HEBREW LETTERS | Hebrew Alphabet

Hebrew Letters | Hebrew Alphabet

Learn the Hebrew Letters and the Hebrew Alphabet in this free online tutorial with alphabet cards and videos for learning Hebrew. Print the Hebrew letter chart.

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The Hebrew alphabet is the starting place for learning the Hebrew language.

Once you learn the Hebrew letters, you'll be able to read Hebrew by 'sounding out' words you see, which is probably the way you learned to read your mother-tongue language. When you know the Hebrew letters, learning words will be easy.

Everything you need to learn the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet is on this page.

Use the Table of Contents, or just scroll down to see everything.

TABLE OF CONTENTS – Jump to Section

Hebrew Letter Chart

Hebrew Alphabet – The AlephBet

Hebrew Letters

Hebrew Alphabet Pronunciation Video

Hebrew Letters Coloring Pages & Videos

Hebrew Alphabet Cards

Hebrew Letter Chart - The AlephBet - האלפבית

You can right-click to copy the Hebrew Alphabet Chart, paste it to a document on your computer, and print it for personal use*, to use in a classroom or for home schooling.

The Hebrew Alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet is called the Aleph-Bet (אלפבית), and it is named for the first two letters of the Jewish alphabet – the Aleph and the Bet.

The English word alphabet came from the Hebrew word! Today, the Aleph-Bet contains the alphabet of ancient Hebrew, of Biblical Hebrew, and some modern additions to the language.

Once you learn the Hebrew alphabet, you can begin to read the most famous Hebrew documents in the world – the Dead Sea Scrolls – which were written more than 2,100 years ago. These are the oldest manuscripts of the Bible in existence and they are written in the same Hebrew that you will learn right here. The purity of the Hebrew language has been preserved like no other language in the world. (Consider the fact that most native English speakers cannot read manuscripts written in Old English from just a thousand years ago.)

The modern Hebrew alphabet contains:

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22 letters

5 letters that change their form when used at the end of a word (Sofit)

3 letters that change pronunciation when a dot (Dagesh) is added in the middle of the letter

In the pictures below, you'll find printable cards for the 22 Hebrew alphabet letters, the five letters with Sofit (final) forms, and the Dagesh (dot).

Each card has a picture that helps as a memory clue to recognize the letter. Many of the images represent words that are pronounced the same in English and in Hebrew, or are very similar. Some pictures will be familiar to you from Judaism.

Hebrew Letters

On this page you will find the online tutorial for learning all the Hebrew letters. The flash cards for all of the alphabet letters match the chart above for easy reference. You may use the cards below for personal use*). Just right-click on the flash card you want, paste it on a document page on your computer, and print. Enjoy!

If you are helping children learn the Hebrew letters, the cards can be used to play the Go Fish game for a fun learning experience.

You can jump to a specific letter by clicking on it here, or just scroll down to see them all:

א -- ב -- ג -- ד -- ה -- ו -- ז -- ח -- ט -- י -- כ -- ך -- ל -- מ

• -- ם -- נ -- ן -- ס -- ע -- פ -- ף -- צ -- ץ -- ק -- ר -- ש -- ת

The Hebrew Letter Aleph

Aleph (אלף) is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet (אלפבית). It is pronounced like the English word olive, except there is an 'f' sound at the end.

Because it's the first letter, it's easy to remember.

In Hebrew, the word for avocado is pronounced the same as the English word. To write the word in Hebrew, you begin with the letter aleph (אלף).

In the flash card below, you are reminded what the letter is when you see the picture of the avocado.

The Hebrew Letter Bet

The Hebrew letter Bet (בית) has a special place in Judaism because it is the first letter of the very first word in the Bible. Rabbis tell many stories about why this is so.

The letter Bet (בית) is pronounced like the letter 'B' or 'V' in English. You'll learn which way it is pronounced when you begin to learn Hebrew words.

Here's a word that you already know how to say in Hebrew: banana. Because no one had ever seen a banana in ancient Israel, there was never a word for it in Hebrew until modern times. When Israel began to import and plant bananas, the word for them was imported as well.

