Penina Maier Jewish School: Lessons

דגש Dagesh

Some Hebrew letters can be pronounced either as a stop or as a fricative.
In didactic texts, the stop pronunciation can be distinguished by a דָּגֵשׁ dàgésh, a dot in the center of the letter.
In standard modern Israeli Hebrew, based on Sephardi, this alternation only affects three letters:
ב ([b] ~ [v]), כ ([k] ~ [χ]), and פ ([p] ~ [f]).
ת also alternates between stop and fricative in Ashkenazi Hebrew ([t] ~ [s]),
as well as in Mizrahi and some Sephardi dialects ([t] ~ [θ]).
In Mizrahi and some Sephardi dialects, ג ([g] ~ [γ]) and ד ([d] ~ [ð]) alternate as well.

ת ש ר ק צ פ פּ ע ס נ מ ל כ כּ י ט ח ז ו ה ד ג ב בּ א

Click on a letter to hear its name pronounced.

בֵּית בּ Béit [b] בֵית ב Véit [v]

כָּף כּ Kàf [k] כָף כ Chàf [χ]

פֵּא פּ Pé’ [p] פֵא פ Fé’ [f]

In Biblical Hebrew, the dagesh can occur in all letters except ח and ע.
The original phonetic distinction indicated by the dagesh is controversial.
Some believe it indicated gemination (doubling, or lengthening) of the consonant.
The fact that only the pharyngeal consonants (ח and ע) never received a dagesh
suggests that the dagesh indicated pharyngealization,
a common phonological distinction in other Semitic languages.

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בֵּית	בּ	Béit	[b]	בֵית	ב	Véit	[v]
כָּף	כּ	Kàf	[k]	כָף	כ	Chàf	[χ]
פֵּא	פּ	Pé’	[p]	פֵא	פ	Fé’	[f]