Study this first or this video. This video shows how to put the consonants and vowels together so that you can read the text. Full vowels and half vowels are easy to distinguish because full vowels have no sheva in them. They are often called composite shevas, reduced vowels, or very short vowels.
- בֲּ hataf-patah
- בֱּ hataf-segol
- בֳּ hataf-qamats
Gutturals prefer these kind of vowels to a simple sheva.
- The Hebrew long vowels are the hiriq-yod, shureq, sere, sere-yod, and qamats.
- Patah, segol, hiriq, qamet-hatuf, and quibbuts are the short vowels.
If you like, you can study the history of the Hebrew vowel system.
A-class vowels
The A-class vowels make some variation of the “a” sound in English. They are:
| patah | אַ | short vowel; pronounced as the a in father |
| qamats | אָ | long vowel; pronounced as the a in father |
| hataf-patah | אֲ | very short or reduced vowel; pronounced as the a in anniversary |
| qamats-hey | דָּה | pronounced as the a in father |
E-class vowels
The E-class vowels make some variation of the “e” sound in English. They are:
| segol | אֶ | short vowel; pronounced as the e in met |
| sere | אֵ | long vowel; pronounced as the ey in they |
| sere-yod | נֵי | long vowel; pronounced as the ey in they |
| hataf-segol | אֱ | very short or reduced vowel; pronounced as the e in enemy |
I-class vowels
The I-class vowels make some variation of the “i” sound in English. They are:
| hiriq | אִ | pronounced as the e in she |
| hiriq-yod | אִי | pronounced as the e in she |
O-class vowels
The O-class vowels make some variation of the O sound in English. They are:
| holem | אֹ | long vowel; pronounced as the o in role |
| holem-vav | אוֹ | long vowel; pronounced as the o in role |
| qamats-hatuf | אָ | short vowel; pronounced as the o in odd |
| hataf-qamats | אֳ | very short or reduced vowel; pronounced as the o in odd |
U-class vowels
The U-class vowels make some variation of the u sound in English. They are:
| qibbuts | אֻ | pronounced as the u in rule |
| shureq | אוּ | pronounced as the u in rule |