Meet Samekh

The fifteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Samekh, also spelled Samech, makes a plain [s] sound, as in “sit.” In Modern Hebrew, Sin (שׂ) has the same [s] sound, so two different letters can spell it. This lesson also introduces Hiriq, the dot below a letter that marks the [i] vowel.

Samekh Hebrew Letter (ס): Sound, Hiriq & Practice

What you’ll learn

Recognize Samekh: ס, and tell it apart from Sin, שׂ, which has the same [s] sound.
Read Hiriq, the dot below a letter for [i], with and without a following vowel-letter.
Read Samekh in real words like סוֹד (secret) and סָבִיב (around).

How Samekh sounds

Samekh (ס) is the fifteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is pronounced [s], as in the English word 'sit'. In Modern Hebrew, Samekh and Sin (שׂ) have the same [s] sound.

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Samekh and Hiriq in real words

Learn the two spellings of Hiriq, then read three words with Samekh aloud and one more word for the exercises.

Hiriq Nikkud

Hiriq is a vowel mark written as a single dot below a letter. It represents [i], like the vowel in English 'see'; no special vowel length is required. Hiriq Haser is written without a following vowel-letter Yud; Hiriq Male is written with one. Both represent the same [i] sound in Modern Hebrew. The distinction is in the spelling, not a required difference in vowel length. Square brackets in this lesson contain simple pronunciation guides, and hyphens separate syllables.

Hiriq Haser

Here the letter Alef carries Hiriq, a single dot underneath the letter. This is Hiriq Haser.

אִ · Hiriq: a single dot below a letter, here under Alef, read [i]. No vowel-letter Yud follows it, so it is called Hiriq Haser ('without Yud').

אִשָּׁה [i-sha] means 'woman' and can also mean 'wife'. It has two syllables, with the stress on the second: sha. Alef (א) carries Hiriq Haser, giving [i]. Shin (שׁ), identified by its dot at the upper right, has Kamatz Gadol, giving [sha]. The dot inside Shin is a dagesh; it does not require a doubled [sh] in ordinary Modern Hebrew. Hey (ה) at the end of the word is silent.

Hiriq Male

When Hiriq is Male, it is followed by the letter Yud, which serves as the 'mother of reading' and does not produce its own sound.

שִׂי · Hiriq followed by Yud as a silent vowel-letter, here after Sin, read [si]. It is called Hiriq Male ('with Yud').

שִׂיחָה [si-kha] means 'conversation'. It has two syllables, with the stress on the second: kha. Sin (שׂ), identified by its dot at the upper left, has Hiriq Male: the dot below Sin and the following Yud (י) represent [i], giving [si]. Yud has no separate consonant sound here. Chet (ח), written [ch] in the Chet lesson, has Kamatz Gadol, giving [kha], and Hey (ה) at the end of the word is silent. In these pronunciation guides, kh represents one sound, commonly like the ch in Scottish 'loch', not the ch in English 'chair'.

Words to Practice:

סָבִיב

saviv

around

סָבִיב [sa-viv] means 'around'. It has two syllables, with the stress on the second: viv. Its four letters are Samekh (ס), Bet (ב), Yud (י), and Bet (ב). Samekh with Kamatz Gadol gives [sa]. The first Bet has Hiriq Male, with Yud as a silent vowel-letter, giving [vi]. Both Bet letters lack a dagesh and are pronounced [v]. The final [v] closes the second syllable; it is not a separate syllable.

סוֹד

sod

secret

סוֹד [sod] means 'secret'. It consists of three letters: Samekh (ס), Vav (ו), and Dalet (ד). Samekh gives [s], Vav with Holam Male represents the vowel [o] without a separate [v] sound, and Dalet gives [d]. The word has one syllable: [sod].

סִיבוּב

sivuv

rotation

סִיבוּב [si-vuv] means 'rotation'. It has two syllables, with the stress on the second: vuv. Its five letters are Samekh (ס), Yud (י), Bet (ב), Vav (ו), and Bet (ב). Samekh has Hiriq Male, with Yud as a silent vowel-letter, giving [si]. Both Bet letters lack a dagesh and are pronounced [v]. Vav with Shuruk represents [u] without a separate [v] sound. Together, the first Bet, Shuruk, and second Bet form the syllable [vuv].

Conclusions

You have learned Samekh and the two spellings of Hiriq, and practiced several new words. One more word for the exercises is סֵפֶר [se-fer], meaning 'book'. It has two syllables, with the stress on the first: se. Samekh has Tzere [e], Pe without a dagesh is [f] and has Segol [e], and Resh is [r]. Now complete the exercises to review the lesson.

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