Patach

{{short description|Hebrew niqqud vowel sign}} {{refimprove|date=January 2026}} {| align="right" class="wikitable" | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| '''''{{Transliteration|he|Pataḥ}}''''' |- | colspan="2" align="center" style="background:white;height:100px"| {{script/Hebrew|1=ַ}} |- | IPA | style="background:white" | {{IPAblink|ä|a}} or {{IPAblink|ä}} |- | Transliteration | style="background:white" | a |- | English approximation | style="background:white" | f'''a'''r |- | Same sound | style="background:white" | qamatz |- | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Example |- | colspan="2" align="center" style="background:white;height:50px"|{{script/Hebrew|1=גַּם}} |- | colspan="2" style="width:250px; background:white; text-align:center;" | The word for ''also'' in Hebrew, ''gam''. The first and only vowel (under Gimel, the horizontal line) is a pataḥ. |- | colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" |Other Niqqud |- | colspan="2" style="width:250px; background:white; text-align:center;"| Shwa{{·}}Hiriq{{·}}Tzere{{·}}Segol{{·}}Pataḥ{{·}}Kamatz{{·}}Holam{{·}}Dagesh{{·}}Mappiq{{·}}Shuruk{{·}}Kubutz{{·}}Rafe{{·}}Sin/Shin Dot |} '''Pataḥ''' ({{langx|he|פַּתָּח}} ''{{Transliteration|he|patákh}}'', {{IPA|he|paˈtaħ|IPA}}, Biblical Hebrew: ''{{Transliteration|he|pattā́ḥ}}'') is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign represented by a horizontal line {{angle bracket| <big>{{Script/Hebrew|אַ}}</big> }} underneath a letter. In modern Hebrew, it indicates the phoneme {{IPAslink|ä|a}} which is close to the "[a]" sound in the English word ''f'''a'''r'' and is transliterated as an ''a''.

In Modern Hebrew, a ''{{Transliteration|he|pataḥ}}'' makes the same sound as a qamatz, as does the '''''{{Transliteration|he|ḥaṭaf pataḥ}}''''' ({{langx|he|חֲטַף פַּתַח}} {{IPA|he|ħaˈtˤaf paˈtaħ|IPA}}, "reduced {{Transliteration|he|pataḥ}}"). The reduced (or ''{{Transliteration|he|ḥaṭaf}}'') niqqud exist for ''{{Transliteration|he|pataḥ}}'', ''{{Transliteration|he|qamatz}}'', and ''{{Transliteration|he|segol}}'' which contain a ''{{Transliteration|he|shva}}'' next to it.

In Yiddish orthography, a ''pataḥ'' (called ''pasekh'' in Yiddish) has two uses. The combination of pasekh with the letter aleph, {{lang|yi|rtl=yes|אַ}}, is used to represent the vowel [a]; the combination of pasekh with a digraph consisting of two yods, {{lang|yi|rtl=yes|ײַ}}, is used to represent the diphthong [aj].

== Etymology == The ''pataḥ'' name comes from the verb פָּתַח (''pataḥ'') 'to open', because the vowel's pronunciation, the "[a]" sound, requires the mouth to be opened wide.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2019-03-24 |title=שמות סימני הניקוד - האקדמיה ללשון העברית |url=https://hebrew-academy.org.il/%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%a1%d7%99%d7%9e%d7%a0%d7%99-%d7%94%d7%a0%d7%99%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%93/ |access-date=2026-01-29 |language=he-IL}}</ref>

==Pronunciation== The following table contains the pronunciation and transliteration of the different {{Transliteration|he|pataḥ}}s in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

