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Hebrew (Israel) style guide

Voice and register

  • Write clear, friendly, concise. Use everyday conversation, not formal technical language.
  • Do not copy English syntax. Think in natural Hebrew syntax.
  • Avoid artificial high register. Ask: how would I say it to a friend or family member?
  • Choose words by audience: technical terms for technical readers, common words for consumers.
  • Free to pick non-standard translations when they keep the intent of the source.
  • Modify or rewrite strings so they sound natural in Hebrew. Remove unnecessary content.

Word choice

  • Use approved terminology for key terms, technical terms, product names. Do not invent new translations for established terms.
  • Use short forms and everyday words where Hebrew allows. Many English short forms have no Hebrew equivalent: app and application translate the same; information and info translate the same.
  • app in mobile contexts is usually אפליקציה; application is יישום.
  • Drive: כונן, for any drive type (hard drive, USB flash drive, external hard drive). Name the specific drive type if needed.
  • PC: מחשב. Use מחשב אישי only when מחשב cannot distinguish the PC from other computers.
  • Get: לקבל, להשיג, להוריד. Use הורד for free applications and updates.

Words and phrases to avoid

  • לעשות שימוש -> להשתמש
  • כמו גם -> וגם; וכן -> וגם
  • יש אפשרות -> יכול
  • כמו כן -> בנוסף
  • כעת -> עכשיו
  • לקבל גישה -> לגשת; לבצע גישה -> לגשת
  • לבצע התאמה אישית -> להתאים אישית
  • התקן נייד -> מכשיר נייד
  • עוד אודות... -> מידע נוסף אודות…

Word-to-word translation

  • No word-for-word translation. Read the source in the live pages for context.
  • Split one sentence into several if that simplifies. Omit descriptors to make text snappier.
  • en Make it great with Office on your phone, PC, or browser. -> he יכולות חדשות עם Office בטלפון, במחשב או בדפדפן. not הפוך את זה לנהדר עם Office בטלפון, במחשב או בדפדפן.
  • en With Windows 11, you can set up your PC in no time -> he בעזרת Windows 11 ,באפשרותך להגדיר את המחשב שלך בתוך שניות not בעזרת Windows 11,באפשרותך להגדיר את המחשב שלך בלי זמן
  • en More to Explore -> he מידע נוסף not עוד לגלות
  • en Bring all your contacts and social networks together in your inbox and access them from your phone. -> he אפשר לרכז יחד את כל אנשי הקשר והרשתות החברתיות בתיבת הדואר הנכנס ולגשת אליהם מהטלפון. not רכז יחד את כל אנשי הקשר והרשתות החברתיות שלך בתיבת הדואר הנכנס שלך וגש אליהם מהטלפון שלך.
  • en Apps, front and center -> he האפליקציות במרכז not אפליקציות, חזית ומרכז
  • en Windows 11 and Microsoft Edge—together—make browsing a breeze. -> he Windows 11 ו- Microsoft Edge – ביחד – מאפשרים לגלוש במהירות הבזק. not Windows 11 ו- Microsoft Edge —ביחד—הופכים את הגלישה לפעולה מהירה ביותר.

Inclusive language

  • Comply with local language laws.
  • Use plain language: straightforward, concrete, familiar words. Prefer short two-syllable words over longer ones. Prefer several short clear words over one complicated term.
  • Name no politically disputed cities, countries, or regions. In examples covering several regions, use equivalent references. Do not mix countries with states or continents.
  • Represent diverse people in text and images: professions, genders, ethnicities, educational settings, locales, economic settings.
  • Do not generalize or stereotype by region, culture, age, or gender, not even a positive stereotype. Choose job-role names across gender identities and cultural backgrounds.
  • No profane or derogatory terms.
  • No slang that could read as cultural appropriation.
  • No terms carrying unconscious racial bias. No terms tied to military actions, politics, or controversial historical events and eras.
  • en colleagues; everyone; all not guys; ladies and gentlemen -> he קולגות, כולם וכולן not חבר'ה, גבירותיי ורבותיי
  • en parent not mother or father -> he הורה not אמא, אימא או אבא

Avoid gender bias

For generic help, prefer a construction that does not require the reader’s gender when it expresses the same action: אפשר לשמור describes a possibility; יש לשמור gives a requirement. They are not interchangeable. Compact action labels can use nouns such as שמירה or הדפסה.

