Reading Hebrew road signs

Hebrew is read right to left, and most vowels are not written, so a name is mostly its consonants. Israeli road signs usually show the name in Hebrew on top, then in Arabic and in English.

Learn the 22 letters and their five end forms, and the top line of the sign reads itself: חיפה is Haifa, באר שבע Be'er Sheva.

Hebrew at a glance

Hebrew is the script of Israel. It is read right to left and has no capital letters.

Most vowels are not written: you see the consonants and fill in the rest. In the reading after each sign, the vowels you have to add are shown pale.

Letters with one sound

Most letters stand for a single consonant.

• גg
• דd
• זz
• טt
• לl
• מm
• נn
• סs
• קk
• רr
• שsh
• תt

Letters with two jobs

ב, כ and פ are b, k and p at the start of a word, and usually v, kh and f after a vowel.

ו and י also stand for vowels: ו for ‘o’ or ‘u’, י for ‘i’. As consonants they are v and y.

• בb, v
• כk, kh
• פp, f
• וv, o, u
• יy, i

Letters you do not hear

א and ע have no sound of their own: they only carry a vowel. ה at the end of a word is silent too, after an ‘a’ or an ‘e’.

• א–
• ע–
• הh, –

Different at the end

Five letters change shape at the end of a word. ם and ן end a great many names.

• םm
• ןn
• ךkh
• ףf
• ץts

Throaty h and ts

ח is a rough h from the throat, written h or ch. צ is ts, often written z or tz in English.

A small mark after a letter makes a borrowed sound: ג׳ is j and צ׳ is ch.

• חḥ
• צts
• ג׳j
• צ׳ch

Filling in the vowels

Read the consonants and put a short ‘a’ or ‘e’ between them where needed. Most names have only one or two readings that make sense.

Name parts worth knowing

Some pieces come back again and again. Spot them and half the name is read.

Road signs in Israel usually show the name three times: in Hebrew, in Arabic and in English.

Try it

Which city is on the sign?

All the letters

Alphabet

• אsilent
• בb, v
• גg
• דd
• הh
• וv, o, u
• זz
• חḥ
• טt
• יy, i
• כk, kh
• לl
• מm
• נn
• סs
• עsilent
• פp, f
• צts
• קk
• רr
• שsh, s
• תt

Shapes at the end of a word

• ךkh
• םm
• ןn
• ףf
• ץts

Letter pairs

• ג׳j
• צ׳ch
• ייy
• ווv

Most vowels are not written. ו often stands for o or u and י for i; א, ע and a final ה are silent and only carry a vowel.

ח is a throaty h, spelled h, ch or kh in English names. צ is ts, often spelled z or tz.

The 200 places in the quiz

The quiz has 200 towns from all six districts of Israel: all cities, most local councils and a few well-known sites such as Masada and Ein Gedi.