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It is not uncommon to find English words spelled in Hebrew. In fact many Modern Hebrew words are really English words spelled with Hebrew letters (e.g. shopping, telephone, tip). Hebrew maps spell the names of major cities in Hebrew. If you immerse yourself in Jewish or Israeli culture, you will soon find numerous instances of English words or words from other European languages spelled in Hebrew. This will include the names of people, places, companies, products, book and movie titles, bands, and much much more. And you will discover many English words are actually identical or very similar in Hebrew.
Steps
Learn the Modern Hebrew alphabet and how to pronounce each letter: א - vowel soundב - B or Vג - Gג׳ - Jד - Dד׳ - Th (as in 'that')ה - H or silent at end of wordsו - O, U, V, or Wז - Zז׳ - Zhח - Hט - Tי - I or Yכ - K or Kh (printed as ך at end of word)ל - Lמ - M (printed as ם at end of word)נ - N (printed as ן at end of word)ס - Sע - vowel soundפ - P or F (for F-sound, printed as ף at end of word)צ - Tz (printed as ץ at end of word)צ׳ - Ch (as in 'chair,' printed as ץ׳ at end of word)ק - Kר - Rש - Sh or Sת - Tת׳ - Th (as in 'thing')
Know what Hebrew letters to use to represent what English letters: A - א (when at beginning of word or accented), nothing when not accentedB - בC (as in 'cat') - קC (as in 'center') - סCh (as in 'chair') - צ׳ (use ץ׳ when the final letter of a word)Ch (as in 'Christopher') - כ (use ך when the final letter of a word)Ch (as in 'Chicago') - שD - דE (as in 'bed') - א when first letter of word, no letter when in middle or wordE (as in 'green') - יF - פ (use ף when the final letter of word)G (as in 'goose') - גG (as in 'gem') - ג׳H - הI - יJ - ג׳K - קL - לM - מ (use ם when the final letter of a word)N - נ (use ן when the final letter of a word)O (as in 'hot') - וO (as in 'off') - וO (as in 'go') - וP - פ (use פ even at end of word)Q or Qu (as in 'Qatar') - קQu (as in 'queen') - קוR - רS (as in 'soda') - סS (as in 'is') - זSh - שT - ט or תTh (as in 'thing') - ת׳Th (as in 'that') - ד׳U (as in 'cup') - אU (as in 'put') - וU (as in 'gnu') - וV - ב or וW - וX - קסY - יZ - זZh - ז׳
Keep in mind that while English is written from left to right, Hebrew is written from right to left. Take notice of that on this page. Most computers and devices, if you switch to a Hebrew font, will automatically change this for you.
Know the rules for representing all the different vowel sounds, as follows:- For A as in 'apple', use א when at the beginning of a word or when strongly accented (as in 'Harry,' which is spelled הארי). For non-accented A-sounds (as in 'Canada,' which is spelled קנדה), omit א.
- For A as in 'father,' park,' or 'what,' use א
- For A as in 'cake,' use יי (spelled as קייק)
- For E as in 'bed,' do not use a letter (bed would be spelled בד). If the E sound starts the word, use א (as in Ed, spelled אד).
- For E as in 'green,' use י (spelled as גרין)
- For E as in 'Megan' use יי (spelled מייגן)
- For I as in 'big' use י (spelled ביג)
- For I as in 'ski' use י (spelled סקי)
- For I as in 'ride' use יי (spelled רייד)
- For O as in 'hot' use ו (spelled הוט)
- For O as in 'dog' use ו (spelled דוג)
- For O as in 'go' use ו (spelled גו)
- For O as in 'mother' use א (spelled מאת׳ר)
- For U as in 'cut' use א (spelled קאט)
- For U as in 'put' use ו (spelled פוט)
- For U as in 'gnu' use ו (spelled נו)
- For Au as in 'August' or Aw as in 'law,' use או (spelled as אוגוסט, לאו)
- For Ou as in 'mouse' or Ow as in 'how,' use או (spelled as מאוס, האו)
- For Ou as in 'young' use א (spelled יאנג)
- For Oi as in 'coin' or Oy as in 'boy,' use וי (spelled as קוין, בוי)
- For A followed by an L (as in 'fall') use ול (spelled פול)
- For vowels with ambiguous sounds, use the Hebrew letter that represents that vowel (e.g. New York ניו יורק, London לונדון)
Note that most words are spelled as they sound, ignoring silent letters that are found in English spellings and deviations from customary pronunciations of English letters.- For example, the word 'doubt' is spelled דאוט, not including the silent B. The city of Houston is spelled יוסטון, ignoring the fact that the 'YOO' sound at the beginning is spelled with the letters HOU.
Be aware that identical letters that are doubled for a single syllable are generally not doubled in Hebrew. For example, 'baseball' is spelled בייסבול, not בייסבולל.- Sometimes, exceptions are made to distinguish one word from another. For example, 'John' is spelled ג׳ון and 'Joan' is spelled ג׳ואן. 'Annie' is spelled אנני to distinguish from אני (pronounced ah-nee), the Hebrew word for 'I.'
Note that several pairs of Hebrew letters sound alike.- ב and ו can both make the V sound. Generally, ו is used at the beginning of words and ב elsewhere in words, though ו can be used for a V sound elsewhere in words. This is to eliminate confusion, as ב can also make a B sound, and ו can also be used for O, U, and W.
- ט and ת can both make the T sound. Generally ט is used by default for transliterations. ת is used when a Th makes a T sound as in 'Thomas.'
- כ and ק can both make the K sound. Generally, ק is used for transliterations of both C and K. כ is used for a Ch pronounced like a K as in 'Christopher.'
- ס and ש can both make the S sound. Generally, ס is used for transliterations. ש can also the Sh sound and is use for Sh.
