ט — tet
«tet» is a consonant of the Hebrew script, read as “t (pressed harder)”. A t with the tongue pressed wider and harder than the English one. For example, in the word “טוב” — good. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters in total. A twin of ת: same sound, different shape. Which t goes in which word is learned word by word. It appears, for example, in the word “יום טוב” — good afternoon.
In short
| Character | ט |
| Name | tet |
| Sound | t (pressed harder) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 9th of 22, its neighbours in the course are ח and י, appears in 396 words of this site.
How to type ט
- On a phone: add the Hebrew keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+05D8 and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 05D8.
- Unicode code point: U+05D8. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A t with the tongue pressed wider and harder than the English one
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- טובтовgood
The character in the “two ways to write "t", two to write "k"” group
Hebrew spells "t" with two letters, ט and ת, and "k" with two, ק and כ. They sound almost the same but are written differently. Which shape goes in which word, the transcription and word habit teach.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «tet» it is “t (pressed harder)”, as in the word “טוב”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 22 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Hebrew character ט read?
As “t (pressed harder)” — it is a consonant of the Hebrew script. A t with the tongue pressed wider and harder than the English one. For example, in the word “טוב” — good.
What is the letter ט called?
Tet. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Hebrew script: it is called “tet” and reads as “t (pressed harder)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can ט be confused with?
A twin of ת: same sound, different shape. Which t goes in which word is learned word by word. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.