The Nikud — Complete Vowel Chart

Hebrew vowels are written as small dots and dashes — נִקּוּד (nikud) — under, above, or inside the consonant letters. This chart covers every vowel sign you will meet, with its modern Israeli sound and one pointed example word. Learn these twelve signs and you can read any pointed Hebrew text aloud.

💡 Tip: You don't need the Hebrew names of the vowels on day one. Learn the sign → sound pairs first; the names will stick naturally as your teacher uses them.

The full vowel chart

Each sign is shown on the letter ב (bet) so you can see exactly where it sits.

A few practical notes:

• חוֹלֶם (holem) very often sits on the letter ו: the combination וֹ is also just o, as in טוֹב (tov).
• שׁוּרוּק (shuruq) is always written as ו with a dot in its middle — the ו is part of the sign.
• In modern Israeli pronunciation several signs have merged. קָמָץ and פַּתָּח are both /a/, צֵירֵי and סֶגּוֹל are both /e/, and שׁוּרוּק and קִבּוּץ are both /u/.

So for reading aloud you only need five vowel sounds: a, e, i, o, u. The spelling differences matter for writing, not for speaking.

A handful of fixed words keep an old /o/ pronunciation for a קָמָץ — כָּל (kol, "all") and צָהֳרַיִם (tsohorayim, "noon") are the famous ones. Treat them as vocabulary exceptions; the default modern reading of קָמָץ is /a/.

The shva and the hataf signs

The שְׁוָא (shva) has two jobs:

• Mobile shva (opening a syllable) = a very short e: מְנוֹרָה (menora, "lamp").
• Silent shva (closing a syllable) = no vowel at all: כָּתְבוּ (katvu, "they wrote") — the shva under the ת is not pronounced.

The three חֲטָפִים (hatafim, "snatched" signs) — ֲ ֱ ֳ — are ultra-short versions of a, e, o. They appear almost only under the guttural letters א ה ח ע, which dislike carrying a plain shva. Modern speakers pronounce them exactly like the full vowels, so just read a short a, e, or o and move on.

Vowel letters: י ו ה

Three consonant letters also signal vowels. Grammarians call them אִמּוֹת הַקְּרִיאָה (imot ha-kri'a, "mothers of reading") — in Latin, matres lectionis.

This is why unpointed Hebrew is still readable: even without the dots, these three letters mark many of the vowels.

Why modern texts drop the dots — and how you cope

Outside learner materials, children's books, poetry, and prayer books, Hebrew appears without nikud, using "full spelling" (כְּתִיב מָלֵא, ktiv male). One consonant skeleton can then be read several ways: סֵפֶר (sefer, "book"), סְפָרִים (sfarim, "books"), and סַפֵּר (saper, "tell!") all look identical without points.

How learners cope:

1. Learn every new word with its vowels. The pointed form becomes your mental recording of the word.
2. Let context decide between possible readings — you already do this in English with "read" (present vs. past).
3. Trust the vowel letters. An unpointed word with ו in the middle almost always contains o or u.

Within a few months, common words become sight-words and the missing dots stop mattering.

✅ Key takeaways

• Five sounds to remember — a, e, i, o, u — written with twelve signs.
• In modern pronunciation: qamats = patah = /a/, tsere = segol = /e/, shuruq = qibbuts = /u/.
• The שְׁוָא (shva) is a short e or complete silence, depending on its position in the word.
• The three hataf signs ֲ ֱ ֳ are simply short a, e, o under guttural letters.
• Modern texts drop nikud; memorize pointed forms and lean on י, ו, ה as vowel clues.

✏️ Practice

1. What sound does קָמָץ (qamats) have in modern Israeli Hebrew?
2. Which two vowel signs are both pronounced e?
3. Name the vowel in each word: טוֹב, סוּס, מַיִם.
4. Read כָּתְבוּ aloud. Is the shva sounded or silent here?
5. Which three letters double as vowel letters?

Answers

1. /a/, exactly like פַּתָּח.
2. צֵירֵי (tsere) and סֶגּוֹל (segol).
3. טוֹב — חוֹלֶם (holem); סוּס — שׁוּרוּק (shuruq); מַיִם — פַּתָּח (patah), then חִירִיק (hiriq).
4. katvu — the shva is silent; it closes the first syllable (kat-).
5. י, ו, ה.