Transliteration

Begedkefet Letters (dagesh vs. rafe)

Letter	Name	With Dagesh	Without Dagesh (Rafe)
ב	Bet	b	v
ג	Gimel	g	gh
ד	Dalet	d	dh
כ	Kaf	k	kh
פ	Pe	p	f
ת	Tav	t	th

Other Consonants

Letter	Name	Transliteration
א	Alef	ʾ
ה	He	h
ו	Vav	w
ז	Zayin	z
ח	Het	ḥ
ט	Tet	ṭ
י	Yod	y
ל	Lamed	l
מ	Mem	m
נ	Nun	n
ס	Samekh	s
ע	Ayin	'
צ	Tsadi	ṣ
ק	Qof	q
ר	Resh	r
שׁ	Shin	sh
שׂ	Sin	s

Final Letter Forms

Letter	Name	Transliteration
ך	Final Kaf	kh
ם	Final Mem	m
ן	Final Nun	n
ף	Final Pe	f
ץ	Final Tsadi	ṣ

Vowels

Niqqud	Name	Transliteration
ְ	Sheva (vocal)	ĕ
ֱ	Hataf Segol	ĕ
ֲ	Hataf Patah	ă
ֳ	Hataf Qamats	ŏ
ִ	Hiriq	i
ִי	Hiriq + Yod	i
ֵ	Tsere	e
ֵי	Tsere + Yod	e
ֶ	Segol	e
ֶי	Segol + Yod	e
ַ	Patah	a
ָ	Qamats	a
ָה	Qamats + He (word-final)	a
ֹ	Holam	o
ֹ	Holam Haser (no vav)	o
וֹ	Holam + Vav	o
ֻ	Qubuts	u
וּ	Shureq	u
ָיו	Qamats + Yod + Vav (3ms suffix)	aw

The Divine Name (י״י / יְיָ) is a special case handled outside this schema -- it always renders as “Adhonay”, regardless of its vocalization in the source text. See normalize-divine-name.mjs.

Pronunciation

א Alef (ʾ) — A glottal stop — the light catch in the throat before “uh-oh,” often barely audible mid-word.
ג Gimel (rafe) (gh) — Arabic غ (ghayn) — no English equivalent, a voiced gargle from the back of the throat.
ד Dalet (rafe) (dh) — The “th” in this (voiced).
ו Vav (w) — The “w” in water.
ח Het (ḥ) — Arabic ح (ḥa) — the sound of fogging up your glasses.
ט Tet (ṭ) — Arabic ط (ṭa) — a “t” with the tongue tensed and pulled back.
כ Kaf (rafe) (kh) — Arabic خ (kha) — like the German “Bach.”
ע Ayin (ʿ) — Arabic ع (ʿayn) — the voiced counterpart to ḥ, a tightening in the throat.
צ Tsadi (ṣ) — Arabic ص (ṣad) — a tensed “s,” tongue pulled back.
ק Qof (q) — Arabic ق (qaf) — a voiceless uvular stop, like a deep [k] made further back in the throat.
ר Resh (r) — trilled r; similar to Spanish.
ת Tav (rafe) (th) — The “th” in think (voiceless).