The Hebrew Thread

[Wolf18]

Hello,

By popular demand, I am going to try to teach Hebrew to anyone who wants to learn. I will try to do approx 1 lesson per day, and if you come to this class late, you can catch up by reading previous posts and posting questions. Please post them in this thread, so that everyone else can read them. If I can't answer your questions, I will bring them to Beholder, our native Hebrew speaker (whose help I request).

I will try to post a lesson a day or every couple of days, but I can't promise that. If you would like to help with this thread, please ask nicely via private messages. Bribes accepted.

The first thing everyone needs to go is to enable Hebrew typing on your computers.
For Mac, go to "Open Language and Text Preferences" and click "Hebrew" (not QWERTY or PC).
For PC... I don't know. Figure it out yourselves.

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Lesson 1: The Hebrew Alphabet Letter No. 1

The first thing you need to know about Hebrew is that pretty much all the letters are consonants and the consonants are modified by placing dots over and under the letters. Once you get better at reading Hebrew, you will no longer need the dots.

The second thing you need to know about Hebrew is that it is read from right to left, like Arabic, Farsi, and Manga.

[Interesting fact No. 1 about the Hebrew keyboard: at least on a Mac, hitting "Caps Lock" will allow you to type in English.]

The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the Aleph: א. Write it 5 times on a sheet of paper (which I'd recommend having), or until you get used to it.

People will tell you that the aleph makes the long "A" sound in English. This is technically incorrect, as the aleph is silent unless it has vowels. Use the "option" key on a Mac to use vowels where the numbers usually are.

Here are all possible א - vowel combinations that you will see:
1. אַ - This makes the "ah" sound like "cat."
2. אָ - This is usually translated as "aw," but most people pronounce it "uh" like "done" or "ah" like "father." It is the most common vowel (I believe).
3. אֻ or אוּ- You will not אֻ too often. You will more often see אּּוּ. Both make the "oo" sound like "tooth" (not "took"!). More on the ו later.
4. אֶ - This makes the "eh" sound like "tell."
5. אִ - This makes the "ee" sound like "keep."
6. אֵ - This makes the "ay" sound like "play."
7. אְ - This is the most complicated vowel: It can make the "ih" sound like "it," or it can make no sound at all, and be a signal that the letter it letter it is under and the next letter should be rolled together, sort of like the "fl" in "fly". When it makes the "ih" sound it would turn the word "fly" into "filly." It can also be combined with several of the other vowels, like אֲ or אֳ or אֱ but for now just ignore that if you see it.
8. אֹ or אוֹ - These both make the same "oh" sound, like "Rome" or "Bowl". More on the letter ו later.


And that concludes Lesson 1.

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Lesson 2: The Hebrew Alphabet Letter No. 2

The second letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the Bet: בּ. It makes the same "B" sound as English. You will notice that there is a dot in the centre. When there is no dot in the centre, it is the letter Vet: ב. The vet makes the same "V" sound as English. After you get used to the alphabet, you will stop seeing the dot in the centre and you will learn to differentiate between בּ and ב from context.

Write the ב and the בּ three times on your paper, with the vowels.

The ב and the בּ follow the same vowel rules as the aleph. Please refer to the vowel rules for the aleph for each letter. There are no exceptions to those rules, so I will not write them again in every post. Just practise writing the vowels under (and over, in certain cases) each letter.

That concludes Lesson 2.

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Words You Can Now Write

1. אַבָּא - This word is pronounced "Abba" (yes, it is palindromic but remember that hebrew is read right-to-left). "Abba" means "Dad." It is the colloquial form of...

2. אָב - This word is pronounced "Av" (note the lack of a dot in the vav). It is the more formal term for אַבָּא, translating closer to "father." It is also the archaic term for "father," and the only one you will see in the bible. The common Israeli/Jewish name "Avi" means "my father."

3. בָּא or בֹּא - both these words mean "come". The first (בָּא) is pronounced "bah" and it means "came" in the masculine, past, tense, like "John came." The second word is pronounced "Bo" and is the command "come," like "you, come!."

Practise writing these words and use them in the stories you guys make up in your heads.

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Lesson 3: The Hebrew Alphabet Letter No. 3

The third letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the Gimel: ג. The Gimel makes the hard "G" sound as in English, like "gold" or "grey," not like "gem."

To keep you from ending up learning to write the Aleph-Bet (alphabet) in Phoenician, I am going to post a link to each letter in cursive (and the Aleph-Bet in Phoenician, because now you can't resist).

End of Lesson 3.

