Dagesh - דָּגֵשׁ

Look closely at some Hebrew letters and you'll notice a small dot inside them. That dot is called a dagesh (דָּגֵשׁ), and in modern Hebrew it changes the sound of three key letters. A fourth letter, Shin, uses a dot on top (not inside) to switch between two sounds.

This is one of the first things that trips up beginners: the same letter shape makes two completely different sounds depending on whether the dot is there.

Letter	With Dagesh	Sound	Without Dagesh	Sound	Example
Bet / Vet	בּ	B (boy)	ב	V (vine)	בַּיִת house · טוֹב good
Kaf / Khaf	כּ	K (kite)	כ	Kh (loch)	כֶּלֶב dog · לָכֶם to you
Pe / Fe	פּ	P (park)	פ	F (fun)	פֶּרַח flower · יָפֶה beautiful
Shin / Sin	שׁ	Sh (she)	שׂ	S (sun)	שֶׁמֶשׁ sun · שָׂדֶה field

How to remember: Think of the dagesh as a "hard" dot - it makes the sound harder (B instead of V, K instead of Kh, P instead of F). Without the dot, the sound is softer.

Tip: In everyday Hebrew writing (without niqqud), the dagesh is usually left out. You learn which sound to use from context - just like knowing whether to pronounce "read" as "reed" or "red" in English.