Before Hebrew had digits it had letters, and the letters never stopped being numbers. A school timetable says כיתה א׳, a contract says סעיף ד׳, a memorial plaque says תש״ה, a synagogue calendar says כ״ז בניסן — and a learner who reads those as words gets nothing. This is not antiquarian survival: an Israeli meets letter-numerals in ordinary life every week.
The values
Each letter has a fixed value. The first nine letters are the units, the next nine are the tens, and the last four are hundreds.
| Units | Tens | Hundreds |
|---|---|---|
| א = 1 | י = 10 | ק = 100 |
| ב = 2 | כ = 20 | ר = 200 |
| ג = 3 | ל = 30 | ש = 300 |
| ד = 4 | מ = 40 | ת = 400 |
| ה = 5 | נ = 50 | |
| ו = 6 | ס = 60 | |
| ז = 7 | ע = 70 | |
| ח = 8 | פ = 80 | |
| ט = 9 | צ = 90 |
The alphabet runs out at 400, so higher hundreds are built by adding ת to itself: ת״ק is 500, ת״ר 600, ת״ש 700, ת״ת 800, תת״ק 900. The five final forms ך ם ן ף ץ carry no value of their own in ordinary numeral writing — some gematria traditions assign them 500–900, but a date or a chapter number never uses them that way.
Building a number
Write the values from largest to smallest and add them up. Then place the mark: a single letter takes a geresh ׳, two letters or more take gershayim ״ before the last letter.
| Written | Sum | Value |
|---|---|---|
| ג׳ | 3 | 3 |
| י״א | 10 + 1 | 11 |
| כ״ז | 20 + 7 | 27 |
| ל״ג | 30 + 3 | 33 |
| ק״כ | 100 + 20 | 120 |
| תשי״ד | 400 + 300 + 10 + 4 | 714 |
| תשפ״ו | 400 + 300 + 80 + 5 | 785 |
The system is purely additive — there is no place value and no zero. ת״ק is not "45", it is 400 + 100. And the order matters as a convention, not as arithmetic: 11 is י״א, never א״י. Getting that backwards produces a string that already means something else — א״י is the standard abbreviation for ארץ ישראל.
Hebrew years drop the thousands. The current millennium is the sixth, so every year begins with ה׳ (5,000), and it is simply left off: תשפ״ו is 785, and everyone understands 5785. In full-dress writing on a document or a cornerstone you may see it spelled out as ה׳תשפ״ו.
The one exception everybody remembers
15 should be י״ה (10 + 5) and 16 should be י״ו (10 + 6). Neither is ever written. י־ה and י־ו are forms of the divine name, and Jewish practice does not write it casually on a bus timetable. So both numbers are decomposed differently:
- 15 = ט״ו (9 + 6)
- 16 = ט״ז (9 + 7)
This carries up the scale: 115 is קט״ו, 215 is רט״ו. It is the single most useful irregularity on this page, because it is also the origin of a word every Israeli says — ט״ו read aloud as the syllable tu, in ט״ו בשבט and ט״ו באב.
בט״ו בשבט שותלים עצים בכל הארץ.
be-tu bishvát shotlím etsím bekhól ha'árets
On Tu BiShvat people plant trees all over the country.
בל״ג בעומר מדליקים מדורות בכל שכונה.
be-lag ba'ómer madlikím medurót bekhól shkhuná
On Lag BaOmer they light bonfires in every neighbourhood.
Where you actually meet them
| Context | Example | Read aloud as |
|---|---|---|
| School grade | כיתה א׳ … כיתה י״ב | kitá álef … kitá yud-bet |
| Building floor | קומה ג׳ | komá gímel |
| Clause, section | סעיף ד׳ | se'íf dálet |
| Chapter and psalm | תהילים כ״ג | tehilím kaf-gímel |
| Hebrew date | כ״ז בניסן | esrím veshivá benisán |
| Hebrew date, frozen | ט״ו בשבט, ל״ג בעומר | tu bishvát, lag ba'ómer |
| Hebrew year | תשי״ד | tav-shin-yud-dálet |
| Day of the week | יום א׳ | yom álef or yom rishón |
That last column is the part no textbook prints, and it splits three ways.
Labels are read as letter names. A grade, a floor, a clause, a chapter — the letter is functioning as a tag, like English "section B", so you say the name of the letter: kitá álef, se'íf dálet, tehilím kaf-gímel. Nobody says "grade one" in Hebrew here.
Dates are read as numbers. The letters are genuinely counting days of the month, so you read the number: ט׳ באב is tishá be'áv, כ״ז בניסן is esrím veshivá benisán. Note that the numeral agrees with יום, which is masculine, so it is tishá, not tésha.
A handful of festival dates have frozen into the letter-reading and stayed there: ט״ו בשבט tu bishvát, ט״ו באב tu be'áv, ל״ג בעומר lag ba'ómer. These are names now, not calculations, and reading them as numbers would sound bizarre.
בט׳ באב צמים ולא שומעים מוזיקה.
betishá be'áv tsamím veló shom'ím múzika
On the Ninth of Av people fast and don't listen to music. (ט׳ is read as the number tishá)
יום הזיכרון לשואה חל בכ״ז בניסן.
yom hazikarón lashoá khal be'esrím veshivá benisán
Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on the 27th of Nisan.