- א and ע are both 'silent letters' that can represent vowels. Generally, א is used for transliterations. ע is usually used only in native Hebrew words and for a vowel sound following an identical vowel sound. In Yiddish, ע represents the letter E, distinguishing it from א representing the letter A, though this is not done in Hebrew.
- ח and כ/ך can both make the Ch/Kh sound not found in English, but found in other languages, such as German, Polish, and Scottish. When transliterating loanwords from languages with these sounds, ח is generally used to represent letters near the 8th position of the alphabet, and כ/ך is used to represent letters near the 11th position of the alphabet. Such loanwords are generally pronounced with the H or K sound respectively by English-speakers.
Note that the letter ו (known as vav or waw), as mentioned above, can represent 4 different English letters. In all, it has the potential, either as a standalone or in conjunction with other letters, to represent as many as nine phonetic sounds. ו is also a prefix that is added to the beginning of Hebrew words to represent the word 'and' proceeding any word. For this reason, care must be taken whenever a ו is used in any word.- For most words beginning with a V sound, use ו. When a ב appears at the beginning of a word, it is normally a B sound.
- It is preferable to use ב for a V sound in the middle of or at the end of a word. If using ו in the middle of a word followed by A, E, or I, use two a double ו (e.g. Denver דנוור or Louisville לואיוויל). If the V follows an O or U, use a ב.
- For a W sound at the beginning of a word followed by the letter A, use וו (e.g. Washington וושינגטון). For a W sound at the beginning of a word followed by other English vowels, use a single ו (e.g. West וסט, WikiHow ויקיהאו, Wolf וולף, Wuppertal וופרטל).
- For a W sound in the middle of a word followed by an A, E, or I, use וו. For a W sound in the middle of a word followed by an O or U, use a single ו followed by a second ו for the O or U. Three or more vavs are never placed in succession, so words like 'wood,' which is a portion of many names (e.g. Brentwood ברנטווד), is spelled ווד.
Learn some other useful transliterations:- For words beginning with a short A or E, use א (e.g. 'apple' אפל)
- For words beginning with a long E or short I, use אי (e.g. 'internet' אינטרנט)
- For words beginning with a long A or I, use איי (e.g. 'iPhone' אייפון)
- For words beginning with a long O or U sound, use או (e.g. 'open' אופן).
- For words ending in the A sound, use ה in most cases (e.g. 'Obama' אובמה).
- When a word has an S at the end for a plural or possessive, use ס (e.g. twins טווינס, Frank's פרנקס).
*.היר איז אן אקסמפל. קאן יו ריד איט? איף יו קאן, גרייט! איף נוט, ד׳ן סטאדי ד׳יס סאם מור- אלסו, פיל פרי טו הלפ אדיט ד׳יס פייג׳
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Community Q&A
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- QuestionI was taught once that one can use a double vav for a V or W in Hebrew transliteration. Is this correct?
Community AnswerVav can be used to write W, a letter that the Hebrew alphabet does not have. But one can almost never tell when the vav is being used to transliterate a German version of a borrow word where the W is V or whether it is meant to be pronounced as W. - QuestionWhat is the transliteration of "I do not want to work for you" in Hebrew?
Arianna HarrellCommunity AnswerYou would say ¨אני לא רוצה לעבוד בשבילך¨ for I do not want to work for you in Hebrew.
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Tips
- If you have any doubts as to the spelling of a word, particularly a name, use the internet. Many English words are found in the name of something transliterated into Hebrew on the internet. A good way to find one is by finding a name in a title on English Wikipedia, then seeing if there is a Hebrew Wikipedia article on the same topic using the same name.Thanks
- The Hebrew language has vowel symbols (known as nikudot, נקדות) in which a series of dots and dashes are used to represent the actual vowel sounds of a word. Nikudot are found in Hebrew prayerbooks and scripture books made for those not fluent in Hebrew, but are generally not written in Modern Hebrew text by fluent Hebrew speakers. They are also difficult to produce on computer screens. Those who are fluent in Hebrew are taught to read and write without nikudot.Thanks
- Modern Hebrew is a combination of ancient Hebrew and loanwords from other languages not represented by ancient Hebrew. Words derived from ancient Hebrew do not necessarily follow the rules described above. For example, the Hebrew word for name, שם, is pronounced like the English word 'shame' but is not spelled שיים.Thanks
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Warnings
- Hebrew written for fluent speakers does not use nikudot (vowels). Seemingly, this could lead to quite a variety of ways to pronounce any given word. Then again, look at the English language, and you will find similar properties to some words. For example, the words bomb and tomb look like they rhyme, but when they are pronounced, they do not. Only those fluent in English know the proper pronunciations. For fluent Hebrew speakers, it is the same way. When you learn the language, you learn the pronunciations and the rules.Thanks
- Identical spellings of words when transliterated into Hebrew can lead to confusion. Most notably, the letters F and P are made with the same letter except when the final letter of a word, which has led to some confusion among Hebrew speakers. For example, two forms of music, funk and punk, are both spelled פאנק. The words 'fort' and 'port' are spelled alike (פורט), and as both these words are used in the names of places, it can lead to confusion in pronouncing place names like Fort Lauderdale and Port Saint Lucie.Thanks
- One may assume that Yiddish is a language related to Hebrew. It is not. The only things Yiddish has in common with Hebrew are the alphabet and some derivative words. Yiddish has some diagraphs that differ from Hebrew. Yiddish is more similar to German than Hebrew.Thanks
- The Hebrew language has numerous fonts, some of that look quite distinct from one another, and each one could appear like an entirely different language. The font that is used on iPhones, iPads, and other mobile devices is not the best and can be difficult to read.Thanks
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