If a surface uses direct plural address, keep the address and agreement consistent. Masculine plural forms are grammatically masculine, not inherently genderless. Choose wording for the actual audience rather than mixing singular, plural and paired forms within one procedure.

In personalized messages, use known names and preferred forms accurately. Where the identity is unknown, a neutral construction can avoid guessing. Do not force passive voice whenever a person is named; keep responsibility clear. Some unpointed forms share their written spelling across genders but differ when spoken, so review narration separately.

Accessibility

Use the shared accessible content guidance for identity, readable text and input methods. Preserve the difference between selecting an object, invoking a command and performing a gesture; follow interface actions.

Abbreviations

  • Abbreviate in the UI (mainly button or option names) only when space forces it. Normally do not abbreviate.
  • en Page -> he עמ'
  • en Phone -> he טל'
  • Do not abbreviate: דוא"ל, ע"י, בד"כ, ע"מ.

Acronyms

Keep the approved spelling and case of an acronym, including mixed-case forms. Expand it when this audience needs the explanation; an expansion is not required merely because the text is translated. Preserve identifiers exactly. See names and formats.

Adjectives

  • Adjectives match the noun in gender and number.
  • One English adjective can have four Hebrew forms. sweet: מתוק (single, masculine), מתוקה (single, feminine), מתוקים (plural, masculine), מתוקות (plural, feminine).
  • Leave out possessive adjectives, your in particular, when they recur in the English source and the meaning stays clear: המחשב instead of המחשב שלך.

Articles

  • The definite article is not an independent word. It is a letter at the start of the noun: en The mouse -> he העכבר.
  • Trademark names and product names stay in English. Do not add a definite article before a nonlocalized product name.
  • Product names and nontranslated feature names take no definite or indefinite article.
  • Some feature names stay in English, for example IntelliSense. Others have an accepted translation: AutoCorrect -> תיקון שגיאות אוטומטי, wizard -> אשף. Always consult the updated glossary.
  • Component and feature names may be translated or transliterated.
  • For an English loan word, check motivation (formal features that let it join the Hebrew noun class system), analogy (an equivalent Hebrew term whose article can be used), and frequency (which article other technical documentation uses most).
  • Some transliterations are more fluent than the Hebrew equivalent in computer writing.
  • en Internet: אינטרנט (+), מרשתת (-)
  • en Automatic: אוטומטי (+), ממוכן (-)

Compounds

  • Keep compounds understandable and clear. Avoid overly long or complex compounds. Hard compounds cut usability.
  • en International -> he בינלאומי

Gender

  • Names of applications and companies are gender-specific.
  • For companies, use the feminine verb form: Microsoft משדרגת גרסה חדשה (+)
  • For applications, use the masculine verb form: Word שומר את הקובץ (+)

Genitive

  • צירוף סמיכות הוא צירוף של שתי מילים סמוכות זו לזו המהוות יחד יחידה לשונית אחת.
  • המילה הראשונה מביניהן נקראת נסמך והשנייה סומך (דרך פשוטה לזכור את זה: המילה נסמך קודמת למילה סומך על פי סדר האלפבית).
  • בעל האתר (+), בעלי האתר (+), חתימת הבעלים (+)

Localizing colloquialism, idioms, and metaphors

  • Do not swap the source colloquialism for a Hebrew one unless the Hebrew one is a perfect, natural fit for the context.
  • Translate the intended meaning, not the literal words, and only when the meaning is integral to the text.
  • Omit the colloquialism when the meaning survives without it.
  • Not all English colloquialisms and humor work in Hebrew. Some make the text too informal, unprofessional, or childish. Oops! works in Hebrew; Bummer! does not translate literally.

