
Translation of a portion of page 100 of 
ééÏãéùòø àËøèàËâøàÌôØéùòø ååòâååæòø Guide to the Standardized Yiddish 
Orthography, New York, 1961, by the Committee for the Implementation of 
the Standardized Yiddish Orthography, c/o Yiddish Studies Program, 
Hamilton Hall, Columbia University, New York, NY  10027:

Letters and Points

(1) The order of the letters is:  [reading from right to left]
à¬ á¬ áØ¬ â¬ ã¬ ä¬ å¬ æ¬ ç¬ è¬ é¬ ëÆ¬ ë©ê¨¬ ì¬ î©í¨¬ ð©ï¨¬ 
ñ¬ ò¬ ôÆ¬ ôØ©ó¨¬ ö©õ¨¬ ÷¬ ø¬ ù¬ ×¬ úÆ¬ ú

àÌ (pasekh alef),  àË (komets alef), åÆ (melupm vov), åå (tsvey vovn), åé 
(vov yud), éÏ (khirek yud), éé (tsvey yudn), and  (pasekh tsvey yudn) 
are not counted as separate letters of the alphabet. 

But when arranging alphabetically words that donÕt have any other 
difference besides the points, the word without any points goes first, 
then the word with the pasekh, then the word with the komets. E.g., [1] 
à, [2] àÌ, [3] àË; e.g., [1] ùééï goes before [2] ùï

....

1 More detailed instructions regarding the technicalities of sorting 
words alphabetically are given in the footnote to Rule 2 on page 32 of  
úÆ÷ðåú ôØåï ééÏãéùï àåéñìééâ (takones fun yidishn oysleyg/Code of Yiddish 
Orthography).

[Note:  text in brackets ([]) added for clarity. Translation: Mark H. David]