The traditional Hebrew alphabet contains 22 letters.
Hebrew is written from right to left, and its alphabet is an abjad: the letters primarily represent consonants. Vowel sounds are often supplied by context, though dots and other marks called niqqud can be added to show pronunciation. Modern printed Hebrew usually omits most vowel marks.
Five letters have special final forms used when they appear at the end of a word: kaf, mem, nun, pe, and tsadi. These forms change the shape of the letter but do not increase the alphabet’s total count, so the number remains 22.
The Hebrew script used today developed from the Aramaic-derived square script. Earlier Israelites also used an older paleo-Hebrew script. Hebrew letters have names and numerical values in traditional gematria, but the alphabet itself should not be confused with the Yiddish or Ladino languages, which can also be written in Hebrew characters.