The letters Bet {{angle bracket|{{Script/Hebrew|ב}}}} and Het {{angle bracket|{{Script/Hebrew|ח}}}} used in this table are only for demonstration, any letter can be used. {|class="wikitable" |- ! rowspan=3 | Symbol ! rowspan=3 | Name !! colspan=7 | Pronunciation |- !! rowspan=2 | Israeli !! rowspan=2 | Ashkenazi !! rowspan=2 | Sephardi !! rowspan=2 | Yemenite !! rowspan=2 | Tiberian !! colspan=2 | Reconstructed |- ! Mishnaic !! Biblical |- | align="center" style="font-size:200%"| {{Script/Hebrew|בַ}} | ''{{Transliteration|he|Pataḥ}}'' | {{IPAblink|a}} || {{IPAblink|ä}} || {{IPAblink|ä}} || {{IPAblink|a}} || {{IPA|[a, aː]}} || {{IPA|[a]}} || {{IPA|[a]}} |- | align="center" style="font-size:200%"| {{Script/Hebrew|בַא}}, {{Script/Hebrew|בַה}} | ''{{Transliteration|he|Pataḥ male}}'' | {{IPAblink|a}} || {{IPAblink|ä}} || {{IPAblink|ä}} || {{IPAblink|a}} || {{IPA|[aː]}} || {{IPA|[a]}} || {{IPA|[a]}} |- | |- | align="center" style="font-size:200%"| {{Script/Hebrew|חֲ}} | ''{{Transliteration|he|Ḥaṭaf pataḥ}}'' | {{IPAblink|a}} || {{IPAblink|ä}} || {{IPAblink|ä}} || {{IPAblink|a}} || {{IPA|[ă]}} || {{IPA|[a]}} || {{IPA|[a]}} |- |} A ''{{Transliteration|he|pataḥ}}'' on a letter {{Script/Hebrew|ח}}, {{Script/Hebrew|ע}}, or {{Script/Hebrew|הּ}} (that is, {{Script/Hebrew|ה}} with a dot (mappiq) in it) at the end of a word is sounded ''before'' the letter, and not after. Thus, {{Lang|he|נֹחַ}} (Noah; properly transliterated as ''{{Transliteration|he|Noaḥ}}'') is pronounced {{IPA|/no.aχ/}} in Modern Hebrew and {{IPA|/no.aħ/}} or {{IPA|/no.ʔaħ/}} in Biblical Hebrew. This only occurs at the ends of words, only with pataḥ and only with these three letters. This is sometimes called a ''{{Transliteration|he|pataḥ gnuva}}'', or "stolen" ''{{Transliteration|he|pataḥ}}'' (more formally, "furtive {{Transliteration|he|pataḥ}}"), since the sound "steals" an imaginary epenthetic consonant to make the extra syllable.

==Vowel length comparison== By adding two vertical dots (''shva'') the vowel is made very short. However, these vowels lengths are not manifested in Modern Hebrew.

{| class="wikitable" |- ! colspan=6 | Vowel comparison table |- align=center ! colspan=3 | Vowel Length ! rowspan=2 | IPA ! rowspan=2 | Transliteration ! rowspan=2 | English approximation |- ! Long ! Short ! Very short |- align=center |style="font-size:26px; padding-bottom:12px"| {{Script/Hebrew| ָ }} |style="font-size:26px; padding-bottom:12px"| {{Script/Hebrew| ַ }} |style="font-size:26px; padding-bottom:12px"| {{Script/Hebrew| ֲ }} | rowspan="2" | {{IPAblink|ä|a}} | rowspan="2" | a | rowspan="2" | sp'''a''' |- | {{Transliteration|he|Qamatz}} | {{Transliteration|he|Pataḥ}} | Reduced {{Transliteration|he|pataḥ}} |}

==Unicode encoding== {| class="wikitable" ! Glyph ! Unicode ! Name |- | <big>{{Script/Hebrew| ַ }}</big> |U+05B7 |PATAH |- | <big>{{Script/Hebrew| ֲ }}</big> |U+05B2 |HATAF PATAH |}

==See also== *Niqqud *Qamatz *Fathah, the related diacritic in Arabic

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Niqqud