Dagesh Kal or Dagesh Qal (דגש קל, or דגש קשיין, frequently also referred to as "dagesh lene" = "weak dagesh," or in other words "weak dot" as opposed to "strong dot" in the next section) may be placed inside the consonants ב bet, ג gimel, ד dalet, כ kaf, פ pe and ת tav. Historically, each had two sounds: one hard (plosive consonant), and one soft (fricative consonant), depending on the position of the letter and other factors. When vowel diacritics are used, the hard sounds are indicated by a central dot called dagesh, while the soft sounds lack a dagesh. In Modern Hebrew, however, the dagesh only changes the pronunciation of ב bet, כ kaf, and פ pe (traditional Ashkenazic pronunciation also varies the pronunciation of ת tav, and some traditional Middle Eastern pronunciations carry alternate forms for ד dalet).
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With dagesh Without dagesh Symbol Name Transliteration IPA Example Symbol Name Transliteration IPA Example בּ bet b /b/ bun ב vet v /v/ van כּ ךּ kaph k /k/ kangaroo כ ך khaph kh/ch/k /χ/ loch פּ ףּ pe p /p/ pass פ ף phe ph/f /f/ find תּ tav t /t/ talent ת sav* s /s/ sale
The Hebrew spoken by the Jews of Yemen still has unique phonemes for these letters with and without a dagesh.
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