Numbers

  • Spell out numbers below 10 as words, not digits. Applies to sentences like There are three ways to get to the Settings menu.
  • With a unit of measurement, follow the source whether the number is below 10 or not: the file size is 3 MB keeps 3; same for the poster is 3 meters, 21 centimeters long.

Prepositions

  • Use prepositions correctly. Do not omit them or change word order under influence of the English source.
  • Choose a preposition for the relationship expressed. על-ידי can introduce an agent; it is not restricted to action nouns.
  • באמצעות = through, used when a medium or means is named, so followed by a noun.
  • en Through -> he באמצעות: ניתן להדפיס את הקובץ באמצעות מדפסת הרשת

Pronouns

Keep the form of address consistent with the preceding guidance. Omit a repeated pronoun only when the actor and ownership remain clear. A first-person interface option speaks for the user; a company statement speaks for the company. Do not replace a product name with “we” automatically. Preserve the difference between ability, obligation and possession.

Punctuation

  • Change the punctuation of the source sentence to ease reading. Divide one sentence into two.
  • Bulleted lists: after a colon introduces a list, put a period after each item that is a complete sentence, or a phrase that with the introductory phrase forms a complete sentence. No punctuation in lists with one-word entries.
  • Comma: place a comma where the sentence has a clear pause. No comma before ו' החיבור inside a sentence. A comma comes before and only when it joins two complete sentences. Avoid too many commas.
  • חבילת Office כוללת את Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook ועוד. (+)
  • Colon: do not use colons in place of commas. כדי להשתמש ב- Office, צריך להתקין אותו תחילה. (+)
  • Hyphen מקף: connects two words. No space between the hyphen and what follows. על-ידי (+), בית-ספר (+). See https://hebrew-academy.org.il/topic/hahlatot/punctuation/#target-4939.
  • En dash קו מפריד: divides two parts of a sentence, with spaces before and after. במהירות של עד 30 מגה-סיביות לשניה – הגלישה בפס רחב היא מהירה (+)
  • Keep numerical ranges in logical order. Isolate a left-to-right range such as 4–24 in the output rather than reversing its stored characters.
  • Em dash: not used in Hebrew.
  • Ellipsis: same use as in English. מאתר קבצים... (+)
  • Period: end every sentence with a period. כל דיאגרמה מיועדת למטרה מסוימת ולכל דיאגרמה יש נתוני דוגמה משלה בחוברת עבודה של Microsoft Office Excel. (+)
  • Quotation marks: used widely, because they replace English capitalization. Enclose a chapter, topic, or section title in quotation marks.
  • Never use quotation marks around data the user must enter, such as a command-line command. The user may type the marks. Start a new line with wider line spacing before and after instead.
  • Punctuation marks that do not belong to the quoted text go outside the quotation marks, even where the English source differs.
  • When US English source strings surround software references with English quotation marks, follow the source.
  • בתפריט 'קובץ', יש ללחוץ על 'שמירה בשם'. (+)
  • Parentheses: for a second pair inside parentheses, use brackets: (לשם כך, יש ללחוץ על הלחצן Save [שמור])

Sentence fragments

  • Use sentence fragments where appropriate. They work well in questions, which engage the user directly.
  • en Here’s how: -> long יש לבצע את השלבים הבאים:, fragment כך עושים זאת:
  • en Save changes to "…"? -> long האם ברצונך לשמור שינויים ב - "..." ?, fragment האם לשמור שינויים ב - "..."?

Symbols and nonbreaking spaces

  • Check clip art, religious symbols, body and hand gestures, and other cultural content for appropriateness in the target market.
  • Ampersand: always translate & as and in running text. Do not keep & in the target unless it is part of a tag, placeholder, shortcut, or other code.

