The shewa (סְ) – those two vertical dots under the consonants – come in 2 varieties, though they will look alike.
Characteristics
- Silent Shewa
- Usually preceded by a short vowel: מַלְכִּי
- The shewa under the lamed is silent because it follows a short vowel, the patah
- Never falls on the first letter of a word!
- Will be found on the last letter of a word: מֶלֶךְ
- The shewa in the final kaf is silent because it is at the end of a word.
- Usually preceded by a short vowel: מַלְכִּי
- Vocal Shewa
- Usually preceded by a long vowel: קֹטְלִים
- The shewa under the tet is vocal because it is preceded by the long holem.
- Will fall on the first letter of a word: דְּבָרִים
- Will not fall on the last letter of a word.
- Usually preceded by a long vowel: קֹטְלִים
Special Considerations
- What about words that have two shewas in the middle of a word, like תִּקְטְלוּ?
- In this situation the shewa on the right is always silent.
- Notice the short hireq preceding the shewa under the qof.
- The shewa on the left is always vocal.
- In this situation the shewa on the right is always silent.
- What if a consonant has a dagesh and a shewa, like קִטְּלוּ?
- In situations like this, because of the dagesh, the shewa is vocal.
- But there is a short vowel preceding the shewa!
- Yes, but because of the dagesh, the shewa is vocal.
- What if a word ends with two shewas, like קָטַלְתְּ?
- A word can end with 2 silent shewas.
- If you see this, the two shewas are always silent.
- Sometimes I see shewas with vowels next to them, like עֱ עֳ עֲ :
- These are called composite shewas.
- They are another type of vocal shewa.
- They are primarily found under guttural letters.
- See my post on Guttural letters under the Hebrew 101 link.
- Don’t think of these as a vowel + shewa!
- NO! These are vocal shewas, pure and simple.
Pronunciation
A shewa is essentially the absence of a vowel.
- Silent Shewa – the absence of sound. When pronouncing a word with a silent shewa, the sound stops when you hit the silent shewa. Take for example the variant spelling of my last name McDonald:
- MacDonald: when you pronounce this word, the sound stops on the ‘c’ and then picks up again with the ‘D’
- Mac | Donald
- In Hebrew: תִקְטֹל
- tiq | tōl
- MacDonald: when you pronounce this word, the sound stops on the ‘c’ and then picks up again with the ‘D’
- Vocal Shewa – a very quick sound. When pronouncing a word with a vocal shewa, the sound is made quickly as you move from one syllable to the next.
- In English, the ‘e’ in the word ‘because’ is quickly pronounced as you move from the ‘b’ to the ‘c.’
- Also in English, the ‘o’ in ‘police’ is almost non-existent when we pronounce it: pǝlice
- In Hebrew: קֹטְלִים
- qōtǝlīm
References:
- Fuller and Choi, Invitation to Biblical Hebrew, ch. 3.
- Gesenius-Katuzsch, §10.
- Joüon-Muraoka, §8.
your hebrew tutor 
The following words have a silent Shewa and I understand that one of the reasons is because the preceding vowel is a short vowel:
אַלְמֻגִּים
אַלְמֹן
On the other hand, the following word has a vocal Shewa and I do not know why:
אַלְלַי
Your article was very helpful to me. For instance, the dagesh and the Shewa.
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It’s possible that the lamed with the shewa is implying a dagesh forte, which would make the shewa vocal. Certain letters, and lamed is one of them, that have a dagesh forte and a vocal shewa may omit the dagesh. That could be the case here.
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Dear Richard,
First of all, thanks for your Website and for your support! I think I found the answer to my question regarding אַלְלַי and why it has a vocal or mobile Shewa. I found it under Joüon, P., & Muraoka, T. (2006). A grammar of biblical Hebrew (pp. 48–49). Roma: Pontificio Istituto Biblico. Under the main Shewa section, the authors give the “Five rules formulated by Elias Levita (15th c.) for identifying a shva mobile.” For my question, we are particularly interested in the 5th rule:
5) “Under the first of two identical consonants, e.g. רוֹמְמוּ.”
Another example would be the one I provided, אַלְלַי.
Very best wishes from Chile, Gregorio Billikopf
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I couldn’t find a condition like- if a composite shewa precedes the simple shewa which occurs together in the beginning of the syllable what would be the condition? Or how do we change this composite shewa with respect to simple Shewa…?
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Good question! A syllable can’t begin with 2 shewas, even if it was a composite followed by a simple shewa. If a syllable begins with a composite shewa followed by a simple shewa, there would be a “shewa fight.” The composite shewa would then go to a patah.
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I have a question regarding two special Sheva rules…
There are two „special“ Sheva rules besides the major rules you find in all the major grammar books:
1. a S. after an accented syllable is silent. This rule is often indirectly stated as: a S. after an long unaccented(!) vowel is vocal—therefore: a S. after an long accented vowel is silent. e.g. לֵ֫כְנָה lēḵʹ·nā(h) and not lēʹ·ḵenā(h)
2. a S. after an initial(!) shureq is silent: וּקְרָ֣א ûq·rā(ʾ)ʹ and not û·qerā(ʾ)ʹ (Jonah 1:2) — wouldn’t this also contradict the rule, that an initial shureq is its own syllable?
You will find these rules in some self-made summaries or grammar sheets from seminaries on the internet (e.g. https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Other/B_B_Hebrew_Grammar_2005.pdf page 38, rule 2; https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/afc54bfe/files/uploaded/ShevaRules.pdf) but always without giving the source for this rule. I also couldn’t find it in beginner grammars (e.g. Pratico BBH) or in the major or modern grammars (Joüon/Muraoka; Gesenius).
Do you know where these two rules come from (source)?
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I apologize for the late response!
1. For your first question I have a couple of things:
a) A silent shewa can be proceeded by a long vowel, but typically when the word is in pause. See Gesenius-Kautzsch section
90f.
b) The example you gave above is a Qal Imperative 2fp of הלך, which follows the patterns of the R1-Yod weak verb. In this
weak verb, in the qal imperative, the accent remains on the second root letter. How that affects the shewa under the third
letter I’m not entirely sure. In strong verbs that shewa is generally treated as a silent (as observed in the vowel patterns of
Qal Imperfect/Imperative paradigms). Perhaps that is the case as well for R1-Yod weak verbs. I’ve looked in Jouon,
Gesenius, Kimchi, Blau, and many of the main beginning grammars; there is no explanation.
2. For your first question, this is a debated issue, especially regarding how to divide into syllables a word that begins with a
shureq. I tend to take the shewa following the conjunctive shureq as a vocal (see Gesenius section 10g).
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