Modern Hebrew for Beginners Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com All rights reserved. Module 1/Page 1 Module 1 introduces most of the basic building blocks required for learning how to phonetically read Hebrew annotated with vowel points, i.e., how to read Hebrew text that includes vocalized letters, but without understanding it. One important element that is being left out for now is the matter of placing the accent on the correct syllable in multi-syllabic words. Because this is a rather complex topic for this point in the course, it will be revisited at a later time. The Basic Elements

Modern Hebrew for Beginners Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com All rights reserved. Module 1/Page 2 The Hebrew Alphabet and Vowels - Overview  Alphabet [alef-bet in transliterated Hebrew] Hebrew is written and read from right to left There are 22 letters in the alphabet There is only a single “case” – no upper-case/lower-case distinction There are two basic letter styles – block & script (some refer to the script form as cursive) The alphabet is non-cursive, unlike, e.g., Latin and Arabic All letters in the Hebrew alphabet are consonants 5 letters take on a different form when at the end of a word 3 (fricative) letters possess dual consonantal properties (Modern Hebrew) A dot placed inside some letters (dagesh) may affect their pronunciation  Vowels/Vocalizations [niqqud in transliterated Hebrew] Vowels are markings that appear under, following, & above consonants There are 5 vowel sounds, each with major/long and minor/short forms The schwa (Hebrew, shva) is a “neutral” vowel that yields the sound of consonants There are 3 pseudo-vowels that replace the schwa on certain occasions

Modern Hebrew for Beginners Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com All rights reserved. Module 1/Page 3 Our Rules for Transliteration and Vowel Sounds Since Hebrew and its alphabet are so different from English and its Latin alphabet, when Hebrew words are transliterated in terms of the Latin alphabet, it is useful to define how they relate to each other. The tables on the next few slides show the conventions that will be used for this purpose. The vocalizations used in transliteration from the Hebrew alef-bet into the Latin alphabet will follow the Latin vowel sounds as illustrated below: VowelSoundExamples: (Sounds like “X” in “xxXxx”) AAHAh hA, Arc, pAlm, yAhoo EEHbEg, End, gEt, rEnt IEEbEE, EEry, fEEt, kEEp OOHAUght, bOUght, nAUght, tAUght UOOmOOn, OOze, rOOm, zOO

Modern Hebrew for Beginners Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com All rights reserved. Module 1/Page 4 The Hebrew Alphabet NameSoundLetter# alefSilent* א 1 betB*** בּ 2 vetV ב gimmel“Hard” G ג 3 daletD ד 4 heiH ה 5 vavV/Silent* ו 6 zayinZ ז 7 het (khet)**KH ח 8 NameSoundLetter# tetT ט 9 yod (yud)**Y/Silent* י 10 kafCK כּ 11 chaf“Soft” CH כ kaf sofitCK ךּ chaf sofit“Soft” CH ך lamedL ל 12 memM מ 13 mem sofitM ם

Modern Hebrew for Beginners Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com All rights reserved. Module 1/Page 5 The Hebrew Alphabet (continued) NameSoundLetter# nunN נ 14 nun sofitN ן samechS ס 15 ayinSilent* ע 16 peiP פּ 17 feiF פ fei sofitF ף NameSoundLetter# tsadi (tsadiq)**TS צ 18 tsadi sofitTS ץ qof (quf)**Q ק 19 reish (resh)R ר 20 shinSH שׁ 21 sinS שׂ tav (taf)**T ת 22 * Silent letters: The letters א, ע adopt the sound of the attached vowel. The letter י is silent when without a vowel. The letter ו is used in “silent mode” for marking two major vowels. ** Letter names in parentheses: These are common alternate spelling. *** Highlighted rows (in light blue): Indicate groupings of same letters with different sounds.

Modern Hebrew for Beginners Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com All rights reserved. Module 1/Page 6 The Hebrew Alphabet (continued) Special letters used only for transliteration into Hebrew from other languages SoundSounds like “X” in “xxXxx”Letter “Soft” GGeorGe ג׳ “Soft” (French) JJacques ז׳ “Hard” CHCHarles צ׳ English letters that require the use of more than one letter in the Hebrew alphabet LetterExampleLetters XeXcuse קס XeXample גז WaWard וו Special symbols used for transliterating two Hebrew letters with guttural sounds into the Latin alphabet SymbolLetter h ח a/A, e/E, i/I, o/O, u/U ע

Modern Hebrew for Beginners Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com All rights reserved. Module 1/Page 7 Types of dagesh (a dot placed inside a letter) Hebrew nameWhat does it mean?The effect dagesh hazaqStrong dagesh A “doubling” of a letter for a prolonged pronunciation. dagesh qalLight dagesh An explosive pronunciation of (only) the fricative consonants ב, כ, פ. The letters ג, ד, ת get this dot when at the beginning of a word or syllable, but without affecting their pronunciation. mapiqAccentual dagesh An emphasis on a letter without a vowel (e.g., הּ appearing at the end of a word). dagesh l e tif’eret ha’qri’ah Dagesh for reading elegance An emphasis for elegant pronunciation only. The Hebrew Alphabet (continued)

Modern Hebrew for Beginners Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com All rights reserved. Module 1/Page 8 The Hebrew Vowels Minor/Short Vowels Latin Vowel Major/Long Vowels Hebrew NameSoundCaseHebrew NameSoundCase patahAH אַ Aqamats [gadol]AH אָ * segolEH אֶ E tseireEH/EI אֵ tseire maleEI אֵי segol maleEH אֶי hiriq haserEE אִ Ihiriq maleEE אִי qamats qatanOH אָ * O holam maleOH אוֹ holam haserOH אֹ qubbutsOO אֻ UshuruqOO אוּ * qamats gadol and qamats qatan use the same symbol.

Modern Hebrew for Beginners Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com All rights reserved. Module 1/Page 9 Schwa and Pseudo-Vowels* Hebrew NameSoundCase shvaB e ** בְּ hataf qamatsOH אֳ *** hataf patahAH אֲ hataf segolEH אֱ The Hebrew Vowels (continued) * A letter marked with a schwa or pseudo-vowel, or one without a vowel, never becomes the accented syllable of a word. ** The B-sound [the letter בּ ] is used here since the letter א cannot support the shva. The superscripted letter e is used for the vocalization of the shva – a very short “ EH ”-sound. *** The only letters that may be assigned pseudo-vowels are א, ה, ח, ע.

Modern Hebrew for Beginners Copyright ©2007 Uri Yosef for VirtualYeshiva.com All rights reserved. Module 1/Page 10 Sentence Punctuation Marks English Name Usage & Effect Hebrew NameMark Period Same as in English n e qudah. Commapsiq, Semicolonn e qudah u’fsiq; Colonn e qudotayim: Question marksiman sh e eilah? Exclamation marksiman qri’ah! Hyphenmaqaf־ Parenthesessograyim( ) Quotation marksmercha’ot" Apostrophetag'