Verbs

  • Use the present tense to keep clarity. Where the source uses future or past, use the same tense or another as appropriate.
  • en The Save As dialog box opens. -> he תיבת הדו-שיח 'שמירה בשם' נפתחת . not תיבת הדו-שיח 'שמירה בשם' תיפתח .
  • en Word can format the text. -> he Word יכול לעצב את הטקסט. not Word יוכל לעצב את הטקסט.
  • en We will send you the product key. -> he אנו נשלח לך את מפתח המוצר. not אנו שולחים לך את מפתח המוצר.
  • The heading example below uses an action noun. The purpose phrase uses כדי followed by an infinitive. Keep the grammatical label consistent with the actual form.
  • en title Creating a set of labels -> he יצירת קבוצה של תוויות (+)
  • en operation To create a set of labels -> he כדי ליצור קבוצה של תוויות (+)
  • For progress text (usually with ...), use the present tense singular: en Creating a set of labels... -> he יוצר קבוצה של תוויות... (+)

Applications, products, and features

Preserve approved product names, identifiers and version strings exactly. Do not add a decimal component to a version or translate a protected name. Use names and formats for shared rules.

Software considerations

Check the localized text in its actual interface using the localization review.

Arrow key names

  • en Right arrow -> he חץ ימינה
  • en Left arrow -> he חץ שמאלה
  • en Up arrow -> he חץ למעלה
  • en Down arrow -> he חץ למטה

Error messages

Preserve state, count, negation and obligation when translating a message. Follow messages and variables for placeholder names, markup and permitted reordering; local grammar never authorizes a parser change.

  • Apply the voice principles so error messages sound natural and empathetic, not robotic.
  • en Not enough memory to process this command. -> he אין די זיכרון לעיבוד פקודה זו.
  • Keep terminology and style consistent across localized error messages. Do not translate them as they stand in the US English product.
  • Use other wording than the standard phrases below when it works better in context. The US English source sometimes phrases the same idea differently.
  • en Cannot … can use he אין אפשרות; a past failed attempt can use לא היתה אפשרות. Keep the message's time and state clear.
  • en Failed to …, Failure of … -> he נכשל/נכשלה (+). Example: טעינת קובץ התצורה עבור זרימת העבודה נכשלה (+)
  • en Cannot find …, Could not find …, Unable to find …, Unable to locate … -> he אין אפשרות למצוא (+), לא היתה אפשרות למצוא (+), לא ניתן למצוא (+), לא ניתן לאתר (+). Example: אין אפשרות למצוא מפת XML המתאימה לנתונים אלה (+)
  • en Not enough memory, Insufficient memory, There is not enough memory, There is not enough memory available -> he אין די זיכרון (+), אין מספיק זיכרון (+). Example: אין מספיק זיכרון לפרסום שם קובץ/נתיב (+)
  • en ... is not available, ... is unavailable -> he אינו זמין (+), אינה זמינה (+). Example: פונקציה זו אינה זמינה בתיבת הדו-שיח 'הוספת פונקציה' (+)
  • With placeholders, find out what replaces the placeholder so the sentence stays grammatical.

Keyboard shortcuts

  • Underlined or highlighted letters in menu options, commands, or dialog boxes are keyboard shortcuts. Examples: New, Cancel, Options.
  • Slim characters I, l, t, r, f as keyboard shortcuts: if necessary.
  • Characters with downstrokes g, j, y, p, q as keyboard shortcuts: if necessary.
  • Extended characters as keyboard shortcuts: n/a.
  • An additional letter in brackets after the item name: n/a. Follow the source if necessary.
  • A number in brackets after the item name: n/a. Follow the source if necessary.
  • A punctuation sign in brackets after the item name: n/a. Follow the source if necessary.
  • Duplicate keyboard shortcuts when no other character is available: yes.
  • No keyboard shortcut when no characters are left (minor options only): no. Avoid the last letter of the word.
  • access key: a subtype of keyboard shortcut. A letter or number the user types to reach a UI control with a text label. Assigned to top-level controls. Example: F in Alt+F. In UI localization: H&ome. Most access keys use the Alt key.
  • key tip: the letter or number shown in the ribbon when Alt is pressed. In UI localization it is the last character after the ` character. Example: HomeH``
  • shortcut key: a subtype of keyboard shortcut. A key the user types to run a common action without the UI. Not available for every command. Example: Ctrl+N, Ctrl+V. Most shortcut keys use the Ctrl key. Ctrl+letter combinations and function keys F1 through F12 are the best choices.
  • Pick a prominently located letter in the command name as the access key.
  • Best choice is the first letter of the first word of the command. The first letter of the second word or another dominant letter may be used.
  • Avoid letters or numbers in brackets for an access key. Add one only when no letters are left in the dialog box or menu.

