Hebrew Basics
Hebrew packs a remarkable amount into a small word: its letters and endings can tell you who acts, what happens and how the words connect.
Letters and sounds
Read Hebrew from right to left. This chart uses a modern Israeli-style reading convention. The sound kh is made at the back of the mouth, like ch in Scottish loch.
Final forms: כ → ך, מ → ם, נ → ן, פ → ף, צ → ץ. A dot inside bet, kaf or pe distinguishes b/k/p from v/kh/f. Aleph and ayin often carry their accompanying vowel in this convention. Historical reading traditions preserve additional sound distinctions.
Vowel signs
Small marks supply vowels. Bet, pronounced b, shows where each mark sits: בַּ = ba. English sounds below are approximate.
| Example | Name | Sound |
|---|---|---|
| בַּ | Patah | a · ah, father |
| בָּ | Qamets | a · ah, father |
| בֵּ | Tsere | e · eh |
| בֶּ | Segol | e · eh, bed |
| בִּ · בִּי | Hiriq | i · ee, machine |
| בֹּ · בּוֹ | Holam | o · oh, go |
| בֻּ | Qibbuts | u · oo, food |
| בּוּ | Shuruq | u · oo, food |
| כָּל | Qamets qatan | o · kol, “all” |
Shewa בְּ marks either a very brief vowel or the absence of a vowel, according to its position. Reduced vowels: אֲ brief a, אֱ brief e, אֳ brief o. Qamets qatan often shares the ordinary qamets sign; the word and syllable structure identify its o sound.
שָׁלוֹם sha-LOM: shin + a + lamed + o + mem. A common gloss is “peace.” Vav and yod can help write vowels as well as consonants.
How a word is put together
A root is a group of consonants used in forming related words. Many roots have three letters. Patterns, prefixes and suffixes help form a word and express its grammar.
בְּ = in · בֵית = house in this form · וֹ = his. One Hebrew word carries what English expresses in three.
Lemma: the dictionary headword. Inflected form: the word as it appears in a sentence, with its grammatical features.
Person, gender and number
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| First person | The speaker: I or we. |
| Second person | The person addressed: you. |
| Third person | Someone or something spoken about: he, she, it or they. |
| Masculine / feminine | Grammatical gender, used in agreement between words. |
| Singular / plural | One / more than one. Some nouns also have a dual form. |
Verb stems and conjugations
A stem, or binyan, is a verb-forming pattern. A conjugation is a set of forms that changes with person, gender and number. The stem identifies a pattern of action; the conjugation identifies its grammatical form.
| Stem | Common relationship |
|---|---|
| Qal | Basic pattern: guard; be holy. |
| Niphal | Often receiving an action or entering a state: was guarded. |
| Piel | Often an activity or bringing about a result: consecrate. Its sense depends on the verb. |
| Pual | Usually passive of Piel: was consecrated. |
| Hiphil | Often causing an action: bring out, cause to go out. |
| Hophal | Usually passive of Hiphil: was brought out. |
| Hithpael | Often acting on oneself or reciprocally: wash oneself. |
Each dictionary entry identifies which stems occur and their meanings.
| Form | Introductory use |
|---|---|
| Qatal / perfect | Suffix conjugation; frequently describes past or completed situations. |
| Yiqtol / imperfect | Prefix conjugation; can express future, habitual or modal uses, depending on context. |
| Wayyiqtol | Common in sequences of past narrative. |
| Imperative | An instruction or command. |
| Participle | A form describing an action or state, also used in noun-like or adjective-like ways. |
Qal: the stem. Imperfect: the prefix conjugation. Third person: spoken about. Masculine: grammatical gender. Singular: one subject.
Sources and pronunciation
Original explanations and charts by The Bible Directory. Introductory references: University of Texas at Austin — Biblical Hebrew for Beginners; unfoldingWord — Hebrew stem reference. Historical pronunciation: Geoffrey Khan — The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew. Verb-system research: Aaron D. Hornkohl — Hebrew future and modality. This chart uses modern Israeli-style introductory sounds; historical and classroom traditions vary.