Pataḥ (Hebrew: פַּתַח‎ pataḥ, IPA: [paˈtaħ], Biblical Hebrew: paṯaḥ) is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign represented by a horizontal line ⟨ אַ‎ ⟩ underneath a letter. In modern Hebrew, it indicates the phoneme /a/ which is close to the "a" sound in the English word far and is transliterated as an a. In Modern Hebrew, a pataḥ makes the same sound as a qamatz, as does the ḥaṭaf pataḥ (Hebrew: חֲטַף פַּתַח‎ IPA: [ħaˈtaf paˈtaħ], "reduced pataḥ"). The reduced (or ḥaṭaf) niqqud exist for pataḥ, qamatz, and segol which contain a shva next to it.