Keys

  • Key names appear in normal text with sentence-style capitalization, not small caps.
  • en Alt -> he Alt
  • en Backspace -> he Backspace
  • en Break -> he Break
  • en Caps lock -> he Caps Lock
  • en Control -> he Control
  • en Delete -> he Delete
  • en Down arrow -> he חץ למטה
  • en End -> he End
  • en Enter -> he Enter
  • en Esc -> he Esc
  • en Home -> he Home
  • en Insert -> he Insert
  • en Left arrow -> he חץ שמאלה
  • en Num lock -> he Num Lock
  • en Page down -> he Page Down
  • en Page up -> he Page Up
  • en Pause -> he Pause
  • en Right arrow -> he חץ ימינה
  • en Scroll lock -> he Scroll Lock
  • en Shift -> he Shift
  • en Spacebar -> he מקש רווח
  • en Tab -> he Tab
  • en Up arrow -> he חץ למעלה
  • en Windows key -> he מקש Windows
  • en Print screen -> he Print Screen
  • en menu key -> he מקש תפריט

English pronunciation

  • Pronounce unlocalized English terms and product names as English words.
  • Where Hebrew has an established pronunciation for a common term such as server, use the local pronunciation.
  • Adapt pronunciation to the Hebrew phonetic system when the original sounds very awkward.
  • SecurID [sı’kjuər aı di:] סקיור איי די
  • .NET [dot net] דוט נט
  • Adobe [ə-ˈdō-bē] אדובי
  • Skype [s'kaip]. Product names always keep source-language pronunciation.
  • Pronounce acronyms like words, adapted to local pronunciation.
  • RADIUS רדיוס \ˈrā-dē-əs\
  • RAS ראס \ˈras\
  • LAN לאן \ˈlan, ˌel-(ˌ)ā-ˈen\
  • WAN וואן \ˈwän\
  • POP פופ \ˈpäp\
  • Pronounce other abbreviations letter by letter.
  • URL יו אר אל \ˌyü-(ˌ)är-ˈel, ˈər(-ə)l\
  • ICMP איי סי אמ פי
  • IP איי פי \ˈīˈpē-\
  • TCP/IP טי סי פי איי פי \ˌtē-(ˌ)sē-ˈpē-ˌī-ˈpē\
  • XML אקס אמ אל \ˌeks-(ˌ)em-ˈel\
  • HTML הייצ' טי אמ אל \ˌāch-(ˌ)tē-(ˌ)em-ˈel\
  • OWA או דאבל יו איי
  • SQL אס קיו אל
  • Do not pronounce http://. Read the rest of the URL aloud.
  • Pronounce www as דאבל יו דאבל יו דאבל יו (double U * 3, /ˈdʌbəlˌjuː/).
  • Omit the dot, or read it aloud the Hebrew way as נקודה.
  • http://www.microsoft.com/he-il -> דאבל יו דאבל יו דאבל יו נקודה מייקרוסופט נקודה קומ קו נטוי אייץ' אי מקף מחבר איי אל. / = קו נטוי (slash). - = מקף מחבר (dash).
  • Most punctuation marks ? ! : ; , follow from the speaker's tone of voice.
  • En dashes – mark an isolated element. Pronounce an en dash like a comma, as a short pause.
  • Pronounce special characters / \ ˘ < > + - with the approved Hebrew translations. comma = פסיק, slash = קו נטוי.

Tone

  • Match tone to text and audience. Use an informal, playful, inspiring tone for most products and games. Use a formal, informative, factual tone for technical content.

Mixed-direction identifiers

Store a URL prefix as https://, in logical order. In HTML, isolate a literal URL with left-to-right direction when it sits inside Hebrew text. For example: כתובת: https://example.com/. Copy the address from the rendered result and check that its characters are unchanged. See bidirectional text.