Hebrew alphabet pronunciation guide for beginners

“What does this Hebrew letter sound like?” is a sensible question with an inconvenient answer: a letter has a name, a shape, and sometimes more than one common sound.

Start with the alphabet as an inventory. You are learning how to identify א aleph or ב bet, not trying to pronounce an entire unvowelled sentence on day one.

The 22 letter names

Here is a beginner-friendly sequence. Transliteration varies, so do not let spelling differences make you think you are looking at different letters.

Letter	Common name	Useful note
א	aleph	Often silent as a consonant; it can carry a vowel.
ב	bet / vet	The dot can mark the harder b sound; without it, many readers use v.
ג	gimel	Usually a hard g in modern Hebrew.
ד	dalet	Usually d.
ה	he	Usually h; it can be very light at the end of a word.
ו	vav	Usually v and also part of vowel spellings.
ז	zayin	Usually z.
ח	het / chet	A throaty sound; it is not the English h.
ט	tet	Usually t.
י	yod	Usually y as a consonant and part of some vowel spellings.
כ	kaf / khaf	The dot can mark k; without it, the sound is commonly kh.
ל	lamed	Usually l.
מ	mem	Usually m; final form is ם.
נ	nun	Usually n; final form is ן.
ס	samekh	Usually s.
ע	ayin	A historical throat consonant, often light or silent for modern learners.
פ	pe / fe	The dot can mark p; without it, many readers use f.
צ	tsadi	Usually ts; final form is ץ.
ק	qof / qof	Usually k in modern Hebrew.
ר	resh	Usually an Israeli Hebrew r, unlike English r.
ש	shin / sin	The dot chooses sh or s.
ת	tav	Usually t in modern Hebrew.

The three dot pairs to watch

The small dot inside ב, כ, or פ is called a dagesh. In beginner charts, it is often introduced as a pronunciation switch: bet/vet, kaf/khaf, pe/fe. Real reading also depends on grammar and tradition, but the switch is a useful first model.

The dot on ש sits on the right for shin, שׁ, and on the left for sin, שׂ. Without a dot, a text may leave the reader to know the word from context.

Names are not a speaking test

A letter name is a label. “Lamed” helps you talk about ל. It does not mean every ל in every word should be pronounced “lamed.” Keep the tasks separate: identify the letter, learn its common sound, then read it in a word.

Practise the shapes with the first Hebrew letters guide, then use how to learn the Hebrew alphabet for a spaced plan. When you are ready to write, remember that Hebrew words run right to left.