Yiddish QWERTZ Keyboard for the Mac

This is a phonetic Yiddish keyboard layout for the Macs with a QWERTZ physical keyboard. It is based on the Yiddish Klal, created by Isaac L. Bleaman.

QWERTY is the standard keyboard layout in English-speaking and many other countries, whereas QWERTZ prevails in German-speaking and some other European countries.

Our version of the Yiddish keyboard layout makes it easier to type Yiddish for anybody who is used to German keyboards. Not only is Z next to T and Y next to X, but punctuation marks and various symbols are also where you'd expect them to be.

Other than that, the Yiddish layout follows the principles of the above-mentioned Yiddish Klal, i.e.:

• Typing a will yield a pasekh alef, אַ
• o will yield a komets alef, אָ
• e will yield an ayen, ע
• v will yield tsvey vovn, װ (which Unicode treats a single character)
• p will yield a pey, פּ
• f will yield a fey, פֿ
• …, etc.

To type the final letters, hold

• F will yield a langer fey, ף
• M will yield a shlos mem, ם …, etc.

Doublets (when YIVO transliteration corresponds to multiple Yiddish characters):

• t will yield a tes, ט
• T will yield a tof, תּ
• s will yield a samekh, ס
• S will yield a sof, ת
• W will yield a sin, שׂ (w will yield a shin, ש)
• V will yield a veys, בֿ (v will yield tsvey vovn, װ, as mentioned above)
• k or q will yield a kuf, ק
• K or Q will yield a kof, כּ

Other letters will be less intuitive for those familiar with the YIVO system of transliteration, e.g., because it sometimes uses a combination of several Latin letters for a single Yiddish letter (e.g., צ is [ts]). These letters will need to be memorized:

• A will yield a shtumer alef, א
• x will yield a khof, כ (and X a langer khof, ך)
• H will yield a khes, ח (h is just a hey, ה, as expected)
• c will yield a tsadek, צ (and C a langer tsadek, ץ)
• w will yield a shin, ש (and W a sin, שׂ)
• j or E will yield tsvey yudn, ײ (a single Unicode character)
• y will yield pasekh tsvey yudn, ײַ (two Unicode characters)
• O or Y will yield vov yud, ױ (a single Unicode character)

Letter combinations:

• For זש type either z w or, as a shortcut, type Z
• For דזש type either d z w or, as a shortcut, type G or J or D
• For טש type either t w or, as a shortcut, type R (mnemonic: between the t and w on the keyboard)

Layout

Standard

Shift

Caps Lock

Caps Lock turns this keyboard layout into a regular German QWERTZ layout.

Caps Lock + Shift