Tzere (also spelled Tsere, Tzeirei, Zere, Zeire, Ṣērê; modern, , sometimes also written ; formerly ṣērê) is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign represented by two horizontally-aligned dots "◌ֵ" underneath a letter. In modern Hebrew, tzere is mostly pronounced the same as segol and indicates the phoneme /ɛ/, which is the same as the "e" sound in the vowel segol and is transliterated as an "e". There was a distinction in Tiberian Hebrew between segol and Tzere.

Name

The name comes from Aramaic/Syriac “a tearing asunder, splitting, tearing, bursting” is probably a loan translation from Arabic kasrah ⟨كَسْرَة⟩, the name of the short vowel /i/, literally “a breaking, breach”.

Usage

Tzere is usually written in these cases: In declension tzere sometimes changes to other vowels or to shva. The full rules for these changes were formulated the Academy of the Hebrew Language. In modern Hebrew there are words which are homophones and homographs in spelling without niqqud, but are written differently with niqqud, the difference being segol and tzere. For example, עֶרֶב evening and עֵרֶב weft are both pronounced and written ערב without niqqud (these words also have different etymology).

Writing tzere with and without matres lectionis

Tzere can be written with and without matres lectionis. The most prominent mater lectionis for tzere is Yod, and in some cases it is used with the letters aleph and he. Standard spelling rules mandate only one way to spell every word with or without the Yod after tzere. Although in standard modern pronunciation the sound of tzere with or without the Yod is the same, it may change the word's meaning in a written text (see below).

Standard usage without Yod

Tzere can be written by itself without mater lectionis, in which case it is called tzere ḥaser ("lacking tzere"), for example in the word (, wreath). In this case, in text without niqqud the vowel is usually not written at all: זר. This word can be also vocalized as (, stranger) and the reader has to guess the right pronunciation according to the context. According to the standardized Hebrew spelling the letter Yod is sometimes written in texts without niqqud, when there is a grammatical reason for it; for example, the verb (, she will be absent) is written without Yod in texts with niqqud, but the Yod is written in a text without niqqud:.

Standard usage with Yod

Tzere with Yod is called "full tzere". When a full tzere is written in text with niqqud, the letter Yod must be written in text without niqqud. The main cases for writing the tzere with Yod are these:

Nonstandard usage of Yod to represent tzere

In texts with full niqqud – mostly poetry, religious and children books – tzere is usually written in accordance with the rules mandated by the academy. The academy defined some cases in which a Yod is added to texts without niqqud to signify an sound, but in common usage Yod is often written or not written contrary to the standard. Some notable common deviations from the standard in which a Yod is added include: Some notable common deviations from the standard in which a Yod is not written include:

Tzere with aleph and he

The letter aleph (א) is the mater lectionis after tzere in the middle or the end of the word when it is a part of the root: מוֹצֵא (, finding m.), מוֹצֵאת (, finding f.). The letter he (ה) is very rarely used as a mater lectionis for in the middle of the word. The notable example for this is the word יְפֵהפִיָּה (, pretty), in which the two last letters of the root (י־פ־ה) are reduplicated. It can also be spelled יפה־פיה (fem.; so in the Bible, ) or יפיפיה. The letter he (ה) is often used as a mater lectionis for the vowel in the end of the word, but the niqqud is usually segol. It is tzere in these cases:

Pronunciation

The following table contains the pronunciation and transliteration of the different tzeres in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet. The letter Bet ⟨⟩ used in this table is only for demonstration, any letter can be used. In Modern Hebrew tzere – with or without a following yod – may be pronounced as and transliterated as "ei or "ey". Such pronunciation and transliteration of tzere are not correct in the normative pronunciation and not consistent in the spoken language.

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