How to write Hebrew with English letters

Transliteration Rules

As this is a learning site, we use transliteration of Hebrew words into Latin letters to give readers a sense of how Hebrew words sound. This might be helpful for beginners to use transliteration in this way. One may also use the transliteration rules as a pronunciation reference.

Consonants

Consonants corresponding to English ones are written exactly like they sound.

Consonants that do not have a corresponding single letter in English alphabet:

Special Cases:

• g always means g in get
• English sound W does not exist in modern Israeli Hebrew, however, it is used in English and Arabic words. The appropriate letter for it is ו (Vav), usually pronounced as V and sometimes as W.
• Semitic guttural sound ח (Chet) will always be transliterated as ch (chutzpe), even if common English transliteration is h. I.e., for learning purposes we'll rather write Chaifa than Haifa, as it's reflecting the pronunciation of most Israelis.

Sound-Based Transliteration

Since the transliteration is meant to represent pronunciation rather than an alternative writing system, we'll try to keep it closer to what the words sound like.

Therefore, letters which have different pronunciation under different circumstances, will be transliterated the way they sound. Again, we transliterate sounds, not letters.

• Bet / Vet – b / v
• Kaf / Khaf – k / kh
• Pei / Fei – p / f

Transliteration for Tet and Tav, Kaf and Kuf, Sin, and Samech will be absolutely indistinguishable, as it is undistinguishable in modern pronunciation.

"Silent" Alef will be considered the filling of preceding vocalization and will not be reflected in transliteration: ראש - rosh, ראשון - rishon, מאזניים - moznayim, צאן - tzon

Vowels

Note, that modern Hebrew pronunciation does not distinguish between shorter vowels (i as in sick) and longer ones (ee as in seek). The two words would sound the same.

Also, note the ultra-short vowels (the Chatafs). They sound shorter indeed, however, in modern pronunciation that is not a rule, and they may sound exactly like corresponding "normal" sounds.