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Hebrew Alphabet Links

A. On this one, pay attention to numbers 2 (script) and 5 (print). Compare them and get used to writing both. I know it is all written with a calligraphy pen, but you can write it with a regular pen.
No. 1 is what is used in Torah scrolls. You will see it is very similar to the regular print. You can get close to the same effect with a regular pen, but it is very difficult. Maybe I'll give a lesson on it...
No. 2 is script. No. 3 is called Rashi script. It's a script used by some Torah commentators (most notably Rashi). You will not need to know it unless you want to be able to read the commentary of a Medieval French Jew. No. 4 is print. No. 5 is ancient Hebrew.
http://www.mezuzah.net/pics/scripts.gif

This shows the cursive letters the way they would look if written with a regular pen. These pictures are good for comparing your own attempts at the letters.
http://www.shorashim.co.uk/sites/default/files/Hebrew_Cursive_Lge.JPG

This is another good one that shows how each letter should be written, with arrows to get you writing it correctly.
http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/rpkaa.yjgsv/v/vspfiles/photos/320-2.jpg

This is another page that gives the print, script and Rashi script, as well as the numerical value of each letter. This is good to know as a lot of Hebrew counting uses letters instead of numbers, particularly in the Bible.
http://www.jr.co.il/alef-bet-print.jpg

Finally, this is an example of ancient Phoenician. I thought you INTPs might be interested in comparing it to Hebrew. Compare the names of the letters; you will find that they are almost completely identical to Hebrew. As a matter of fact, the pronunciation of these Phoenician letters are actually closer to the correct pronunciation of Hebrew than Modern Hebrew (except for the Ws. They are Vs in Hebrew). If The Doctor took you to Ancient Israel, the people would pronounce the letters like this:
http://www.phoenician.org/alphabet_phoenician.GIF

Remember that Hebrew is from right to left, so the aleph will be on the top left.

Enjoy!

SW

 

[Quietude]

שלום! I will try reading through all your posts! I have been trying to learn Hebrew for a few years now. I enjoy learning languages.

 

[Wolf18]

שלום! I will try reading through all your posts! I have been trying to learn Hebrew for a few years now. I enjoy learning languages.

עליכם שלום, and welcome to the Forum! I love languages, too. I am currently teaching myself Russian.

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Lesson 4: Hebrew Alphabet Letterד No. 4 and 5

The fourth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is the Daled: ד. The daled is pronounced the same way as the English letter "D", like "door."


The fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the hey: ה. The hey is pronounced "H" as in "hat" when it is at the beginning or middle of a word, and it acts the same way as an א at the end of a word.

Practise writing the daled and hey by comparing them to the links I posted.

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Words You Can Now Write

בֶּגֶד - Pronounced "beged." A בגד single article of clothing.
גַג - Pronounced "gahg." A גג is a roof.
גַב - Pronounced "gahv." גב means "back" (body part, not backwards).
אָהַבָה - Pronounced "ahava." אהבה means "love" (as a noun).
אָהַב - Pronounced "ahav." אהב means "he loved." It is the masculine, past tense, verb form of אהבה.

Note that I am now leaving out vowels after you have seen the words once. This is because I want you to get used to reading without vowels.

SW

 

[Beholder]

Wow, it didn't occur to me how complicated Hebrew writing is... And that's the simple part. I can't believe I managed to learn all this shit in grade one. I guess it's easier if you speak the language first.

Oh and also the letter Bet is always called Bet, even without the dot. (unlike Shin which is Sin if the dot is on the left instead of the right)

I found the Phoenician alphabet very interesting. Do you know if Phoenician and Ancient Hebrew are the same? I've known the Phoenician alphabet as Ancient Hebrew, but there were more letters (like tsadi צ, a hוnting weapon like a boomerang, resembling צ). Anyways, it's cool seeing how the alphabet (or aleph-bet) evolves.

 

[Beholder]

Wow, it didn't occur to me how complicated Hebrew writing is... And that's the simple part. I can't believe I managed to learn all this shit in grade one. I guess it's easier if you speak the language first.

Oh and also the letter Bet is always called Bet, even without the dot. (unlike Shin which is Sin if the dot is on the left instead of the right)

I found the Phoenician alphabet very interesting. Do you know if Phoenician and Ancient Hebrew are the same? I've known the Phoenician alphabet as Ancient Hebrew, but there were more letters (like tsadi צ, a hunting weapon like a boomerang, resembling צ). Anyways, it's cool seeing how the alphabet (or aleph-bet) evolves.

Ok so I talked to an Archaeologist about it today (I work in an Archaeological dig), Phoenician and Ancient Hebrew aren't the same language, although Ancient Hebrew evolved (obviously) from Phoenician.

And I was wrong about the Bet/Vet thing, so ignore that.

