A dagesh (dot) changes the sound. "Hard" = with dagesh. "Soft" = without dagesh.
Letter
With Dagesh
Sound
Without Dagesh
Sound
Bet / Vet
בּ
B (boy)
ב
V (vine)
Kaf / Khaf
כּ
K (kite)
כ
Kh (loch)
Pe / Fe
פּ
P (park)
פ
F (fun)
Shin / Sin
שׁ
Sh (she)
שׂ
S (sun)
2. Write the Sound - What sound does each letter make?
Look at the letter (with or without dagesh) and write the sound it makes.
בּ
ב
פּ
פ
כּ
כ
שׁ
שׂ
3. Match - Draw a line from each letter to its sound
בּF (fun)
כB (boy)
פּKh (loch)
שׂP (park)
בSh (she)
שׁV (vine)
פS (sun)
כּK (kite)
4. Read the Word - Circle the correct sound of the highlighted letter
For each word, decide which sound the bold letter makes.
בַּיִתhouse
בּ Bב V
טוֹבgood
בּ Bב V
כֶּלֶבdog
כּ Kכ Kh
מֶלֶךְking
כּ Kכ Kh
פֶּרַחflower
פּ Pפ F
יָפֶהbeautiful
פּ Pפ F
שֶׁמֶשׁsun
שׁ Shשׂ S
שָׂדֶהfield
שׁ Shשׂ S
5. Kal or Chazak? - Two kinds of dagesh
Dagesh KalSits only inside the six begadkefat letters בּ גּ דּ כּ פּ תּ. Appears at the start of a word (or after a closed-syllable shva). It changes the sound (B/V, K/Kh, P/F) but does not double the consonant.
Dagesh ChazakCan sit inside any non-guttural letter. Appears between two vowels. It doubles the consonant (classical: בָּקָּה = bak-ka; modern Hebrew usually drops the doubling but keeps the dagesh in pointed text).
For each pointed word, mark the dagesh as Kal (K) or Chazak (Ch).
בַּיִתhouse (bayit) — ב at start
KCh
אִמָּאmom (imma) — מ between vowels
KCh
סֻכָּהsukkah — כ between vowels
KCh
פֶּסַחPesach — פ at start
KCh
שַׁבָּתShabbat — ב between vowels
KCh
דַּגfish (dag) — ד at start
KCh
גַּמָּדdwarf (gam-mad) — מ between vowels
KCh
כִּתָּהclass (kit-ta) — ת between vowels
KCh
6. True or False
A dagesh is a dot inside a letter.
TF
בּ sounds like V.
TF
Without dagesh, פ sounds like F.
TF
שׁ (dot top-right) sounds like S.
TF
The dagesh makes the sound harder.
TF
Every Hebrew letter can take a dagesh.
TF
In everyday writing, the dagesh is often left out.