Hebrew/Introduction/Alphabet

The Alphabet אלפבית עברי The Alphabet Letter IPA Name in Hebrew Pronunciation א /ʔ/ Glottal stop.oggalef · אלף No English equivalent. See Supplementary Notes below. בּ /b/ Voiced bilabial stop.oggbet · בּית Like b in bet. ב /v/ Voiced labiodental fricative.oggvet · בית Like v in voice. ג /ɡ/ Voiced velar plosive.ogggeemel · גימל Like g in go. ד /d/ Voiced_alveolar_stop.oggdalet · דלת Like d in dark. ה /h/ Voiceless glottal fricative.oggheh · הא Like h in hen. See Supplementary Notes below. ו /v/ Voiced labiodental fricative.oggvav · ויב Like v in voice. See Supplementary Notes below. ז /z/ Voiced alveolar sibilant.oggzayeen · זין Like z in zoo. ח /χ/ Voiceless pharyngeal fricative.oggkhet · חית Like ch in loch. ט /t/ Voiceless alveolar stop.oggtet · טית Like t in sting. י /j/ Palatal approximant.oggyod · יוד Like y in yes. See Supplementary Notes below. כּ /k/ Voiceless uvular fricative.oggkaf · כּף Like k in kiss. כ /χ/ Voiceless uvular fricative.oggkhaf · כף Like ch in loch. ך /k/ Voiceless pharyngeal fricative.oggkhaf sofeet · כף סופית Like ch in loch. ל /l/ Alveolar lateral approximant.ogglamed · למד Like l in love. מ /m/ Bilabial nasal.oggmem · מם Like m in man. ם /m/ Bilabial nasal.oggmem sofeet · מם סופית Like m in man נ /n/ Alveolar nasal.oggnun · נון Like n in no. ן /n/ Alveolar nasal.oggnun sofeet · נון סופית Like n in no. ס /s/ Voiceless alveolar sibilant.oggsamekh · סמך Like s in sand. ע /ʔ/ Glottal stop.ogg'ayeen · עין No English equivalent. See Supplementary Notes below. פּ /p/ Voiceless bilabial stop.oggpeh · פּא like p in pack פ /f/ Voiceless labiodental fricative.oggfeh · פא like f in fill ף /f/ Voiceless labiodental fricative.oggfeh sofeet · פא סופית Like f in fill. צ /ts/ Voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate.ogatsadee · צדי No English equivalent. Like z in the Italian word grazia. ץ /ts/ Voiceless alveolar affricate.oggtsadee sofeet · צדי סופית No English equivalent. Like z in the Italian word grazia. ק /k/ Voiceless uvular fricative.oggquf · קוף Like k in kiss. ר /ʁ/ Voiced uvular fricative.oggresh · ריש Like r in the French word rue. שׁ /ʃ/ Voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant.oggsheen · שׁין Like sh in she. שׂ /s/ Voiceless alveolar sibilant.oggseen · שׂין Like s in sand. ת /t/ Voiceless alveolar stop.oggtav · תיב Like t in tick.Notes on Alphabet Type of writing system: abjad Direction of writing: right to left in horizontal lines. Number of letters: 22 consonants, plus final letters and diacritics Used to write: Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Ladino, Yiddish and many other Jewish languages. Some letters (kaf, mem, nun, fe and tzadi) have a final form (sofit), which is used when they appear at the end of a word. There are no separate numerals in Hebrew, instead standard western numerals (1, 2, 3, etc) are used. Consonants Most Hebrew consonants will present absolutely no problem to speakers of English or Romance languages as they are clear and do not vary. These consonants are: ג (Geemel) /g/ Voiced velar plosive.ogg - Like g in go.ד (Dalet) /d/ Voiced_alveolar_stop.ogg - Like d in david.ה (Heh) /h/ Voiceless glottal fricative.ogg - Like h in hen.ו (Vav) /v/ Voiced labiodental fricative.ogg - Like v in voice.ז (Zayeen) /z/ Voiced alveolar sibilant.ogg - Like z in zoo.ט (Tet) /t/ Voiceless alveolar stop.ogg - Like t in sting.י (Yod) /y/ Palatal approximant.ogg - Like y in yes.ל (Lamed) /l/ Alveolar lateral approximant.ogg - Like l in love.מ (Mem) /m/ Bilabial nasal.ogg - Like m in man.נ (Nun) /n/ Alveolar nasal.ogg - Like n in no.ס (Samekh) /s/ Voiceless alveolar sibilant.ogg - Like s in sand.צ (Tsadee) /ts/ Voiceless alveolar affricate.ogg - Like z in grazia.ק (Quf) /k/ Voiceless uvular fricative.ogg - Like k in kiss.ר (Resh) /ʁ/ Voiced uvular fricative.ogg - Like r in rue.ת (Tav) /t/ Voiceless alveolar stop.ogg - Like t in tick.