In my conversation with the Archaeologist I learned a few more interesting things about the evolution of the Aleph-Bet. Apparently during the Second Temple Period, they used the modern letters we use today (this I already knew), but there were many things for which the Ancient Hebrew alphabet was reserved, for example the name of god יהוה (probably pronounced Yehova, the spelling is obviously not Hebrew or Phoenician, and probably came from a more ancient language), and a few of the other weird spellings like יי, and their coins, which were in modern Hebrew, had the phrase ירושלים הקדושה (Jerusalem the holy) in Ancient Hebrew...

A quick google search turned up these:
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/קובץ:Ancient_Hebrew.jpg (the Ancient Hebrew aleph-bet)

http://ventura.a.wiki-site.com/index.php/תמונה:JUDAEA_Half_Sheke.jpg (a half Shekel coin, one side reads ירושלים הקדושה (Holy Jerusalem) and the other חצי שקל (half a Shekel) with the letters שב in the center, which a bit more reading revealed the meaning - שנה ב or year 2 (of The Great Revolt)

Cool shit...

[edit] Here you can more clearly see the evolution of the Aleph-Bet:
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/הכתב_העברי_הקדום
The pictures on the left side.
The first one is the Proto-Canaanite/Proto-Sinai Aleph bet, where you can clearly see that each letter represents a word (Ox, Eye, Hand, Water etc') where the first sound of the word is the sound that letter makes.
The second is Phoenician, the third Ancient Hebrew, the fourth, which is missing for some reason is Samaritan, the fourth is Aramaic (which was used by the Jews in Babylon during the first exile), and the fifth is Jewish ("square") writing (which was used by the Jews after the exile when they returned to Israel, the "Second Temple Period" onward)

 

[walfin]

Wow thanks!

Hebrew seems really hard...I'll try catching up on the homework tomorrow.

 

[Wolf18]

Glad you guys are enjoying it. I'll try and catch up on lessons today. I know I'm behind. @walfin, once you learn the alef-bet, it gets a bit easier. Fortunately, Hebrew is pretty phonetic. No "ph", no "ch", no "ough".

Beholder, nice finds. Interesting how the old ד turned into the Greek Δ. And the old ק looks like a Q, which it is often transliterated as.

SW

 

[Beholder]

the old ק looks like a Q, which it is often transliterated as.

SW

the old ק (Koph, meaning monkey) actually kind of looks like a monkey in Proto-Cananite.

 

[Wolf18]

the old ק (Koph, meaning monkey) actually kind of looks like a monkey in Proto-Cananite.

I always wondered, ג being named after a camel (gamal) makes sense, but how did they know about monkeys? Did monkeys ever live in the Middle-East? Research project, I guess.

By the way, can you help teach some lessons? I have some exams coming up and don't have the extra time right now. Just do a few letters per post and try to explain anything special about them (like yud). Also, do you think I should do the kof sofit, the tzadi sofit, and the pey/fey sofit later or now? Many thanks.

SW

 

[walfin]

How do you remember which cursive letter corresponds to which printed letter? It's very very different.

 

[Wolf18]

How do you remember which cursive letter corresponds to which printed letter? It's very very different.

I know, it takes some getting used to. I started learning Hebrew when I was 3 years old, taught by a man who traditionally taught all the children in the community before they were old enough to go to school. When I was 4 years old, the man died. My twin brother and I were the last ones to have him as a teacher. I don't remember how I remembered the letters, although my mum saved all the cards he wrote letters on.

But anyway, ways to remember. Two words: Flash cards (this goes for everyone). Write the block letter on one side, and write the cursive letter on the other side. Show yourself one side and then visualise the other side. Or write it down if imagination is not your forté.

Best of luck,

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Lesson 5: Hebrew letter 6

The sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the vav: ו. The vav is a little complicated, so:

The sound of the vav changes between two sounds, based on the vowels attached to it. If the vav is attached to any vowel that is below it, it will make the "v" sound + the vowel. So, וַ would make vah, and the וְ would make vih or be unvoiced. However, the vav often has the "oh" vowel or the "ooh" vowel attached to it. The "oh" vowel is on top of the letter, like so: וֹ the "ooh" vowel is inside the letter, like so: וּ. When either of these vowels is attached to the vav, the vav does not make a "v" sound, rather it makes no sound except for the sound of the vowels. So, a vav like so: וּ would sound like "ooh," not "vooh." A vav like so: וֹ would sound like "oh," not "voh."

When you draw the dot in the centre/left of the vav in cursive, it should look like a vertical line with a dot floating right next to it. Do not be confused by the fact that the cursive ו lacks a "hat," like the print ו has.

