Locale He Il

Reference data for the Hebrew (Israel) locale — endonym עברית (ישראל), written in the Hebrew script, right-to-left (RTL).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: he-IL
• ISO 639-1: he
• ISO 639-3: heb
• Script: Hebr (Hebrew)
• Region: IL (Israel)
• Text direction: rtl — right-to-left (RTL)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 6,500,000
• L2 (additional): 4,000,000
• L1+L2 (total): 10,500,000

Set dir="rtl" for this locale (per Locale's text-direction guidance) rather than assuming left-to-right layout.

Base locale

This is a regional variant of Locale He 001 (Hebrew), the base/macro locale for this language.

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, two, other (3 forms).

• one — i = 1 and v = 0 or i = 0 and v != 0 (e.g. 1)
• two — i = 2 and v = 0 (e.g. 2)
• other — everything else (e.g. 0, 3~17, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Apply Locale He 001 with the conventions of Israel.

• Calendar: the Gregorian calendar for business; the Hebrew calendar for holidays and religious dates; show both in civil and holiday content.
• Formats: shekel (₪); decimal point and comma thousands separator; dates 17.10.2026 or 17 באוקטובר 2026; 24-hour clock.
• Context: Hebrew and Arabic are used in public life; bilingual materials are common. Keep terminology consistent between the Hebrew and Arabic versions (see Locale Ar 001).
• Tone: direct and informal; first names are used in business.

Common pitfalls

• Using decimal commas.
• Using an inconsistent gender policy.
• The general pitfalls in Locale He 001 also apply.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Unicode CLDR locale data for number, calendar, and currency formats (https://cldr.unicode.org)