03-28-2007, 03:33 AM
Lesson 1
Vowels.... There are none. Well, not exactly.
In Hebrew text vowel sounds are not normally included. We need to use nikud (Vowel signs/dots and lines attached to the letters) to learn how words sound.
Here is an example of the letter aleph the first letter of the Hebrew alephbet. Aleph is a silent letter. It takes the sound of the nikud that is attached to it.
So, this is an aleph bli/blee (without) nikud.
א
The following nikud makes the sound "ah"
ָ ַ
So, since aleph is silent, the following makes the sound ah:
אַ אָ
The second letter of the Hebrew alephbet is bet:
בּ
Again, with the appropriate nikud it makes the sound bah:
בַּ בָּ
Now you are ready for your first Hebrew word; We remind you, that Hebrew is read from right to left:
אַבָּא
pronounced "abah", which means "father". With your newly acquired knowledge of Hebrew, you can now read your first full sentence:
אַבָּא בָּא
Guess how this would be pronounced?
Surprisingly enough - "Abah bah"! Which means "father is coming" or "father came".
Below is a follow through with an actual student except I am using Talmida(student,f.) instead of her regular screen name.
..................................
Shalom Talmida,
I am glad that you enjoyed the lesson. Perhaps we should summarize it and expand on it a little.
In this lesson we learned 2 Hebrew letters and 3 vowel signs.
We learned א Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew Alephbet and we learned ב Bet the second letter of the Hebrew AlephBet.
אַ אָ Aleph with these vowel signs underneath the letter are pronounced as "AH" which sounds like the "a" in father
בַּ בָּ Bet with these 2 vowel signs underneath and the dot(Dagesh) in the middle of the letter is pronounced "BAH" and please note that the Bet בּ with the dot(Dagesh) in the center has a hard "B" sound but without the dot(Dagesh) Bet/Vet ב has a soft "V" sound. This is in the cases where vowel signs (Nikud) are used as is the case with Hebrew Bible Text and in books teaching Hebrew. In the above lessons two very important words were learned:
אַבָּא = Abba(Abah) = Father, Dad
בָּא = Ba(Bah) = Came, Come, coming
We also learned a complete Hebrew sentence:
אַבָּא בָּא = Abba Ba or Abah Bah = Father came or Father is coming.(Remember that the actual Hebrew letters are read from right to left.)
There is another Hebrew word that we can form using the 2 Hebrew letters that we have learned so far. It is the following word and it also means "Father" and is used much in the Hebrew Bible.:
אָב How would this word be pronounced?
................................
Notice that the ב Bet has no dot(Dagesh) in the middle and that without the dot(Dagesh) Bet/Vet ב has a soft "V" sound.
Please feel free to ask any questions about this.
Shalom,
Joe
Vowels.... There are none. Well, not exactly.
In Hebrew text vowel sounds are not normally included. We need to use nikud (Vowel signs/dots and lines attached to the letters) to learn how words sound.
Here is an example of the letter aleph the first letter of the Hebrew alephbet. Aleph is a silent letter. It takes the sound of the nikud that is attached to it.
So, this is an aleph bli/blee (without) nikud.
א
The following nikud makes the sound "ah"
ָ ַ
So, since aleph is silent, the following makes the sound ah:
אַ אָ
The second letter of the Hebrew alephbet is bet:
בּ
Again, with the appropriate nikud it makes the sound bah:
בַּ בָּ
Now you are ready for your first Hebrew word; We remind you, that Hebrew is read from right to left:
אַבָּא
pronounced "abah", which means "father". With your newly acquired knowledge of Hebrew, you can now read your first full sentence:
אַבָּא בָּא
Guess how this would be pronounced?
Surprisingly enough - "Abah bah"! Which means "father is coming" or "father came".
Below is a follow through with an actual student except I am using Talmida(student,f.) instead of her regular screen name.
..................................
Shalom Talmida,
I am glad that you enjoyed the lesson. Perhaps we should summarize it and expand on it a little.
In this lesson we learned 2 Hebrew letters and 3 vowel signs.
We learned א Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew Alephbet and we learned ב Bet the second letter of the Hebrew AlephBet.
אַ אָ Aleph with these vowel signs underneath the letter are pronounced as "AH" which sounds like the "a" in father
בַּ בָּ Bet with these 2 vowel signs underneath and the dot(Dagesh) in the middle of the letter is pronounced "BAH" and please note that the Bet בּ with the dot(Dagesh) in the center has a hard "B" sound but without the dot(Dagesh) Bet/Vet ב has a soft "V" sound. This is in the cases where vowel signs (Nikud) are used as is the case with Hebrew Bible Text and in books teaching Hebrew. In the above lessons two very important words were learned:
אַבָּא = Abba(Abah) = Father, Dad
בָּא = Ba(Bah) = Came, Come, coming
We also learned a complete Hebrew sentence:
אַבָּא בָּא = Abba Ba or Abah Bah = Father came or Father is coming.(Remember that the actual Hebrew letters are read from right to left.)
There is another Hebrew word that we can form using the 2 Hebrew letters that we have learned so far. It is the following word and it also means "Father" and is used much in the Hebrew Bible.:
אָב How would this word be pronounced?
................................
Notice that the ב Bet has no dot(Dagesh) in the middle and that without the dot(Dagesh) Bet/Vet ב has a soft "V" sound.
Please feel free to ask any questions about this.
Shalom,
Joe