SW

 

[Wolf18]

I MADE A MISTAKE ON MY LINKS POST. I SAID THAT THE ALEPH WOULD BE ON THE TOP LEFT. THAT WAS AN ERROR. IT WILL BE ON THE TOP RIGHT.

Sorry!

SW

 

[Beholder]

By the way, can you help teach some lessons? I have some exams coming up and don't have the extra time right now. Just do a few letters per post and try to explain anything special about them (like yud). Also, do you think I should do the kof sofit, the tzadi sofit, and the pey/fey sofit later or now? Many thanks.

SW

I don't really know all these rules with the vowels and stuff, and also I don't think you can write the vowels with windows. I think you should teach the אותיות סופיות with the regular ones, they're the same only they're used at the end of the word. (unless there are some other rules I'm forgetting?)

 

[Wolf18]

I think you should teach the אותיות סופיות with the regular ones, they're the same only they're used at the end of the word. (unless there are some other rules I'm forgetting?)

I don't think you're forgetting anything. I just wasn't sure how confusing it would get. However, you're probably right, and I'm not up to כ/ך yet anyway.

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Lesson 6: Hebrew Letters 7, 8, and 9

All these letters are fairly simple, so I will make this one post:

The 7th Hebrew letter is the zayin (no comments please @Beholder): ז. It makes the "Z" sound, like "Zulu," or "Zachary." NOTE: Be careful not to get the ז confused with the ג in script. The vowels of the ח have no exceptional rules, just the usual: זַ זֱ זּ etc.

The 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the ח: khet. OK, this one can be kind of hard for English-speaking people new to Semitic languages. The best example I can think of is Johann Sebastian Bach. When most people pronounce "Bach" they are pronouncing the "ch" the way you want the ח to sound. Practise saying "ach" until you get it right. Tips for anyone having trouble are welcome. Vowels are standard. However, with the חַ at the end of the word, pronounce the "ah" and then the "kh". Examples to come. I am going to be careful to differentiate between "kh" and "ch." Although the difference is meaningless in modern Hebrew, it is still good to know. There are other sounds like this (see below) but such sounds are usually not differentiated between anymore. They are in Arabic, though.

The 9th letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the Tet: ט. The tet makes a "T" sound. Pretty simple. Vowel rules apply as usual. (Note: The last letter of the alphabet also makes a "t" sound. However, in ancient times it made closer to a "th" sound. There is no pronounciation difference anymore.)

Sorry for the really small vowels. Can you guys see them if you zoom in?

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Lesson 7: Hebrew Letter 10

The tenth letter in the hebrew alphabet is the yud: י.

י subscribes to the standard vowel rules. But: the י can make both the "y" sound (as in "young") or the "ee" sound, (like "seem"). Usually, when it does not have vowels, it makes the "ee" sound. Examples to come.

Practise writing the yud and notice that the script one is very similar to the block-letter one. Make sure that you can recognise both and distinguish between them.

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Words You Can Now Write

Well, you know know the first 10 letters of the hebrew alphabet! *claps hands*

Onto words:

1. יַד - Hand. Pronounced "yad"
2. אַז - So (as in "so I went to the store"). Pronounced "az"
3. אֶחַד - Number one (cardinal, masculine [there are feminine and masculine forms of numbers in Hebrew]). Pronounced "ekhad"
4. בּוּבָּה - Doll. Pronounced "boo-bah"
5. הֱבִיא - He brought. Pronounced "Hay-vee"
6. הֹוֶה - Present (tense, not a gift). NOTE: Not the same as "now." Pronounced "Hoh-veh"

Hebrew words almost always have the accent on the second syllable. If there is one syllable disregard (obviously. אז is not pronounce a-ZZ, but הוה is pronounce hoh-VEH

SW

 

[Wolf18]

Sorry, been a while since I last posted a lesson...

Lesson 8: Hebrew Letter 10

The 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet is complicated: It is actually 2 letters: The letter can make both the "ch" sound (like the ח) and the "k" sound (like kilometre). When it is making the "ch" sound, it looks like this: כ. When it is making the "k" sound, it has a dot in it, like this: כּ. The letter is called the "chaf" when it makes the "ch" sound and the "kaf" when it makes the "k" sound.

The כ/כּ are also written differently at the end of a word. They appear, respectively ך/ךּ. Essentially like a ד without the "overhang" on the top right, and with an extended vertical line. You will only see this variation at the end of a word, but it happens fairly often so make sure you know it.

NOTE: When you are reading Hebrew texts that have no vowels (almost anything except the Bible), there will not be a dot in the kaf. When you reach the point where you can read Hebrew without vowels, you should be able to know if the sound is "kaf" or "chaf" from the other letters in the word.

SW