Final Forms - אותיות סופיות (Sofiyot)

Five Hebrew letters have a second shape that is used only when the letter appears at the end of a word. The sound stays exactly the same - only the shape changes. These special end-of-word shapes are called sofiyot (סוֹפִיּוֹת), from the word סוֹף (sof) meaning "end."

When you read Hebrew and see one of these final shapes, you know right away that the word ends there - even without spaces being perfectly clear. This is one of their practical benefits.

Letter	Regular	Final (Sofit)	Example word
Kaf	כ	ך	מֶלֶךְ - ME-lekh (king)
Mem	מ	ם	מַיִם - MA-yim (water)
Nun	נ	ן	חַלּוֹן - kha-LON (window)
Pe	פ	ף	כֶּסֶף - KE-sef (money)
Tsadi	צ	ץ	עֵץ - ETZ (tree)

How to remember: The Hebrew word for this group is מנצפ״ך (mem, nun, tsadi, pe, kaf) - read as "man-tzah-pakh." Say it a few times and the five letters stick.