 |
 | This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Hebrew on Wikipedia. It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Hebrew in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. |
The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Modern and Biblical Hebrew language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.
Since Modern Hebrew has different pronunciations in Israel, certain letters may be transcribed differently depending on the background of the speaker. See Modern Hebrew phonology and Biblical Hebrew phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Hebrew.
Consonants
edit| BH | MH | Letter(s) | Letter(s) (Paleo-Hebrew alphabet) | Example | Romanization for Biblical Hebrew | Romanization for Modern Hebrew | English approximation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 259 and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Handbook of Style | Bible translations | Common Israeli | Hebrew Academy | ||||||
| b | בּ (Beth degushah) | 𐤁 | בַּיִת | b | bet | ||||
| d | דּ (Daleth degushah) | 𐤃 | דָּם | d | dark | ||||
| ð | d | ד (Dhaleth raphah) | אֶחָד | ḏ | d | BH: this MH: dark | |||
| f | פ ף (Phe raphah) | 𐤐 | אַף | p̄ | ph | f | fool | ||
| ɡ | גּ (Gimel degushah) | 𐤂 | גַּג | g | go | ||||
| ɣ | ɡ | ג (Ghimel raphah) | גַּג | ḡ | g | BH: No equivalent; Arabic Ghayn (غ) MH: go | |||
| h | ה (He) | 𐤄 | הַר | h | h or not written | h | hen | ||
| ħ | χ[1] | ח (Heth) | 𐤇 | חַג | ḥ | ch/h (sometimes not written) | h/ch/kh | ẖ | BH: No equivalent; Arabic ḥāʾ (ح) MH: Scottish loch |
| j | י (Yodh) | 𐤉 | יָם | y | j/i | y | yes | ||
| k | כּ ךּ (Kaph degushah) |
𐤊 | כִּי | k | c/ch | k | skin | ||
| l | ל (Lamedh) | 𐤋 | לֹא | l | left | ||||
| ɬ | s | שׂ (Sin semalith) | 𐤔 | שֶׂה | ś | s | see | ||
| m | מ ם (Mem) | 𐤌 | מָה | m | man | ||||
| n | נ ן (Nun) | 𐤍 | נָא | n | no | ||||
| p | פּ (Pe degushah) | 𐤐 | פֶּה | p | p/ph | p | spin | ||
| q | k | ק (Qoph) | 𐤒 | קַו | q | c/k | k | BH: No equivalent; Arabic qāf (ق). MH: skin. | |
| r | ʁ[2] | ר (Resh) | 𐤓 | רַע | r | BH: trilled or tapped run. MH: French rouge | |||
| s | ס (Samekh) | 𐤎 | סוּס | s | see | ||||
| sˤ | ts[3] | צ ץ (Tsade) | 𐤑 | צִי | ṣ | s/z | ts/tz | ts | BH: No equivalent; Arabic ṣād (ص) MH: cats |
| ʃ | שׁ (Shin Yemanith) | 𐤔 | שֵׁן | š | s/sh | sh | she | ||
| t | תּ (Taw) | 𐤕 | תָּו | t | t/th | t | sting | ||
| tˤ | t | ט (Teth) | 𐤈 | טַל | ṭ | t | BH: No equivalent; Arabic ṭāʾ (ط) MH: sting | ||
| θ | ת (Thaw) | 𐤕 | אֵת | ṯ | th | BH: thing MH: sting | |||
| v | ב (Veth raphah) |
𐤁 | אַב | ḇ | b | v | voice | ||
| w | v | ו (Waw) | 𐤅 | וָו | w | v/u | BH: would MH: voice | ||
| x | χ | כ ך (Khaph raphah) | 𐤊 | אַךְ | ḵ | ch/c | ch/kh | kh | Scottish loch |
| ח׳[4] (Heth with geresh) | שייח׳ (Sheikh) | kh | |||||||
| z | ז (Zayin) | 𐤆 | זֶה | z | zoo | ||||
| ʕ | ʔ[1] | ע (Ayin) | 𐤏 | עַם | ʿ | not written (sometimes g) | ' or not written | BH: No equivalent; Arabic 'ayn (ع) MH: uh-(ʔ)oh | |
| ʔ | א (Aleph) |
𐤀 | אֵם | ʾ | not written | uh-(ʔ)oh | |||
| IPA | Letter(s) | Exemple | Romanisation (unofficial) | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| dʒ[3][5] | ג׳ (Gimel with geresh) | ג׳ינס | j | joy |
| tʃ[3] | צ׳ ץ׳ (Tsade with geresh) | צ׳ק | ch | chair |
| w[6] | וו (double Vav) or ו (single Vav) | וואו | w | we |
| ʒ[5] | ז׳ (Zayin with geresh) | ז׳רגון | zh | beige |
| IPA | Letter(s) | Exemple | Romanisation (unofficial) | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ð[7] | ד׳ (Dalet with geresh) | ד׳אל (Ḏāl) | dh | the |
| ɣ[8] | ע׳[9] (Ayin with geresh) or ר׳[9] (Resh with geresh) | ע׳ין | gh | No equivalent; Arabic Ghayn (غ) |
| ŋ[10] | נג (Nun-Gimel) | הונג קונג | ng | ring |
| θ[11] | ת׳[12] (Tav with geresh) | ת׳ור (Thor) | th | thing |
Vowels
edit| BH | MH | Letter(s) | Romanization for Biblical Hebrew | Romanization for Modern Hebrew | English approximation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 259 | Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Handbook of Style | Common Israeli | Hebrew Academy | ||||
