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 both non-Oriental and Oriental pronunciations in Israel, certain letters may be transcribed differently depending on the background of the speaker. See Modern Hebrew phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Hebrew.
BH | MH | Letter(s) | Romanization | English approximation |
---|---|---|---|---|
b | בּ (Beť dǝgušah) | b | bet | |
d | דּ (Daleť dǝgušah) | d | dark | |
ð | d | ד (Ďaleť rafah) | ď, dh, d | BH: this MH: dark |
ɸ | f | פ ף (Fei rafah) | f or p̄ | fool |
ɡ | גּ (Gimel dǝgušah) | g | go | |
ɣ | ɡ | ג (Ǧimel rafah) | ǧ, gh, g | BH: Spanish fuego MH: go |
h | ה (He) | h | hen | |
ħ[1] | χ | ח (Ḥeť) | ḥ or ch | BH: hen but pharyngeal MH: Scottish loch |
j | י (Yoď) | y | yes | |
k | כּ ךּ (Kaf dǝgušah) |
k | skin | |
l | ל (Lameď) | l | left | |
m | מ ם (Mem) | m | man | |
n | נ ן (Nun) | n | no | |
p | פּ (Pei dǝgušah) | p | spin | |
q[1] | k | ק (Qof) | q or k | BH: cup, but uvular. MH: skin. |
r[2] | ʁ | ר (Resh) | r | BH: trilled or tapped run. MH: French rouge |
s | ס (Samekh) שׂ (Sin smalit) |
s | see | |
sˤ | ts[3] | צ ץ (Ṣadi) | ṣ, ts (or tz) | cats |
ʃ | שׁ (Šin Yemanit) | š or sh | she | |
t | תּ (Taw) | t | sting | |
tˤ | t | ט (Ṭeť) | ṭ, t | sting |
θ | t | ת (Ťaw) | ť, th, t | thing |
β | v | ב (Veť rafah) |
v | voice |
w | v | ו (Vav) | v | BH: would MH: vote |
x | χ | כ ך (Ǩaf rafah) | ǩ or ch/kh | Scottish loch |
z | ז (Zayin) | z | zoo | |
ʕ[1] | ʔ | ע (Ayin) | ʿ or ' | BH: No equivalent; Arabic 'ayn (ع) MH: uh-(ʔ)oh |
ʔ | א (Alef) |
ʾ or ' | uh-(ʔ)oh |
IPA | Letter(s) | Romanisation | English |
---|---|---|---|
dʒ[3] | ג׳ (Gimel with geresh) | ǧ or j | joy |
ŋ | נג (Nun-Gimel) | ng | ring |
ʒ | ז׳ (Zayin with geresh) | ž | beige |
tʃ[3] | צ׳ ץ׳ (Ṣadi with geresh) | č or ch | chair |
θ[4] | ת׳ (Tav with geresh) | th | thing |
ð[4] | ד׳ (Dalet with geresh) | th | the |
w[5] | וו (double Vav) | w | we |
ɣ[6] | ע' (Ayin with geresh) | gh |
BH | MH | Letter(s) | Romanization | English approximation |
---|---|---|---|---|
a | ![]() |
a | father | |
e | ![]() |
e | Scottish bay | |
ɛ | e | ![]() |
ɛ, e | BH: bed MH: Scottish bay |
ə | ![]() |
ǝ, e | BH: comma | |
i | י![]() ![]() |
i | see | |
o | ![]() |
o | story | |
ɔ | o | ![]() |
ɔ, o | BH: off MH: story |
a | ![]() |
ɔ, a | BH: maw MH: father | |
u | וּ (Vav with shuruk), ![]() |
u | boot |
IPA | Letter(s) | Romanization | English approximation |
---|---|---|---|
ei | י![]() ![]() |
ei | day |
ai | י![]() ![]() |
ai | why |
oi | וֹי (Vav with holam male-Yud) | oi | boy |
ui | וּי (Vav with shuruq-Yud) | ui | two years |
ao (rare) | אוֹ (Alef-Vav) | ao | cow |
ju (rare) | יוּ (Yud-Vav with shuruk) | yu | cute |
ij (rare) | יְ![]() i.e. "נִיְלֵן" [nijˈlen] |
iy | like see |
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.[7] Indicating normative consonant gemination uses a double consonant: גַּנָּב ('a thief') /ɡanˈnav/ not /ɡaˈnːav/ |
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c In Modern Israeli Hebrew, /ħ, ʕ, q/ have merged with /χ, ʔ, k/ respectively, but /ħ, ʕ/ are still distinguished by Oriental Hebrew speakers.
- ^ The sound is uvular for most speakers, but a few speakers, mostly Sefardim and some news broadcasters, 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.
- ^ a b Sometimes confused by speakers who don't hear a distinction between [ð] and [θ].
- ^ In Modern Israeli Hebrew, /w/ appears in a few words, mostly loanwords: וואו (wow) /waw/. In some words that originally had /w/, it is approximated to [v].
- ^ In Modern Israeli Hebrew, /ɣ/ appears in a transliteration from Arabic, like: ע'ין (Ghayn) /ɣain/.
- ^ Vowel length and quality in Tiberian Hebrew is a matter of debate, and that is just one possible example.