Tag Archives: Dages Lene

1. Dageš lene, the sign of hardening, is in ordinary printed texts placed only within the בְּגַדְכְּפַת‎ letters as a sign that they should be pronounced with their original hard sound (without aspiration), e.g. מֶלֶךְ‎ mèlĕkh, but מַלְכּוֹ‎ mal-kô; תָּפַר‎ tāphár, but יִתְפֹּר‎ yith-pōr; שָׁתָה‎ šāthā, but יִשְׁתֶּה‎ yiš-tè. 2. Dageš lene occurs almost exclusively at the beginning of words and syllables. In the middle of the word it can easily be distinguished from Dageš forte, since the latter always has a vowel before it, whereas Dageš lene never has; accordingly the Dageš in אַפִּי‎ ʾappî, רַבִּים‎ rabbîm must be forte, but in יִגְדַּל‎ yigdal it is lene.… Learn Hebrew