| a(ː) | a |  (Patach)
|
a, á, ạ | a | a | father | |
| ă |  (Hataf Patach)
|
ă | |||||
| eː | e |  (Tzere)
|
ē | ē | e | e | Scottish bay |
| ej[13] | י (Tzere-Yodh)
|
ê | ey/ei | BH: Scottish bay MH: bay | |||
| ɛː | י (Segol-Yodh)
|
é, ẹ | BH: bed MH: bay | ||||
| ɛ(ː) | e | (Segol)
|
e, é, ẹ | e | e | BH: bed MH: Scottish bay | |
| ɛ̆ |  (Hataf Segol)
|
ĕ | ĕ | BH: bed MH: Scottish bay | |||
| ə | e[14] |  (Shva)
|
ǝ | e [15] | BH: comma MH: Scottish bay | ||
| i(ː) | i |  (Hiriq)
|
i, ī | i, ī | i | see | |
| iː | י (Hiriq-Yodh)
|
ī | î | ||||
| oː | o |  (Holam alone)
|
ō | ō | o | story | |
| וֹ (Vav with holam) | ô | ||||||
| ɔ̆ |  (Hataf Kamatz)
|
ŏ | BH: off MH: story | ||||
| ɔ(ː) |  (Kamatz katan)
|
o, ọ | o | ||||
| ɔː | a | (Kamatz)
|
ā | ā | a | BH: maw MH: father | |
| ה (Kamatz-He)
|
â | ||||||
| u(ː) | u |  (Kubutz)
|
u, ū | u | boot | ||
| uː | וּ (Vav with shuruk) | ū | û | ||||
| IPA | Letter(s) | Exemple | Romanization (unofficial) | English approximation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ao | אוֹ (Patach-Holam), אוֹ (Kamatz-Holam)
|
לָאוֹס | ao | cow |
| au | אוּ (Patach-Shuruk), אוּ (Kamatz-Shuruk)
|
סָאוּ פָּאוּלוּ | au | |
| eu | אוּ (Segol-Shuruk), אוּ (Tzere-Shuruk)
|
אֵאוּגֵנִיקָה (Eugenics) | eu | |
| ou | וֹאוּ (Holam-Shuruk) | קאמפ נוֹאוּ (Camp Nou) | ou | no |
Other symbols
edit| IPA | Explanation |
|---|---|
| ˈ | Primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable): אֹכֶל ('food') /ˈʔoχel/, אוֹכֵל ('eating' [participle]) /ʔoˈχel/ |
| ˌ | Secondary stress, e.g. הַאֻמְנָם? ('oh, really?') /ˌhaʔumˈnam/ |
| ː | Long vowels (in Tiberian Hebrew) can be transcribed using the IPA gemination sign ː: the word for "hand" would be יָד /jaːd/ in absolute state and יַד־ /jad/ in construct state.[16] Indicating normative consonant gemination uses a double consonant: גַּנָּב ('a thief') /ɡanˈnav/ not /ɡaˈnːav/ |
Notes
edit- ^ a b /ħ/ and /ʕ/ are still distinguished by some Sephardi, Mizrahi and Arab speakers.
- ^ The sound is uvular for most speakers, but some speakers, mostly Sefardim, Mizrahim, Arab Israelis, Jews from the former USSR and Ethiopian Jews (in the 20th century also news broadcasters and singers) retain an alveolar pronunciation: [r]~[ɾ].
- ^ a b c /dʒ, ts, tʃ/ are officially written with a tie-bar in the IPA /d͡ʒ, t͡s, t͡ʃ/ respectively, but the tie-bar is here omitted for simplicity.
- ^ Only appears in transliterations from Arabic script to transliterate the letter Ḫāʾ (خ)
- ^ a b /dʒ/ and /ʒ/ are sometimes confused by speakers who don't hear a distinction between them (mostly Russian and Arabic speakers).
- ^ Appears in new loanwords: וואלה /wala/ "Wow!, really?, you don't say!, no kidding!". In some old loanwords that originally had /w/, it was approximated to /v/: ואדי /vadi/ "Wadi".
- ^ Usually pronounced /d/ or /z/ by speakers who don't speak English.
- ^ Usually pronounced /ɡ/ or /ʁ/ by speakers who don't speak Arabic.
- ^ a b Only appears in transliterations from Arabic script to transliterate the letter Ghayn (غ).
- ^ Usually pronounced /ŋɡ/ by speakers who don't speak English.
- ^ Usually pronounced /t/ or /s/ by speakers who don't speak English.
- ^ ת׳ is sometimes used for both /ð/ and /θ/ (in words from English) either by speakers who don't hear a distinction between them or as an equivalent to the Th digraph of English which is also used for both sounds.
- ^ Some conservative speakers may pronounce it /e/ like in Sephardi Hebrew
- ^ Modern Hebrew typically elides shva in situations where it can be comfortably omitted in common speech, creating consonant clusters that would otherwise not be permitted in older varieties of Hebrew.
- ^ Not written where it is no longer pronounced.
- ^ Vowel length and quality in Tiberian Hebrew is a matter of debate, and that is just one possible example.