The Hebrew alphabet with transcription includes 22 consonant signs and five final forms. The oldest inscriptions date back to the 10th century BCE. The modern square script took shape after the Babylonian exile, around the 5th century BCE.
Each letter card shows the printed and cursive form, phonetic value, positional hints, and Russian transliteration with Russian pronunciation. This Hebrew alphabet is convenient for beginners and for those polishing their reading and speaking skills in our app — Hebrew letters are studied right on your smartphone.
Gimel [g]
Vet [v]
2nd position and beyond
Bet [b]
1st position and after a closed syllable
Aleph [-]
Zayin [z]
Vav [v/o/u]
[v] - at the beginning, doubled in the middle or end of word
He [h]
Silent at the end of a word and often marks feminine gender
Dalet [d]
Kaf [k]
1st position and after a closed syllable
Yod [y/i]
[i] - 1st position and in closed syllable;
Gi - vocalization mark
Tet [t]
Silent at the end of a word and often marks feminine gender
Het [kh]
Mem [m]
Lamed [l]
[ly] - in closed syllable
Kaf-sofit
At the end of a word
Kaf [kh]
2nd position and beyond
Samekh [...]
Nun-sofit
At the end of the word
Nun [n]
Mem-sofit
At the end of the word
Fey-sofit
At the end of the word
Fey [f]
2nd position and beyond
Pey [p]
1st position and after a closed syllable
Ain [-]
Reish [r]
Kuf [k]
Tzadi-sofit
At the end of the word
Tzadi [tz]
Tav [t]
Sin [s]
Shin [sh]
Hebrew is a consonantal language, so the vowel system is conveyed through vocalization marks (niqud). There are about fifteen symbols in total, but they represent only five phonemes: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. Most symbols are placed below the letter, sometimes above or to the left, but the sounds are read after the consonant. In our flashcards, each letter is shown immediately with its vocalization marks, which makes reading easier.
The “shva” sign — two vertically aligned dots ְ — is placed under a consonant letter within a word. It indicates that the consonant is read without a full vowel sound. At the end of words, the “shva” is not written, except for rare cases with the letters ך and תּ. In the first letter position, the sign is sometimes pronounced as a short “e”: בְּשָלום is read be-shalom, but more often the initial “shva” remains silent: שְמי is read shmi. If two consecutive consonants both have a “shva”, the second one automatically gets a short “e” sound, so אְשְׁתָך is pronounced ish-te-cha.
In most Hebrew words, the stress falls on the last syllable. When the accent shifts, we mark the stressed syllable in the Russian transliteration to keep the Hebrew alphabet with the Russian translation clear and consistent.