In the first column, the purple and blue letters correspond to the handwritten and printed forms of the Hebrew alphabet, respectively. In addition, the letters kaf, mem, nun, pe, and tzadi have different forms if they occur at the end of a word: in such cases, the "ot sofit" (endletter) is given first.
Beyond the classical Hebrew alphabet, modern Hebrew uses three letters (variants of the gimel, zayin, and tzadi) to represent sounds not present in "native" Hebrew but common in words of Yiddish or Russian (and sometimes Arabic or English) derivation, or in foreign names. These letters appear on a white background. The ANSI standard recommends restoring the original spelling of the word in derivations other than Yiddish: the transliterations given are for Yiddish.
| Letter | Letter name | Pronunciation | ANSI 1 | ANSI 2 | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aleph | (vowel stop) | ' | ' | ha'aretz (The Land, i.e. Israel) |
| bet | b, v (depending on position in word) | b | b | ba'aya (problem), geva (hill) |
| gimel | German g as in Gross, English g as in Gold, French gu as in guerre | g | g | godel (size) |
| English and Arabic "j", Russian "dzh" | j | dzh | juk (cockroach), jungle | |
| dalet | d as in door | d | d | delet (door) |
| hey | h as in hall, French "h aspire" | h | h | heter (permit), hanacha (discount) |
| vav | Depending on context: v, French o, English/German u, w (only in some words of Arabic or English origin) | v | w | vered (rose), sochnut (agency), shwarma (Arabic grilled meat dish) |
| zayin | English z as in zero | z | z | z'man (time) |
| French j as in Jean, Russian Zh as in Zhukov | zh | zh | Zhabotinski (Jabotinsky) | |
| chet | Dutch g, German ch as in Bach, Arabic h | ch | h | homer (heavy) |
| tet | English or German t | t | t | tal (morning dew) |
| yod, yud | Dutch or German j, English y as in yes, (in some contexts also) French vowel i | y,i | y | yom (day), ir (city) |
| kaf | (depending on position in word) k or sharp "ch" sound (Dutch "ch", Arabic "kh") | k, ch | k, kh | kohen (Jewish priest), b'rakha (blessing) |
| lamed | l | l | l | laila (night) |
| mem | m | m | m | memshala (government) |
| nun | n | n | n | ner (candle) |
| samech | s | s | s | sus (horse) |
| pe | p, f (depending on position in word) | p, ph | p, f | p'tor (release), niftar (deceased) |
| ayin | (deep glottal sound) | ' | ` | `ayin (eye), ra`ayon (idea) |
| quf | deep k, Arabic q | k | q | qibutz (kibbutz) |
| tzadi | German z as in Zeit, English ts, tz | tz, ts | z | tzedek (justice), tziyon (Zion) |
| Russian "Tch" as in "Tchaikowsky", English "ch" as in Churchill or Charley | tch, tsh | tch, tsh | kvetch (complain), mentsh (person of great humanity) | |
| resh, reish | rolling r | r | r | rosh (head) |
| shin | sh as in English "shout", s (in some words) | sh, s | sh, s | sherut (service), Yisra'el (Israel) |
| tav | English "th" (for purists only), t | t | th | tehillim (Psalms), Tel-Aviv |