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Help:IPA/Hebrew

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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Biblical and Modern 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 different pronunciations in Israel, certain letters may be transcribed differently depending on the background of the speaker. See Biblical Hebrew phonology and Modern Hebrew phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Hebrew.

Consonants
BH MH Letter(s) Romanization English approximation
b בּ‎ (Beť dǝgušah) b bet
d דּ‎ (Daleť dǝgušah) d dark
ð d ד‎ (Ďaleť rafah) BH: ḏ
MH: d
BH: this
MH: dark
[1][2] ג׳‎ (Gimel with geresh) j joy
f פ ף‎ (Fei rafah) BH: p̄
MH: f
fool
ɡ גּ‎ (Gimel dǝgušah) g go
ɣ ɡ ג‎ (Ǧimel rafah) BH: ḡ
MH: g
BH: No English equivalent; Arabic Ghayn (غ‎‎‎)
MH: go
h ה‎ (He), הּ‎ (He mappiq) h hen
ħ χ (ħ)[3] ח‎ (Ḥeť) BH: ḥ
MH: h or ch/kh
BH: No English equivalent; Arabic ḥāʾ (ح‎‎)
MH: Scottish loch
j י‎ (Yoď) y yes
k כּ ךּ‎ (Kaf dǝgušah)
k skin
l ל‎ (Lameď) l left
ɬ s שׂ‎ (Sin semalith) BH: ś
MH: s
BH: No English equivalent; Welsh llwyd
MH: see
m מ ם‎ (Mem) m man
n נ ן‎ (Nun) n no
p פּ‎ (Pei dǝgušah) p spin
q k ק‎ (Qof) BH: q
MH: k
BH: No English equivalent; Arabic qāf (ق‎‎‎).
MH: skin.
r ʁ (r)[4] ר‎ (Resh) r BH: trilled or tapped run.
MH: French rouge
s ס‎ (Samekh) s see
ts[1] צ ץ‎ (Ṣadi) BH: ṣ
MH: ts/tz
BH: No English equivalent; Arabic ṣād (ص‎)
MH: cats
ʃ שׁ‎ (Šin Yemanit) BH: š
MH: sh
she
t תּ‎ (Taw) t sting
t ט‎ (Ṭeť) BH: ṭ
MH: t
BH: No English equivalent; Arabic ṭāʾ (ط‎)
MH: sting
θ ת‎ (Ťaw) BH: ṯ
MH: t
BH: thing
MH: sting
[1] צ׳ ץ׳‎ (Tsade with geresh) ch chair
v ב‎ (Veť rafah)
BH: ḇ
MH: v
voice
w v ו‎ (Vav) BH: w
MH: v
BH: would
MH: voice
w[5] וו‎ (double Vav) or ו‎ (single Vav) w we
x χ כ ך‎ (Ǩaf rafah) BH: ḵ
MH: ch/kh
Scottish loch
ח׳[6] (Heth with geresh) kh
z ז‎ (Zayin) z zoo
ʒ[2] ז׳‎ (Zayin with geresh) zh beige
ʕ ʔ (ʕ)[3] ע‎ (Ayin) BH: ʿ
MH: '
BH: No English equivalent; Arabic 'ayn (ع)
MH: uh-(ʔ)oh
ʔ א‎ (Alef)
BH: ʾ
MH:'
uh-(ʔ)oh


Marginal consonants of Modern Hebrew in transliteration and loanwords (used only by some speakers)
IPA Usual pronunciation Letter(s) Romanisation English
ð d / z ד׳‎ (Dalet with geresh) dh the
ɣ ʁ / ɡ ע׳[7] (Ayin with geresh) or ר׳[7] (Resh with geresh) gh No English equivalent; Arabic Ghayn (غ‎‎‎)
ŋ ŋɡ נג‎ (Nun-Gimel) ng ring
θ t / s ת׳[8] (Tav with geresh) th thing
Vowels
TH MH Letter(s) Romanization English approximation
a  (Patach),  (Hataf Patach) TH: a, ă
MH: a
father
ej (e)[9] י(Tzere-Yodh),  (Zeire) TH: ē
MH: e or ei/ey
TH: Scottish bay
MH: bay
e Scottish bay
ɛ  (Segol),  (Hataf Segol) TH: e, ĕ
MH: e
TH: bed
MH: Scottish bay
ə  (Shva) TH: ǝ/ĕ
MH: e or unwritten
TH: comma
MH: Scottish bay
[10] TH: comma
MH: silent
i (Hiriq) i see
i י(Hiriq-Yud) TH: ī
MH: i
o  (Holam alone), וֹ‎ (with any mater lectionis) TH: ō
MH: o
story
ɔ  (Kamatz katan),  (Hataf Kamatz) TH: o, ŏ
MH: o
TH: off
MH: story
ɔː a  (Kamatz) TH: ā
MH: a
TH: off
MH: father
u (Kubutz) u cool
u וּ‎ (Vav with shuruk) TH: ū
MH: u


Diphthongs in Modern Hebrew (used in transliteration and loanwords)
IPA Letter(s) Romanization English approximation
ao אוֹ (Patach-Holam), אוֹ (Kamatz-Holam) ao cow
au אוּ (Patach-Shuruk), אוּ (Kamatz-Shuruk) au
eu אוּ (Segol-Shuruk), אוּ (Tzere-Shuruk) eu no (some dialects[11])
ou וֹאוּ‎ (Holam-Shuruk) ou goal


Other symbols
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/jɔːð/ in absolute state and יַד־/jað/ in construct state.[12] Indicating normative consonant gemination uses a double consonant: גַּנָּב‎ ('a thief') /ɡanˈnav/ not /ɡaˈnːav/

Notes

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  1. ^ Jump up to: 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.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b /dʒ/ and /ʒ/ are sometimes confused by speakers who don't hear a distinction between them (mostly Russian and Arabic speakers).
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b In Modern Israeli Hebrew, /ħ, ʕ/ have merged with /χ, ʔ/ respectively, but are still distinguished by some Sephardi, Mizrahi and Arab speakers.
  4. ^ The sound is uvular for most speakers, but some speakers, mostly Sefardim, Mizrahim, Arab Israelis, Jews from the former USSR and Ethiopian Jews (in the 20th century also news broadcasters and singers) retain an alveolar pronunciation: [r]~[ɾ].
  5. ^ Appears in new loanwords: וואלה /wala/ "Wow!, really?, you don't say!, no kidding!". In some old loanwords that originally had /w/, it was approximated to /v/: ואדי /vadi/ "Wadi".
  6. ^ Only appears in transliterations from Arabic script to transliterate the letter Ḫāʾ (خ)
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Only appears in transliterations from Arabic script to transliterate the letter Ghayn (غ‎‎‎).
  8. ^ ת׳ is sometimes used for both /ð/ and /θ/ (in words from English) either by speakers who don't hear a distinction between them or as an equivalent to the Th digraph of English which is also used for both sounds.
  9. ^ Some conservative speakers pronounce it /e/ like in Sephardi Hebrew
  10. ^ Modern Hebrew typically elides shva in situations where it can be comfortably omitted in common speech, creating consonant clusters that would otherwise not be permitted in older varieties of Hebrew.
  11. ^ These dialects include Southern England (including Received Pronunciation), English Midlands, Australian, New Zealand, the Southern American, Midland American, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Western Pennsylvania and younger Californian English. Other dialects of English, such as most other forms of American, Northern England, Welsh, Scottish and Irish English, have no close equivalent vowel.
  12. ^ Vowel length and quality in Tiberian Hebrew is a matter of debate, and that is just one possible example.

See also

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