Help:IPA/Yiddish

This page describes how IPA is used to transcribe Yiddish words at Wikipedia. It follows the pronunciation of "Standard Yiddish" (or "YIVO Yiddish"), as described in such works as Uriel Weinreich's College Yiddish and Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary.

See Yiddish phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Yiddish.

Consonants IPA Letter(s) English examples Romanization b ב‎ (beys) but b d ד‎ (daled) do d dʒ דזש‎ (daled zayen shin) joy dzh f פֿ ף‎ (fey, i.e. pey with rafe on nonfinal form) fool, leaf f ɡ ג‎ (giml) go g h ה‎ (hey) hen h j י‎ (yud) yes y k כּ‎ (kof with dagesh) ק‎ (kuf) skin, thick k l ל‎ (lamed) bell l ʎ ל‎ Similar to million; Italian figlio l m מ ם‎ (mem) man, tam m n נ ן‎ (nun) no, tin n ŋ נ‎ when followed by ג‎ or ק‎ finger, drink n in the combinations ng, nk p פּ‎ (pey with dagesh) spin, tip p r ר‎ (reysh) None in most accents; compare Spanish perro and pero and French rouge r s ס‎ (samekh) שׂ‎ (sin, i.e. shin with a sin dot) ת‎ (sof, i.e. tof with no dagesh) see, pass s ʃ ש‎ (shin) she, leash sh t ט‎ (tes) תּ‎ (tof with dagesh) sting, bet t ts צ ץ‎ (tsadek) tsunami, sits ts tʃ טש‎ (tes shin) chair, teach tsh v בֿ‎ (veys, i.e. beys with rafe) וו‎ (tsvey vovn) voice v χ ח‎ (khes) כ ך‎ (khof, i.e. kof with no dagesh) Like Scottish loch but with the tongue further back; French proche kh z ז‎ (zayen) zoo z ʒ זש‎ (zayen shin) pleasure zh

Vowels Full vowels (monophthongs) IPA Letter(s) English examples Romanization a אַ‎ (pasekh alef) father a ɛ ע‎ (ayin) bed e ɪ י‎ (yud) bid i ɔ אָ‎ (komets alef) boss o ʊ ו‎ (vov) foot u Diphthongs aɪ ײַ‎ (pasekh tsvey yudn) fine, why ay ɛɪ יי‎ (tsvey yudn) day, pain ey ɔɪ וי‎ (vov yud) loin, boy oy Reduced vowels ə ע‎ or none sofa e l̩ ל‎ bottle l n̩ נ ן‎ button n

Other symbols used in transcription of Yiddish
IPA	Explanation
ˈ	Primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable), e.g. אײזל [ˈɛjzl̩] 'donkey'
ˌ	Secondary stress, e.g. מאַמע־לשון [ˈmaməˌlɔʃn̩] 'Yiddish as mother tongue'