יִ long ‘e’ as in see
Zeire – רֵ long ‘a’ as in grape
Sin dot – שׂ pronounced ‘s’ as in seen
Shin dot – שׁ pronounced ‘sh’ as in shine
Holom – לֹ long ‘o’ as in home
Shuruk – וּ long ‘u’ as in tune
Dagesh – בּ designates how certain letters are to be pronounced:
A Bet with a dagesh is pronounced as a ‘B’, whereas without the
dagesh it is pronounced as a ‘V.’ A Tav with a dagesh
is pronounced as a ‘Th.’ A Mem with a dagesh is pronounced
as a ‘MM.’ A Kaf with a dagesh is pronounced as a ‘K’, while
without the dagesh it is pronounced as ‘CH.
is pronounced as an ‘F’, while without the dagesh it is pronounced
as a ‘P.’
Kubutz – כֻ long ‘u’ as in move
Reduced Segol –אֱ syllable break followed by short ‘e’ as in ahead
Reduced Patach - אֲ syllable break followed by short ‘a’ as in aha
Reduced Kamatz – הֳ in Sephardic traditions this is pronounced as a long ‘o’ as in
tomb, in Ashkenazi traditions it is a short ‘o’ as in done.
