Hebrew Alphabet Table
| Letter | Name | Says | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| א | alef | silent - holds the vowel | 1 | the placeholder consonant |
| ב | bet | b (v in some words) | 2 | |
| ג | gimel | g as in go | 3 | |
| ד | dalet | d as in door | 4 | |
| ה | he | h as in hat | 5 | |
| ו | vav | v; also the vowels o and u | 6 | doubles as a vowel |
| ז | zayin | z as in zoo | 7 | |
| ח | het | ch, stronger than Bach | 8 | English lacks it |
| ט | tet | t as in top | 9 | |
| י | yod | y; also the vowel i | 10 | the smallest letter |
| כ | kaf | k (kh at word end) | 20 | final form ך |
| ל | lamed | l as in lamp | 30 | |
| מ | mem | m as in map | 40 | final form ם |
| נ | nun | n as in no | 50 | final form ן |
| ס | samekh | s as in sun | 60 | |
| ע | ayin | silent throat glide | 70 | English dropped it |
| פ | pe | p (f between vowels) | 80 | final form ף |
| צ | tsadi | ts as in cats | 90 | final form ץ |
| ק | qof | k, made further back | 100 | not quite q |
| ר | resh | r, rolled lightly | 200 | |
| ש | shin | sh (or s, dot decides) | 300 | |
| ת | tav | t as in top | 400 |
| Final form | Of | Only at word end |
|---|---|---|
| ך | kaf (כ) | מלך melech, king - ends soft |
| ם | mem (מ) | שלום shalom - the closed square |
| ן | nun (נ) | אמן amen - the long descender |
| ף | pe (פ) | the only final with a detached bowl |
| ץ | tsadi (צ) | ץ ends words like ציץ tzitz |
Hebrew writes with 22 consonant letters, runs right to left, and treats vowels as optional marks added above and below the line - the letters carry the skeleton of the word and the reader supplies the vowels, which is why the same three-letter root (k-t-v, write) generates a whole family of related words. The table lists all 22 in order, with each letter's name, sound and transliteration, plus the five final forms that change shape when a word ends.
The alphabet doubles as a number system: each letter holds a numerical value (alef 1 through tav 400), and that mapping - gematria - still runs through Jewish calendars, holiday names and wordplay, which is why Hebrew letters show up in dates and prices where Latin text would use digits. Visually the letters descend from the same Phoenician parent as the Greek and Latin alphabets, and Arabic is its sibling: several letters (bet, kaf, shin, tav) have near-identical counterparts across the three scripts.
How to use
- Read right to left, consonants first: the table's letter column runs א to ת in dictionary order, which is also numeric order for gematria. Beginners should learn the letter names (alef, bet, gimel) alongside the sounds, because the names are how spellings are dictated over the phone and how Hebrew letter values are referenced in dates and texts.
- Watch the five finals: ך ם ן ף ץ are the word-ending forms of kaf, mem, nun, pe and tsadi - same sound, different shape, and using the wrong form is the most visible beginner tell in Hebrew text. No letter changes shape at the start or middle of a word; the final-position swap is the only contextual shape change in the alphabet.
- Handle the sounds English lacks: alef is silent (a vowel holder), ayin is a throaty glide English dropped centuries ago, and het is a stronger version of the ch in Bach. Transliterations in the table use the common schemes - alef as an apostrophe or nothing, het as ch or kh - because no single English spelling is standard; the letter names are the stable identity.
Frequently asked questions
How many letters are in the Hebrew alphabet?
Twenty-two consonants, from alef to tav - plus the five final forms (ך ם ן ף ץ) that are variants, not extra letters. Unlike the Russian or Greek tables, Hebrew letters are all consonants in the base script: vowels appear only as optional dots and dashes (niqqud) added for learners, poetry and prayer books, while everyday text - newspapers, signs, books - runs on the bare consonant skeleton.
Why is Hebrew written right to left?
Inheritance, like the alphabet itself: Hebrew descends from Phoenician, which wrote right to left, and Arabic kept the same direction. The consequence for learners is page logic, not letter order - books open the other way, punctuation sits at the left end of the line, and mixed Hebrew-English text (a Hebrew sentence with an English word) flips direction mid-line, which is the classic copy-paste headache in bi-directional editing.
What are the Hebrew final forms (ך ם ן ף ץ)?
Five letters change shape when they end a word: kaf becomes ך, mem ם, nun ן, pe ף and tsadi ץ - same sounds, distinct end-of-word silhouettes. The table lists them in the notes column because they are positional variants, not letters 23 through 27. Every alphabet in the family handles word-shape differently: Arabic changes shapes at the start and middle too, while Hebrew saves the change for the finish.
Do Hebrew letters double as numbers?
Yes - each letter carries a fixed value (alef 1, bet 2, through tav 400 in the standard mapping), and that system, gematria, is how traditional Hebrew writes numbers: calendar years, chapter numbers and holiday names still use it. Wordplay follows: two words with the same letter-sum are treated as meaningful echoes. The table's order is the numeric order, so learning the alphabet is learning the number line in the same pass.
Is alef a vowel?
No - alef is a silent consonant, a placeholder that carries whatever vowel the word's vocalization gives it. This trips up transliteration: alef can disappear entirely (or turn into an apostrophe) when Hebrew names reach English, which is why the same name arrives spellings apart (Hannukah/Chanukah variants trace to het, not alef, but the same principle applies). The silent-letter habit is why Hebrew words look shorter than they sound.
How is Hebrew related to Arabic and Phoenician?
All three descend from the same Canaanite-Phoenician parent: many letters have recognizable cousins across the scripts (bet/bāʾ, shin/shīn, tav/tāʾ), the direction is shared with Arabic, and the consonant-skeleton logic is the family trait. Greek then took the Phoenician letters west and added vowels as full letters - which is why the Greek table on this site reads left to right with vowels built in, while its Hebrew cousin runs the other way without them.