ח (Khet) is regular, but difficult. There are four consonants in Hebrew in which their pronunciation varies. This variation cannot be identified from the text in "unpointed" spelling, but instead must be realized through context. These consonants are: בּ (Bet) /b/ Voiced bilabial stop.ogg or ב (Vet) /v/ Voiced labiodental fricative.oggכּ (Kaf) /k/ Voiced_alveolar_stop.ogg or כ (Khaf) /χ/ Voiceless uvular fricative.oggפּ (Peh) /p/ Voiceless bilabial stop.ogg or פ (Feh) /f/ Voiceless labiodental fricative.oggשׁ (Sheen) /ʃ/ Voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant.ogg or שׂ (Seen) /s/ Voiceless alveolar sibilant.oggNotes on Consonants Three of these consonants use a geresh to render sounds that are not native to Hebrew, but are used in the language as foreign words are adopted. They are: /ʤ/ Voiced palato-alveolar affricate.ogg   ג׳ (Geemel with Geresh) - Like j in joy. /ʧ/ Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate.ogg   צ׳ (Tsadee with Geresh) - Like ch in chair. /ʒ/ Voiced palato-alveolar sibilant.ogg   ז׳ (Zayeen with Geresh) - Like ge in beige. Difficult Consonants Some Hebrew consonants will be difficult for the English speaker to pronounce. They are: ח (Khet) /χ/ Voiceless pharyngeal fricative.ogg   כ (Khaf) /χ/ Voiceless_pharyngeal_fricative.ogg The /χ/ sound is not used in the English language. However, you may be familiar with the words Chaim, chutzpah, loch, Chanukah, achtung, or loch that all have the same sound. The letter is pronounced as a strong h in the back of your throat. Consonants that Sound-alike There are four pairs of consonants which sound alike and often present problems for the speller new to the language. They are: ח (Khet) /χ/ Voiceless pharyngeal fricative.ogg   כ (Khaf) /χ/ Voiceless_pharyngeal_fricative.ogg ק (Koof) /k/ Voiceless uvular fricative.ogg   כּ (Kaf) /k/ Voiceless uvular fricative.ogg ט (Tet) /t/ Voiceless alveolar stop.ogg   ת (Tav) /t/ Voiceless alveolar stop.ogg ס (Samekh) /s/ Voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant.ogg   שׂ (Seen) /s/ Voiceless alveolar sibilant.ogg Vowels IPA Diactric Sound Transliteration /a/ Open central unrounded vowel.ogg ָ (Kamats), ַ (Patakh), ֲ (Khataf patakh) father a /e/ Mid front unrounded vowel.ogg ֵ (Tsere), ֶ (Segol), ֱ (Khataf segol), ְ (Shva na'), ֵי (Tsere male) bed e /i/ Close front unrounded vowel.ogg ִ (Kheereek khaser), ִי (Kheereek male) see ee /o/ Mid back rounded vowel.ogg ‍ֹ (Kholam khaser), וֹ (Kholam male), ָ (Kamats katan), ֳ(Khataf kamats) story o /u/ Close back rounded vowel.ogg וּ (Vav with Shoorook), ֻ (Kooboots) boot oo /∅/ ְ (Shva nakh') 'Notes on Vowels The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are consonantal. Vowels are mostly indicated by markings placed below or above these consonants. In Israel, Modern Hebrew texts are printed without these vowel markings which are often reserved for children's books, poetry, and liturgical pieces. That means that the correct pronunciation of every word must be learned and subsequently read from context. At first, this may seem near impossible. However, if you apply this practice to English you will soon realize it is indeed possible to read in such a way. Dn't gv p nw! With vowels: אִמָּא Without vowels: אימא There are only five vowel sounds in Modern Hebrew and they are all pronounced fully like Italian. They are: a like in far, e like in less, o like in more, ee like in free, and oo like in food. Semi-consonants also Acting as Vowels Alef (א) which can represent “a”, “i”, or “o” (as in “ראש” and “ראשון”) Heh (ה) which can represent “a” or “e”, but only at the end of a word (as in "אתה") Vav (ו) which can represent “o” or “u” (as in "שלום") Yod (י) which can represent “i” (as in "שיר") Final Letters In Hebrew, five letters appear differently when they occur at the end of a word. They are: כ becomes ך מ becomes ם נ becomes ן פ becomes ף צ becomes ץ Punctuation Modern Israeli Hebrew uses the same punctuation as English, though Biblical Hebrew has only a colon to represent the end of a sentence. Numerals Israeli Hebrew, which is the subject of this book, uses the regular 0-9 characters to represent numbers. Very rarely it uses the old representation, the use of letters as numerals, called Gematria. Cursive thumb|image showing different letters in Hebrew script. In modern Hebrew, much of written work is written in cursive, or script. The script alphabet, while using the same letters, has a largely different style of handwriting, and is used for speed. Script does not come up as much as typing. 50%