Write Hebrew Words

Reading Hebrew

Now a few more rules, and we are well on the way:

The letter Aleph is a kind of silent letter in Hebrew. This is unless it has a vowel with it and then it is pronounced inthe manner of that vowel. For example in the word bud, the U is actually notpronounced, but more tells you how to pronounce the B. This is very much thesame in Hebrew.

The letter Vav has two sorts of pronounciations. One is hard and the otheris soft. 99% of the time, unless it has an 'o' or an 'oo' vowel with it, it ispronounced as a v sound. If it does have one of these vowels with it, then it ispronounced as an o or an oo, but once more more as a silent vowel than as aletter in itself.

If the letter Yod does not have a vowel on it, it acts like the letter Y would in English if after another letter. So for example, in the word "by", the 'y' is more telling you how to pronounce the letter 'b' than how to pronounce the 'y'. This is the same in Hebrew.

The letter Chet is not like a letter that we have in English. The soundmay be compared to went someone is getting ready to spit. However, I wouldn'tadvise you to practice too much!!

The letter Ayin is also not like a letter that we have in English. It issimilar to a hard A coming more from the back of the throat with a slight click.

The final letters from the above alphabet are written as such when theyare at the end of words. There is no difference in the pronounciation.

So far we have done our letters, we have done our vowels, so let's tryand understand how words are formed. Luckily in Hebrew this is easier than inother languages. Firstly because there are no real exceptions to pronounciation.Also because the way that you read Hebrew means that you can take each letter asit comes without depending on later letters for pronounciation. Once you do knowthe letters and vowels, it is easy to read words

On Sabbatical: A Rabbi’s Journal - Jewish Action

Jewish Action

On Sabbatical: A Rabbi’s Journal
Jewish Action, NY - Jul 1, 2008
Rather than grasp for a Hebrew word, it is often easier to just say it in English, with the occasional conversionary suffixes. Preparing for a public speech ...

The long goodbye - Ha'aretz

The long goodbye
Ha'aretz, Israel - Jul 3, 2008
This week he took the lid off one of them by publishing his first novel, "Destroying Nadav" (Carmel Publishing House; Hebrew). This is a roman ? clef, ...

A swan song to remember - Ha'aretz

A swan song to remember
Ha'aretz, Israel - Jul 2, 2008
He even parted from his mother by means of the book he wrote ["When My Mother was a Queen," Zamora-Bitan 1996, in Hebrew]. That was a long parting; ...

Monument of truth - Ha'aretz

Monument of truth
Ha'aretz, Israel - Jul 3, 2008
His daughter, Nataliia Vovsi-Mikhoels, wrote a riveting biography in Hebrew about him ("My Father Shlomo Mikhoels: The Life and Death of a Jewish Actor"; ...

Pan-Africanism: A New Approach - New Era

Pan-Africanism: A New Approach
New Era, Namibia - Jul 4, 2008
The Indian word “Krishna” means “the black one”. The word Canaanite is taken from the Hebrew word “Kanaan” borrowed from the Hurrian language “Kinahhu” ...

Movie Stars - Boston Globe

Movie Stars
Boston Globe, United States - Jul 4, 2008
The makers of "Hancock" had an opportunity to write a cool ticket (commercial not presidential). But the movie has a depressing lack of imagination. ...

Urban scrawl - Jerusalem Post

Urban scrawl
Jerusalem Post, Israel - Jun 27, 2008
As their tour guide finishes his potted history of the area, the group disperses, revealing the Hebrew words "Na, Nah, Nahma, Nahman, Me'uman" spray-painted ...

Can't Darwin and God get along? - Salon

Salon

Can't Darwin and God get along?
Salon - Jun 30, 2008
People who read Hebrew and understand the ancient Near Eastern worldview, and the cosmology that informed it, have given us ample reasons why you would not ...