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Hebrew vowels

The letters are consonants. Small marks above, below and beside them, added by scribes called the Masoretes, show the vowels. Each one is shown here on the letter מ (m).

Mark	Name	Sound
מַ	Patach	ma · like “mah”, with a short a
מָ	Qamets	mā · like “mah”, with a long a
מֶ	Segol	me · like “meh”, with a short e
מֵ	Tsere	mē · like “may”, with a long e
מִ	Hireq	mi · like “mih”, with a short i
מִי	Hireq + yod	mī · like “mee”, with a long i
מֹ	Holem	mō · like “moh”, with a long o
מוֹ	Holem + waw	mō · like “moh”, with a long o
מֻ	Qibbuts	mu · like the u in “put”, a short u
מוּ	Shureq	mū · like “moo”, with a long u
מְ	Sheva	mə (very short), or silent · like a very quick “uh”, or silent

A line over a vowel in the transliteration (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū) means it is long. The sheva ְ is either a very short “uh” or silent.

Put them together

A letter with a vowel makes a syllable: דָּבָר is dāvār, “word”; שָׁלוֹם is shālōm, “peace”. Learn the letters first if you haven’t yet.

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