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Beyond the nikkud vowel system, Hebrew uses several additional marks that affect pronunciation and meaning. The most important of these is the dagesh — a dot placed inside a letter. This lesson covers the dagesh and other special marks you will encounter when reading Hebrew.
The dagesh is a dot placed inside a letter. It has two types:
The dagesh kal affects the pronunciation of the three BeGaD KeFaT letters that still have dual sounds in modern Hebrew:
| Letter | Without Dagesh | With Dagesh |
|---|---|---|
| ב | v (vet) | בּ b (bet) |
| כ | kh (khaf) | כּ k (kaf) |
| פ | f (fe) | פּ p (pe) |
When does a letter get a dagesh kal?
בַּיִת (bayit) — house (Bet with dagesh = "b" at start of word)
טוֹב (tov) — good (Vet without dagesh = "v" after vowel)
כּוֹכָב (kokhav) — star (Kaf with dagesh = "k"; Khaf without = "kh")
The dagesh chazak indicates that a consonant is doubled (geminated). It can appear in any letter except the gutturals (א, ה, ח, ע) and Resh (ר).
שַׁבָּת (shabbat) — Sabbath (בּ = doubled "b": shab-bat)
מוֹרֶה → מוֹרָהּ (mora) — teacher (ה with dagesh = emphasis)
הִנֵּה (hinne) — behold (נּ = doubled "n": hin-ne)
Tip: To determine whether a dagesh is kal or chazak, check the letter. If the letter is ב, כ, or פ and appears at the start of a word or after a consonant, it is usually dagesh kal. If it appears after a vowel in a ב, כ, or פ, or in any other letter, it is dagesh chazak.
The mappik looks exactly like a dagesh but appears only inside the letter He (הּ) at the end of a word. It indicates that the final He is pronounced as "h" rather than being silent.
Without mappik: יָפָה (yafa) — beautiful (final He is silent)
With mappik: גָּבוֹהּ (gavoah) — tall (final He is pronounced as "h")
The makkef is a hyphen that joins two or more words into a single stress unit. It looks like a short horizontal line at the top of the letters:
כָּל־יוֹם (kol-yom) — every day
עַל־יְדֵי (al-yedey) — by means of
אֶת־הַסֵּפֶר (et-hasefer) — the book (direct object)
When words are joined by a makkef, only the last word in the group receives the primary stress.
The meteg is a small vertical line placed below a letter, to the left of a vowel mark. It indicates a secondary stress or that a vowel should be pronounced long rather than reduced.
אָֽכְלָה (akhla) — she ate (meteg under Alef ensures "a" is long)
Note: The meteg is primarily used in biblical and liturgical texts. You will rarely encounter it in modern Hebrew.
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