Vowel points

Dots and dashes that fill in the sound

You now know all twenty-two consonants, but consonants alone do not make a readable word. In English, "bd" could be bad, bed, bid or bud. The earliest Hebrew was written with consonants only, and readers supplied the vowels because they knew the language. Later, scholars called the Masoretes (working roughly between the sixth and tenth centuries AD) added vowel points under, over and inside the letters so that the reading would not be lost. The Hebrew Bible you see in the app includes them. Here is a word from Genesis 4:10.

In קוֹל the letters are ק, ו and ל. The dot above the middle letter makes it a vowel "o", so the word is read "kol", which means "voice". Here the ו is not a consonant at all; it carries the vowel.

Five sounds

Hebrew vowels come down to five sounds: a, e, i, o and u. The table shows each mark under the consonant ל.

In this course qamets and patach sound the same, and so do tsere and segol, so you only need to recognise the shapes and remember five sounds. One exception is worth a sentence. A mark that looks exactly like qamets is sometimes read "o". It is called qamets hatuf, it is rare, and it occurs in unstressed closed syllables, as in כָּל, which is "kol" and not "kal". The panel's transliteration tells you which it is, so you can let it pass for now.

Mind the order of reading. A vowel may sit under, over or beside its consonant, but it is pronounced after that consonant. לָ is "la", not "al".

Letters that act as vowels

Two consonants, ו and י, sometimes serve as vowels. They sit with a vowel mark and lengthen the sound.

A ו with a dot above it is "o", and a ו with a dot in the middle is "u". Here the letter is a vowel, not a v. A וּ at the start of a word is also a common way of writing "and". The hireq yod is a hireq followed by a י, giving a long "i"; you can see it in the אִישׁ of מֵאִישׁ, "ish", "a man". As a rule of thumb, a ו with a dot is usually a vowel, and a ו that carries its own vowel mark underneath is the consonant v. You will learn to tell them apart as you read.

Reading words

Now read, consonant by consonant from the right, adding each vowel after its consonant.

דָם, "dam", means "blood" and occurs about 360 times. In Exodus 7:19 the Nile's water becomes blood. דָּם

לֵב, "lev", means "heart", about 590 times. In Psalm 51:10 the psalmist asks for a clean heart. ל with tsere is "le", and ב is "v". לֵב

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10

אֵשׁ, "esh", is "fire", about 380 times. The silent א takes tsere for "e", and שׁ is "sh". In Genesis 15:17 a flaming torch, literally a "torch of fire", passes between the pieces of the sacrifice. אֵשׁ

קוֹל, "kol", is "voice" or "sound", about 335 times. It is the first word that God speaks about Abel's blood: "The voice of your brother's blood cries out." קוֹל

Next, וּבָשָׂר, "uvasar", is "and flesh". The וּ is the shureq, "u", meaning "and", then בָ "va", שָׂ "sa" and ר "r". The word בָּשָׂר, "flesh", occurs about 270 times. The man says of the woman, "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."

Last, יוֹם, "yom", is "day", about 1,900 times. It is י (y), the holem vav "o" and ם (m). In Genesis 1:5 God calls the light "day" with this word, and it comes back at the end of the verse in "the first day": יוֹם.

Summary

The vowel points give five sounds: a (ָ ַ), e (ֵ ֶ), i (ִ), o (ֹ) and u (ֻ). A vowel sits beside or under its consonant but is pronounced after it. וֹ is "o", וּ is "u" and ִי is "i", all written with a letter. A qamets is occasionally read "o". Two small marks remain: the shewa (ְ) and the dot called the dagesh, which are the subject of the next lesson.

Words in this lesson

• דָּםdamblood360 times in the OT
• לֵבlevheart594 times in the OT
• אֵשׁeshfire378 times in the OT
• קוֹלqolvoice335 times in the OT
• בָּשָׂרbasarflesh270 times in the OT

Practice