You'll find many words like this in the modern Hebrew language. So, you probably know more Hebrew words than you think you do!

Hebrew Letter Gimel

Camels are mentioned many times in the Bible and the word for camel has been found in very ancient Hebrew writing carved on stones.

In Hebrew, the word for camel is pronounced the way it is in English, except that it begins with a 'G' sound like in the word girl.

The 'G' sound is made with the Hebrew letter Gimel (גימל). The letter Gimel (גימל) even looks a little bit like a camel, so it is an easy letter to remember.

There's no sound for the English letter 'J' in Hebrew. It just doesn't exist in the language. But sometimes, Israelis need to write a foreign word like the name George or the word giraffe.

So, the way this is done is by taking the letter Gimel (גימל) and placing an apostrophe after it. The apostrophe is called a Geresh (גרש).

This doesn't make a new letter in Hebrew; it just provides a way to spell a foreign word properly. (But, not everyone in Israel can actually say the 'J' sound like an English speaker does!)

You won't see the Gimel (גימל) with a Geresh (גרש) very often because it just isn't found in many words written in the Hebrew language. And you won't find it in the Bible or in the Jewish prayer book!

But, if you ever go to the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem, you'll see it on a sign at the exhibit where the giraffes live.

Hebrew Letter Dalet

The Hebrew letter Dalet (דלת) has the same 'D' sound as in English.

It got its name because it looks like a doorway when the door is opened. In fact, the word dalet (דלת) in Hebrew is the word for this letter and it is also the word for door.

So, when you learn this word, you will know two more words in the Hebrew language.

The Hebrew word for door (דלת) is one of the most ancient words and is found in the Bible where it is used in the account of the Garden of Eden. (The lesson there is that opening a door can lead to something very evil. The second time the word is used in the Bible, opening a door leads to something very good – to Noah's ark.)

Just notice the opened door when you see a dalet (דלת) and you will find that this is a very easy letter to learn.

Hebrew Letter Hey

The Hebrew letter Hey (הא) is for the sound of the letter 'H' in the English language. This letter is probably familiar to you because it is used two times in the four-letter Hebrew name of the God of Israel.

Many, many times in Hebrew you will find the Hey (הא) used at the beginning of other words. When you see this, it is identical to the word the in English. If you want to write 'the alphabet', you just put the Hey (הא) in front of the Hebrew word for alphabet (אלפבית):

האלפבית

It's easy to write the word Hey (הא) because it only has two letters: Hey (הא) and Aleph (אלף).

Hey is also one of the letters found on the spinning dreidel toy used to play a game for Chanukah.

The letter looks a lot like a hockey player. The word hockey is the same in Hebrew as it is in English. In Hebrew, the word begins with the letter hey (הא). So, just remember that hey (הא) is for hockey!

Hebrew Letter Vav

The Hebrew letter Vav (וו) is for the sound of the letter 'V' in the English language. To write the word Vav (וו) in Hebrew, you just write two Vav (וו) letters. In some type fonts used on the Internet, the Vav (וו) doesn't display the top hook to the left – like on the website you are viewing. Don't worry; you'll get used to seeing it both ways.

When the Vav (וו) is used at the beginning of other words, it means and. So, you will see this little Vav (וו) a lot in printed Hebrew.

Sometimes the Vav is used to represent the sound of the English vowel 'O'. You'll find this in the familiar word, shalom (שלום). Mostly, Hebrew is written without vowels. But, when you see a Vav (וו) with a dot on top, the text is showing you that the Vav (וו) is for the vowel sound 'O' in English. (This is a vowel, not a Dagesh.)

In the flash card below, you'll see that the Vav (וו) is used to spell the word vanilla. In Hebrew, the word is pronounced like it is in English, except there is no 'a' sound at the end. The letter looks just like a cone filled with ice cream, doesn't it?

Hebrew Letter Zayin

The Hebrew letter Zayin (זין) is for the 'Z' sound in English.

In the Bible, the word Zayin (זין) also means sword. The letter looks like a sword, doesn't it?

