# מקוות



## sawyeric1

If it's 

מקווה
מקווה
מקווים

why isn't it מקווות instead of מקוות?

Thanks


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## Drink

Because the real spellings are

מְקַוֶּה
מְקַוָּה
מְקַוִּים
מְקַוּוֹת

In the first three cases, the vav is doubled to show that it is a consonant. In the fourth case, three vavs in a row would look bad, so the one that's a consonant is not doubled.


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## sawyeric1

I mean, in terms of looking bad, לווות has three vavs in a row ...


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## Drink

sawyeric1 said:


> I mean, in terms of looking bad, לווות has three vavs in a row ...



Yes, but there there is no choice because לוֹווֹת is the "real" spelling, i.e. the first vav is a cholam male, the second is the consonant, and the third is a cholam male.


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## elroy

There's also the famous וווו, four vav's in a row.


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## amikama

The rule is: A consonantal vav in middle of the word is doubled in כתיב מלא, unless it's next to another vav.

So מקוים becomes מקווים, because the vav is a consonant. However, מקוות does not become מקווות but stays unchanged, since the first vav is a consonant and is followed by another vav. Similarly, it's לווות and not לוווות (the middle vav is a consonant but it's not doubled because of the other vavim), וווו and not וווווו (each of the two consonantal vavim is next to another vav, thus not doubled).

(Note also that the rule applies only to vavim in middle of the word. If a vav is the first or last letter of the word, it's not doubled: ועד, סתיו.)


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## sawyeric1

What does וווו mean?


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## Drink

sawyeric1 said:


> What does וווו mean?



"and his hook"


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## sawyeric1

So the rule never applies to names? Ex: לוי "Levy"


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## Drink

The rule for names is simple: you can choose to spell your own name however you want. Most people stick with the traditional spelling, which does not necessarily follow the modern rules. Another example is that Moshe is usually spelled משה rather than מושה.


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