Reading Hebrew

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====== Dagesh Lene ======
===== The Weak Dagesh =====

See [[dagesh|Types of Dagesh]].

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<wrap big :he>בּגּדּכּפּרּתּ</wrap>
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==== In the Double Letters (BeGaD KiPoReT) ====

**Dagesh Qal** (the Hebrew term), the "Weak Dagesh", or **Dagesh Lene** (the Latin term, more common in grammars) is a dot that appears within one of the BGD KPRT consonants to indicate the harder (plosive) form of the [[double]] letter, in preference to the fricative (spirantized) form.  The double letters are:

[[bet]], [[gimel]], [[dalet]], [[kaf]], [[peh]], [[resh]], [[tav]].

Resh is only sometimes treated as a double letter, anciently in a few rare circumstances in Bible manuscripts, and in medieval mystical texts.

In modern Hebrew, only [[bet]], [[kaf]], and [[peh]] retain a distinction in pronunciation.

A **Dagesh Lene** will usually appear when one of the double letters begins a word, or when it begins a new syllable (usually after a closed syllable ending in a silent [[shewa]])

The **Dagesh Lene** can also appear as the second of a two-consonant cluster of a closed syllable at the end of a word, when both it and the preceding consonant include a silent [[shewa]].  (Example: <wrap :he>שָׁמַרְתְּ</wrap>, sha-mar-t)