In the examples of the description below, I use the following transliteration: The Hebrew alphabet is given as ) B G D H W Z X + Y K L M N S ( P C Q R # T where "#" is either Sin or Shin; the more specific being "&" for Sin and "$" for Shin. A dot in a letter is given as ".". This is the transliteration described in gopher://ccat.sas.upenn.edu:3333/00%2fReligious%2fBiblical%2fbetacode.txt There are four different usages of a dot (= the character with the Unicode encoding 05BC: HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ) in a Hebrew letter. I describe them from simple to sophisticated, not according to their frequency, which is probably 2>4>3>1. The last two usages are related with one another, the others are unrelated. 1. Mappiq --------- A dot in a word-final He is called Mappiq and indicates that the He is the consonant [h] as distinct from a *mater lectionis*, i.e. a consonant standing for a vowel. A vowel other than [a] immediately preceding this final He - similar to a final Chet or Ayin - becomes a diphthong, e.g. «)LH.» (godhead). The letter He without Mappiq at the word end is a *mater lectionis*, and such diphthongisation does not take place, e.g. «PH» (here). 2. Shuruq --------- A dot in the letter Waw, unless the Waw carries another vowel mark, is called Shuruq and indicates that the Waw is a *mater lectionis* for the vowel [u]. Examples are «RW.X» (wind, spirit) and «RW.T» (Ruth), but not «DW.D» (David) where the Waw with dot has also a Chireq for the following vowel [i] and is therefore a consonantal Waw with a Dagesh Chazaq and not a Shuruq. The Shuruq is the only vowel sign which can appear at the beginning of a word without a preceding consonant. 3. Dagesh Chazaq ---------------- A dot in a consonant following a vowel is called Dagesh Chazaq and indicates gemination of the consonant (like the geminated t in the English word "letter"). It has no effect on the pronunciation except for Bet [v]->[b], Kaf [x]->[k], and Pe [f]->[p]. For a correct vocalisation, however, it may be important where the boundaries of the syllables are: in the presence of the geminated letter, one syllable ends in this virtual pair of equal letters, and the next syllable begins there. Hence, the first of these syllables does not end with a vowel, and has therefore the logically short vowels like Patach, Segol, or Chireq without Yod, except in odd end cases. This gemination occurs with some prefixes, in particular with the article , e.g. «HM.LK» (the king), and wherever a consonant is dropped, e.g. «MB.YT HS.PR» (from the school) stemming from or «)&.)» (I'll carry) from the root «N&)» or «LHK.NS» (to enter) from «NKNS» (enter) - all three with a dropped Nun. Moreover, in the Piel, Pual, and Hitpael binyan, the middle radical is geminated. Some words have always a geminated consonant, which, if it is at the end of the word, appears only in derived forms, e.g. the gemination of the final Nun in «Q+N» (small) or of the final Bet in «LB» (heart) become only visible in forms like «Q+N.H» (small, fem.) and «LB.Y» (my heart). The consonants Alef, He, Chet, Ayin, and Resh never take a Dagesh. When they would have to, the preceding vowel tends to change, e.g. sometimes becoming and always becoming before such a consonant. 4. Dagesh Qal ------------- A dot in one of the letters Begadkefat, i.e. Bet, Gimmel, Dalet, Kaf, Pe, and Taw, is called a Dagesh Qal if it is not a Dagesh Chazaq. It has the same effect on pronunciation of Bet, Kaf, and Pe as a Dagesh Chazaq. It is plausible that a similar effect - fricative becomes plosive - existed also for Gimmel, Dalet, and Taw but now these are always pronounced as plosives (Ashkenazic pronunciation has Taw without Dagesh pronounced as [s], probably an earlier [Þ] like an English th). These six letters get Dagesh Chazaq when they start a syllable and the previous syllable did not end with a vowel. Examples are «LKT.B» (to write) and «MKT.B» (letter) where the first syllable ends with the Kaf and no vowel, but not «MK.TB» (from writing) where the first syllable ends *within* the geminated Kaf with Dagesh Chazaq so that the Taw is not at the beginning of the second syllable and thus gets no Dagesh Qal. Exceptions: the possessive endings «-KM» and «-KN» get never a Dagesh Qal, nor does the second radical of an infinitive after the prefixes B- and K-, e.g. «BKTB» (during writing). In Modern Hebrew, the preceding word is not taken into account to decide whether the previous syllable ended with a vowel - the first letter of the word always gets a Dagesh Qal if it is a Begadkefat. In the Hebrew Bible, however, the preceding word is taken into account if it carries a conjunctive cantillation mark, e.g. «L) BKX» (not by force) instead of «L) B.KX» . In the Hebrew Bible one finds infrequently a Dagesh in initial letters other than Begadkefat. One may ignore many of these detailed explanations because the general rule holds that B K P change their pronunciation with the Dagesh irrespective of what kind of Dagesh it is.