The letter Zayin (זין) is used to spell the word for zebra and that word is pronounced just like it is in English.

When you see the letter, notice that it has a long curving line just like the stripes on a zebra.

Hebrew Letter Chet

The Hebrew letter Chet (חית) is difficult for many English speakers to pronounce because the sound doesn't exist in the English alphabet. It's not pronounced like the 'ch' in the English word cheese. Not at all! To say it correctly, you make a gurgling sound at the back of the throat.

People from Scotland can say the Chet (חית) properly, because it is a sound they use in words like loch, as in the Loch Ness Monster. To hear the Chet (חית) pronounced, just go to the Hebrew Alphabet Video below.

The Chet (חית) is used in many words you probably already know, like L'Chaim – לחיים (to life).

When people try to identify this letter with something in the English alphabet, they will transliterate it as 'H', 'Ch' or 'Kh.' Because Chet (חית) is the first letter in the word Chanukah (חנוכה), this is why you see the name of the holiday spelled different ways when written in English.

Hebrew Letter Tet

The Hebrew letter Tet (טית) is pronounced just like the letter 'T' in the English alphabet.

It is the first letter in the Hebrew word for toast and that word is pronounced just like it is in English.

If you think about it, the letter Tet (טית) is shaped like a toaster, with a space at the top for the toast to pop up.

So, it's easy to remember that Tet (טית) is for toast!

Hebrew Letter Yod

The letter Yod (יוד) is pronounced like the 'Y' in the English word yellow.

Yod (יוד) is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet but it has major significance. The most important word in Judaism and in the Hebrew language begins with this letter – the actual name of the God of Israel.

Like other Hebrew alphabet letters (אותיות האלפבית), many type fonts don't show the little hook at the top (like on this website).

Important Hebrew names begin with the letter Yod (יוד), including:

Jacob (Ya'akov – יעקב)

Israel (Yisrael – ישראל)

Isaac (Yitzchak – יצחק)

Judah (Yehuda – יהודה)

Jewish (Yehudi – יהודי)

Jerusalem (Yerushalayim – ירושלים)

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Hebrew Letter Kaf

The Hebrew letter Kaf (כף) is for the sound of the English letter 'C' in the word cat, or for a Kh sound similar to the Chet ((חית)) at the beginning of the word Chanukah (חנוכה).

You'll learn the difference when you get to the last flash card for the Dagesh.

But for now, learn that the Kaf (כף) looks like a reversed letter 'C' in the English language. The Kaf (כף) begins the word for canary in Hebrew and that word is pronounced almost exactly the same as it is in the English. The letter even looks a little like the canary in the flash card below.

Hebrew Letter Kaf Sofit

The Kaf (כף) changes its shape when it is at the end of a word. The final form is called a Kaf Sofit (כף סופית). The word Sofit (סופית) means final or end.

Like the letter Kaf (כף), it is pronounced either with a 'K' sound or a 'Kh' like the end of the name of the musical composer Bach.

The most important word in Judaism which uses the Kaf Sofit (כף סופית) is the name for the Bible – the Tanakh (תנ"ך). Tanakh (תנ"ך) is an acronym made up from the beginning letters of the three parts of the Hebrew Bible:

Torah (תורה) Law

Nevi'm (נביאים) Prophets

Ketuvim (כתובים) Writings

You can see the complete Tanakh (תנ"ך) online in Hebrew with English translation at the Tanakh website. The website also has translations in French, Spanish and Portuguese. On the website, you can also listen to any verse in the Bible, read in Hebrew. When you have learned the Hebrew letters, that website will help you learn how to read and pronounce Hebrew words.

Hebrew Letter Lamed

The Hebrew letter Lamed (למד) is pronounced just like the English letter 'L.'

It's the tallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet and always stands out.

The word lamed (למד) is also the word for 'why?' in Hebrew. And why is that? Because everyone wants to know why the lamed stands so high above the other letters! Why, oh why?

In Hebrew, the word lemon starts with a lamed (למד) and is pronounced like the English word, except the accent is on the last syllable and the 'o' is really said like an 'o.' In Hebrew, the word lemon rhymes with cone.