The first five letters

Reading from right to left

Hebrew is written and read from right to left. The first letter of a word is the one on the right, and a line of text starts at the right edge of the page.

Print letters hang from an invisible top line. Most of them sit between that line and the baseline, like the capitals of the Latin alphabet – there is no upper and lower case.

• אAlefsilent
• בBetb / v

Alef has no sound of its own: it carries whatever vowel goes with it. Bet is b, or v when it has no dot in the middle.

Bet is a square that is open on the left, standing on a base that sticks out a little to the right. That little heel matters: it is what tells bet from kaf in lesson 2.

• גGimelg
• דDaletd
• הHeh

• Gimel is a narrow stem with a small head, standing on a foot that kicks out to the left.
• Dalet is a top bar over a stem. The bar sticks out past the stem on the right.
• He is a dalet with a second, shorter leg on the left that does not touch the top.