Understanding the Hebrew alphabet is crucial in mastering the Hebrew Language. Hebrew alphabet configuration is put into use in a daily conversation. Without the Hebrew alphabet, it is impossible to say the Hebrew terms properly even if a person learn how to write those terms in Hebrew. Learn More
) |
The Hebrew alphabet consists entirely of consonants (an abjad), though some can function as vowels. Vowels are indicated with a system of dots and dashes next to the letters, but these are normally omitted | |
except in Bibles and children's books. It is common for words, especially foreign words, to be spelled in more than one way; the Abu-l`afia Synagogue has five different spellings of its name on its signs. | |
The stress is usually on the last syllable; most of the exceptions are segol-ates (words in which segol, the /e/-sound), such as elef "thousand". Some words have a diphthong "ua" or "ia" | |
which is one syllable but sounds like two, like English "oil". This is called patah gnuva "stolen /a/-sound" and occurs in שבוע shavua[`] "week", which is stressed on the -u-. | |
In conversational Hebrew, only three letters (בכפ) are pronounced differently when they contain a dot in the center called a dagesh. | |
Five letters (מנצפכ) have a different form at the end of a word (םןץףך, respectively). These are named by adding סופית (sofit - so-FEET) "final" to the name of the letter, e.g. נון סופית (nun sofit - noon so-feet) | |
alef (', a) א | |
glottal-stop (IPA: /ʔ/) | |
or silent (sometimes used as the letter a when rendering English in Hebrew) |
I | אני (ani - ah-NEE) |
You (singular, masc.) | אתה (atah - ah-TAH) |
You (singular, fem.) | את (at - aht) |
He | הוא (hu - hoo) |
She | היא (hi - hee) |
We | אנחנו (anahnu - ah-NAKH-noo) |
You (plural, masc.) | אתם (atem - ah-TEM) |
You (plural, fem.) | אתן (aten - ah-TEN) |
They (plural, masc.) | הם (hem - hem) |
They (plural, fem.) | הן (hen - hen) |
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.