Hebrew Alphabet

Fun Facts About The Hebrew Alphabet

• The Hebrew alphabet contains 22 letters, and all of them are consonants. Vowel sounds are usually indicated by small dots and marks called nikud, which appear above, below or inside the letters.
• Hebrew is written and read from right to left, unlike English and many other languages. This means Hebrew books, newspapers and even word search puzzles typically begin on what English readers would consider the back page!
• Five Hebrew letters have special forms used when they appear at the end of a word. These are called final letters, and they look different from their regular forms.
• The Hebrew alphabet is known as the Aleph-Bet, named after its first two letters, Aleph and Bet. These names are also the origins of the Greek words alpha and beta, which eventually gave us the English word alphabet.
• Some Hebrew letters also represent numbers. For example, Aleph represents 1, Bet represents 2, and Gimel represents 3. This traditional numbering system is known as gematria.
• Hebrew has a fascinating connection to ancient history. Its alphabet developed from an ancient writing system used thousands of years ago, and many modern Hebrew letter shapes evolved from older Phoenician and Aramaic scripts.
• The Hebrew letter Shin has three upward strokes and can represent two different sounds, depending on where a dot appears above it. A dot on the right makes a "sh" sound, while a dot on the left makes an "s" sound.
• The Hebrew alphabet includes some letters that are especially recognizable because of their unusual shapes. For example, the letter Mem has a closed, box-like final form, while Pe has a distinctive rounded shape that resembles a small opening or mouth.