Hebrew vowels

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.

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