השנה היא בכיתה א׳ ולומדת לקרוא.
hashaná hi bekhitá álef velomédet likró
This year she's in first grade and learning to read. (read kitá álef — the letter name)
כתוב בסעיף ד׳ שאסור לחנות פה.
katúv bese'íf dálet she'asúr lakhanót po
Clause D says you can't park here.
המורה ביקשה שנקרא את תהילים כ״ג.
hamorá bikshá shenikrá et tehilím kaf-gímel
The teacher asked us to read Psalm 23. (chapter numbers are read as letter names)
על אבן הפינה כתוב שהבניין נחנך בתשי״ד.
al éven hapiná katúv shehabinyán nekhnákh be-tav-shin-yud-dálet
The cornerstone says the building was dedicated in 5714 — 1953/54.
Gematria: the same numbers, a different job
גימטריה is the practice of adding up the letter-values of a word. It belongs to interpretation, wordplay and custom rather than to counting, and it is worth keeping the two uses separate in your head: ט״ו on a calendar is a date, while gematria asks what a word is worth.
One result of it is completely mainstream. חי — "alive" — is ח (8) + י (10) = 18, so cash gifts at weddings, bar mitzvahs and charity appeals come in multiples of 18. A cheque for 360 shekels is not an odd sum; it is twenty times chai. Written as a number rather than as the word, it takes gershayim: ח״י.
בחתונות נהוג לתת מתנה בכפולות של ח״י.
bakhatunót nahúg latét mataná bikhfulót shel khai
At weddings it's customary to give money in multiples of 18. (ח״י spells chai, 'life', and adds up to 18)
Common Mistakes
1. Writing the values in the wrong order. Largest first, always.
❌ הכנס יתקיים בא״י בכסלו.
Incorrect — 11 is י״א (10 + 1), largest value first. א״י is not a number at all; it is the standard abbreviation for ארץ ישראל.
הכנס יתקיים בי״א בכסלו.
hakénes yitkayém be'akhád asár bekhislév
The conference will be held on the 11th of Kislev.
2. Writing 15 as י״ה. The arithmetic is right and the spelling is forbidden.
❌ הטיול יהיה בי״ה בשבט.
Incorrect — 15 is never written י״ה, which would spell a name of God. It is decomposed as ט״ו (9 + 6).
הטיול יהיה בט״ו בשבט.
hatiyúl yihyé be-tu bishvát
The trip will be on Tu BiShvat.
3. Using gershayim on a single letter. One letter takes the geresh.
❌ הוא גר בקומה ב״.
Incorrect — a single letter takes a geresh: קומה ב׳. Gershayim is for two letters or more.
הוא גר בקומה ב׳ בבניין הזה.
hu gar bekomá bet babinyán hazé
He lives on the second floor of this building.
4. Putting the gershayim after the whole string. It goes before the last letter, wherever that letter is.
❌ הפגישה נקבעה לכז״ בניסן.
Incorrect — the mark stands immediately before the final letter: כ״ז.
הפגישה נקבעה לכ״ז בניסן.
hapgishá nikbe'á le'esrím veshivá benisán
The meeting was set for the 27th of Nisan.
5. Dropping the mark from a year. Without it the string is not a number and reads as a nonsense word.
❌ סבא שלי נולד בשנת תשה.
Incorrect — a year needs its gershayim to be read as a number: תש״ה.
סבא שלי נולד בשנת תש״ה.
sába shelí nolád bishnát tav-shin-hey
My grandfather was born in 5705 — 1944/45.
Key Takeaways
- א–ט are 1–9, י–צ are the tens, ק ר ש ת are 100–400, and 500–900 are built by stacking ת: ת״ק, ת״ר, ת״ש, ת״ת, תת״ק.
- Numbers are additive, largest value first, with a geresh ׳ on a single letter and gershayim ״ before the last letter of a longer one.
- 15 is ט״ו and 16 is ט״ז, not י״ה and י״ו, because those spell the divine name — the source of tu in ט״ו בשבט.
- Hebrew years omit the leading 5,000: תשפ״ו is 785, meaning 5785.
- Reading splits by function: labels take letter names (kitá álef, se'íf dálet), dates take the number (tishá be'áv), and a few festival dates are frozen (tu bishvát, lag ba'ómer).
- Gematria uses the same values on whole words; חי = 18 is the one everybody acts on.
- Gershayim marks acronyms and numbers — context, not the mark, tells you which.
Now practice Hebrew
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- ראשי תיבות: Reading and Pronouncing AcronymsB1 — Israeli Hebrew is saturated with acronyms — צה״ל, בג״ץ, עו״ד, מד״א — and they are not read the way English acronyms are. Some become words with invented vowels, some are read out as the whole phrase, and some are read as the everyday name of the thing they stand for — and nothing on the page tells you which.
- גרש and גרשיים: Acronyms and Foreign SoundsB2 — Two small marks that look like an apostrophe and a quotation mark and are neither: the geresh ׳ gives Hebrew the sounds j, ch and zh and cuts a single word short, while the gershayim ״ sits one letter in from the end of an acronym — including every unit and price you will meet, from ק״ג to ש״ח.