Hebrew Letters: Vav

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The next letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is called Vav, pronounced to rhyme with have.

  Hebrew audio: Listen to the sound of Vav.

Here is what the Hebrew letter Vav looks like:

Here is how to write Vav:



 
In Biblical times, Vav was pronounced with a w sound, like water or west. Some time later, however, the w changed to v because w is a weak sound and loses its impact in many words. (When we look at Hebrew grammar later, you will learn that this fact explains why verbs with the Hebrew letter Vav act differently from other verbs and form a separate group - the so-called Hollow verbs). Thus, Vav would at one stage have been pronounced as waw, a bit like the English word wow!

In Modern Hebrew, however, the letter Vav is pronounced with a v sound, like the words Vashti or vineyard. You will remember that the letter Bet without the dot is also pronounced v, just like Vav. As we will see later when we come to look at the Hebrew Vowels, Vav sometimes acts as a vowel instead of a consonant, in which case it is not pronounced as v but instead takes the sound of its vowel. If there is a dot inside the Vav, it is pronounced oo like the words pool or fool. If the dot is at the top left of the letter, it is pronounced o like the words pot or dot. This is explained in our lessons on the Hebrew vowels.

Here is the ordinary form of Vav, plus the two special forms which are actually vowels rather than the Hebrew letter v:

  the ordinary letter, pronounced v

  dot in the middle, pronounced oo

  dot at the top left, pronounced o

Vav is the sixth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. It therefore always has the Gematria (numerical value) of 6, regardless of whether it is being used as a consonant or a vowel.

Practise writing Vav in the grid lines below:










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