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כתבינו לחיים. The tav has a (seemingly) short vowel to close the first vowel, which sefardim pronounce as the short "kot". There is no meteg before the sh'va of the tav. Why is the bet written without a dagesh kal?

Note: This is unrelated to the discussion on how to pronounce a vet (some sefardim say "b" even without a dagesh). Even so, here it appears without a dagesh.

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In Hebrew, if the simple form of a word contains soft letters, those same letters remain soft in other forms, regardless of the laws of Dagesh Kal. For example, regarding כתבינו, the simple form is כֹּתב, ending with a soft ב. Therefore, when the word is changed into a more complex form, the ב remains soft, even though there's a vowelless consonant directly before it.

This rule is always applicable. For example, the word בְּכׇל has a soft כ. Thus, the word וּבְכׇל (with an added vav before it) retains that soft כ, even though it's directly preceded by a silent shva.

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  • לַאֲבִיר יַעֲקֹב - Tehillim 132:5. Exception?
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented May 12 at 18:35
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    Compare Tehillim 78:25 אַ֭בִּירִים, Eicha 1:15 אַבִּירַ֤י etc
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented May 14 at 22:45
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    A few things cause this. 1) In your first quote, the Patach is replaced with a Khataf-Patach, which is basically Patach but super short. All the Khattaf vowels (including Shva Na) cause the following letter to lose its dagesh. 2) The second quote has a Dagesh khazzaq, not a Dagesh qal. My answer refers to the latter. 3) While words in Hebrew cannot "regain" a dagesh, they can certainly lose one.
    – Qwertrl
    Commented May 14 at 23:00
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    @RabbiKaii Although, the word מלכי does seem exceptional. מלכי is not just מלך with a י at the end, because the vowels are changed. Thus my answer shouldn't apply to it, and the כ should have a dagesh.
    – Qwertrl
    Commented May 15 at 1:33
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    Re my last comment: The Shva in מַלְכֵי is a Shva Merakhef. This kind of Shva is one that used to be a vowel, but at some point got elided. In this example, the word USED to be pronounced מֲלֲכֶיְ, but at some point, short vowels in open syllables were all elided in Hebrew. This linguistic event occurred after the occurrences of soft בגדכפ״ת were solidified in the oral Mesorah, so the כ remained soft.
    – Qwertrl
    Commented Sep 27 at 18:02

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