Shva or, in
Biblical Hebrew,
Sh'wa is a
Hebrew niqqud vowel sign written as two vertical dots "ְ" beneath a letter. In
Modern Hebrew, it indicates either the
phoneme or the complete absence of a vowel (
Ø), whereas in Hebrew
prescriptive linguistics, six grammatical entities are differentiated: the resting
Shva ( / ), such as in the words
שִׁמְעִי and
כַּרְמִי ; the mobile
Shva (
na / ), such as the
Shva which appears at the beginning of words, which renders the vowel a mobile vowel, as in the Hebrew word "floating" ( / ), or as in
לְפָנָי (
lefanai) or
שְׁמַע (
shema) ; or whenever a diacritical vertical line known as a / (lit. "bleating" or "bellowing") appears next to a
Shva. For example, in the words
הַֽמְקַנֵּ֥א אַתָּ֖ה לִ֑י , the
Shva beneath the Hebrew character
mim becomes a mobile
Shva because of the
Ga'ya (small vertical line) beneath the Hebrew character
he. In all these cases the
Shva gives an audible sound to the letter, as in a short "a" or short "e", and is not mute. Likewise, whenever a
Shva appears in the middle of a word and the letter has a diacritical point within it (
dagesh), as in the
pe of
מִפְּנֵיכֶם , or in the
qoph of
מִקְּדָֿשׁ , they too will become a mobile
Shva (
na / ), as will a word that that has two
Shvas written one after the other, as in the word
רַעְמְסֵס , or in the word
וישְׁמְעו , etc. the first
Shva is resting (mute), while the second
Shva is a mobile
Shva. Another instance of where the
Shva becomes mobile is when it comes directly after a long vowel sound, such as the long vowel of either
yod or
ḥiríq, as in
יְחִֽידְֿךָ , giving it the sound of
yeḥīdhəkha, etc., or as in the long vowel of
waw or
ḥolam, as in the words
הוֹלְכִֿים,
יוֹדְֿעִים and
מוֹכְֿרִים, etc. (
hōləkhīm,
yōdəʻīm and
mōkhərīm), or as in the verse
שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים תִּתֶּן לְךָ ,
“shōfəṭīm wa-shōṭərīm titen ləkha.” 
