Hebrew/Aleph-Bet/9

Welcome to the ninth lesson of the Hebrew alphabet! In this lesson we will do some reviewing, and you will learn two new Hebrew letters - ע and פ onto its many forms.

Review

We've been through 8 lessons and we've learned a lot. Let's look at the letters we've learned:

Letters

א Aleph: makes the "a" sound, makes the glottal stop (’) or simply indicates the word starts with a vowel.

בּ ב Bet: makes the "b" sound. When there is no dot, it makes the "v" sound.

ג Gimmel: makes the "g" sound.

ד Dalet: makes the "d" sound.

ה He: makes the "h" sound. When at the end of a word it makes the "a" sound.

ו Vav: makes the "v", "o" and "u" sounds.

ז Zayin: makes the "z" sound.

ח Ħet: makes the "kh" sound.

ט Tet: makes the "t" sound.

י Yod: makes the "y" and "i" sounds.

כּ כ ך Kaf: makes the "k" sound. When there is no dot, it makes the "kh" sound. Changes form when at the end of a word.

ל Lamed: makes the "l" sound.

מ ם Mem: makes the "m" sound. Changes form when at the end of a word.

נ ן Nun: makes the "n" sound. Changes form when at the end of a word.

ס Samekh: makes the "s" sound.

ק Qof: makes the "k" sound.

ר Resh: makes the "r" sound.

שׁ שׂ Shin: makes the "sh" sound when the dot is on the right; when it's on the left, it makes the "s" sound.

ת Tav: makes the "t" sound.

Vowels

And we've covered all the vowels:

בְּ Shva: marks the end of a syllable or makes the "ə" sound.

בַּ Pataħ: makes the "a" sound.

בָּ Qamats: makes the "a" sound.

בֵּ Tsere: makes the "e" sound.

בֶּ Segol: makes the "e" sound.

בִּ Ħiriq: makes the "i" sound.

בֻּ Qubbuts: makes the "u" sound.

וֹ Ħolam: makes the "o" sound.

וּ Shuruq: makes the "u" sound.

בֳּ Ħataf-Qamats: makes the "o" sound.

בֲּ Ħataf-Pataħ: makes the "a" sound.

בֱּ Ħataf-Segol: makes the "e" sound.

New Letters

Three to go!

‘Ayin

ע The sixteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is ‘Ayin. Like Aleph, it stands for the glottal stop (co’operate) or silent if it is at the end of a syllable.

Pe

פּ The seventeenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Pe. It has three forms:

• When the dot (dagesh) is inside פּ, it makes the "p" sound (IPA: /p/, "p" as in "port").
• When there is no dot inside פ, it makes the "f" sound (IPA: /f/, "f" as in "fame").
• At the end of a word, it changes form ף. This form is known as Fe Sofit. Unlike Kaf, however, there is no Pe Sofit (*ףּ).

Words

עִבְרִית ‘ivrit the Hebrew language
עַפְעַף ‘af‘af eyelid (masculine, singular)
פֶּה peh mouth (masculine, singular)
שָׂפָה safah language, lip, edge (feminine, singular)
סֵפֶר sefer book (masculine, singular)
מִסְפָּר mispar number (masculine, singular)
עוֹף ‘of fowl, chicken meat (masculine, singular)
פַּס pas line, strip (masculine, singular)

Summary

In this lesson, you've learned:

• The letters and forms ‘Ayin ע, Pe פּ, Fe פ and Fe Sofit ף.
• The words עִבְרִית, עַפְעַף, פֶּה, שָׂפָה, סֵפֶר, מִסְפָּר, עוֹף and פַס.

Practice what you've learned in the exercises.

Next lesson: Aleph-Bet 10 >>>