How Hebrew Writing Works

Hebrew is one of the oldest living languages in the world, with a history spanning over 3,000 years. It is the official language of Israel and is used in Jewish liturgy and scholarship worldwide. Before learning individual letters, it is essential to understand how the Hebrew writing system works — because it differs in important ways from Latin-based scripts like English.

Right-to-Left Writing

Hebrew is written and read from right to left. This applies to:

Individual letters within a word
Words within a sentence
Pages in traditional Hebrew books (the "front" cover is what English speakers would consider the "back")

Numbers, however, are written left to right — the same as in English.

English:  The boy reads a book.    →  (left to right)
Hebrew:   .רפס ארוק דליה           ←  (right to left)

Tip: When you start practising, try writing your first letters from the right side of the page.

The 22 Letters

The Hebrew alphabet (known as the alef-bet, after its first two letters) consists of 22 letters. All 22 are consonants. Vowels are represented by a system of dots and dashes placed above, below, or inside letters called nikkud (covered in Lesson 7).

#	Letter	Name	Approximate Sound
1	א	Alef	glottal stop (silent carrier)
2	ב	Bet	b (or v without dagesh)
3	ג	Gimel	g
4	ד	Dalet	d
5	ה	He	h
6	ו	Vav	v (or vowel carrier: o/u)
7	ז	Zayin	z
8	ח	Chet	ch (as in "Bach")
9	ט	Tet	t
10	י	Yod	y (or vowel carrier: i/e)
11	כ	Kaf	k (or kh without dagesh)
12	ל	Lamed	l
13	מ	Mem	m
14	נ	Nun	n
15	ס	Samekh	s
16	ע	Ayin	glottal stop (originally pharyngeal)
17	פ	Pe	p (or f without dagesh)
18	צ	Tsadi	ts
19	ק	Qof	k (deeper than Kaf)
20	ר	Resh	r
21	ש	Shin	sh (or s as Sin)
22	ת	Tav	t

No Uppercase or Lowercase

Unlike English, Hebrew has no uppercase or lowercase letters. Each letter has only one standard printed form (called block or square script) and one cursive form used in handwriting.

Script	Usage	Example (Alef)
Block (דפוס)	Print, books, signs	א
Cursive (כתב)	Handwriting	(a flowing variant)

Tip: Learn the block/print forms first — they are the standard for reading. Cursive is useful later for handwriting.

The Consonantal Alphabet

Hebrew is traditionally classified as an abjad — an alphabet where only consonants are written as full letters. In modern Hebrew, short vowels are usually not written in everyday text. Readers rely on context and familiarity with the language.

Vowel marks (nikkud) are always used in:

The Torah and other sacred texts
Children's books and textbooks
Poetry
Dictionaries
Words where pronunciation could be ambiguous

With nikkud:    שָׁלוֹם  (shalom — peace)
Without nikkud: שלום     (same word, vowels implied)

Letters with Dual Sounds (BeGaD KeFaT)

Six Hebrew letters historically changed their pronunciation depending on whether they contained a dot called a dagesh (a dot placed inside the letter). In modern Hebrew, only three of these still have a meaningful distinction:

Letter	With Dagesh	Without Dagesh
ב	b (bet)	v (vet)
כ	k (kaf)	kh (khaf)
פ	p (pe)	f (fe)

The other three (ג Gimel, ד Dalet, ת Tav) are pronounced the same way in modern Hebrew regardless of the dagesh.

Tip: Pay special attention to ב, כ, and פ — learning when they carry a dagesh is key to correct pronunciation.

Five Letters with Final Forms (Sofit)

Five Hebrew letters have a special form used only when the letter appears at the end of a word. These are called sofit (final) forms:

Letter	Standard Form	Final Form (Sofit)
Kaf	כ	ך
Mem	מ	ם
Nun	נ	ן
Pe	פ	ף
Tsadi	צ	ץ

These final forms are covered in detail in Lesson 6.

Numerical Values (Gematria)

Every Hebrew letter has a numerical value. This system, known as gematria, has been used for centuries in Jewish tradition and mysticism:

Letters	Values
א to ט	1 to 9
י to צ	10 to 90
ק to ת	100 to 400

For example, the word חי (chai — "life") has letters Chet (8) + Yod (10) = 18. The number 18 is therefore considered lucky in Jewish tradition.

Course Roadmap

This course is divided into 10 lessons:

Lesson	Topic
1	How Hebrew writing works (this lesson)
2	Letters Group 1: Alef to Vav (א–ו)
3	Letters Group 2: Zayin to Lamed (ז–ל)
4	Letters Group 3: Mem to Tsadi (מ–צ)
5	Letters Group 4: Qof to Tav (ק–ת)
6	Final letter forms (sofit)
7	Vowels and nikkud
8	Dagesh and special marks
9	Essential words and phrases
10	Reading practice and next steps

Summary

Feature	Hebrew	English
Direction	Right to left	Left to right
Letters	22 consonants	26 (consonants + vowels)
Cases	None	Uppercase + lowercase
Vowels	Optional marks (nikkud)	Full vowel letters
Letter forms	Block + cursive; 5 final forms	Upper + lower
Number system	Letters = numbers (gematria)	Separate numerals

By the end of this course, you will be able to recognise and write all 22 Hebrew letters, understand final forms, read with nikkud (vowel marks), and begin decoding real Hebrew words and phrases. Let us begin!