Patach

Patach

Pataḥ (Hebrew: פַּתַח pataḥ, Biblical: paṯaḥ ) is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign represented by a horizontal line ⟨ ַ ⟩ underneath a letter. In modern Hebrew, it indicates the phoneme /a/ which is close to the "a" sound in the English word far and is transliterated as an a.

In Modern Hebrew, a pataḥ makes the same sound as a qamatz, as does the ḥaṭaf pataḥ (Hebrew: חֲטַף פַּתַח, "reduced pataḥ"). The reduced (or ḥaṭaf) niqqud exist for pataḥ, qamatz, and segol which contain a shva next to it.