Lesson 1 – Aleph, Bet, Vet

This lesson teaches two letters, ALEPH and BET/VET and three vowel sounds.

BET/VET are really the same letter, but can be pronounced two different way, as the “B” in “Boy” or the “V” as in “Violin”. When this letter has a dot in the middle, it is pronounced as a “B”. When the dot is omitted, it is pronounced as a “V”.

However, if you are reading un-vocalized Hebrew (Hebrew without the vowel dots), then it helps to know that the BET/VET usually has the “B” sound at the beginning of words, and usually has the “V” sound when found in the middle (or at the end) of words.

The first letter ALEPH is a silent letter. It only has a sound when a vowel appears below the letter.

We start with three vowel sounds. Vowels normally appear under the consonant letters. Each vowel sound has a name. The names of the first three vowels are patach, kamatz, and segol (as shown below). The “X” is shown below to indicate that any letter could have the vowel sound under it. The “X” could be any letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In Sephardic Hebrew, the kamatz and the patach have the exact same sound.

Hebrew Vowels / £ZXZ / ¢X / A¡X
Sound of Vowel / “e” as in “red” / “ah” as in “father” / “ah” as in “father”
Name Of Vowel / segol / kamatz / patach
Aleph / a
Bet / AÂb
Vet / b

Now when you combine a consonant and a vowel,

you get the following combinations:

A£b / A¢b / A¡b / A£b / AAA¢b / AAA¡b / AA£a / A¢a / A¡a
veh / vah / vah / beh / bah / bah / eh / ah / ah

Now when combine multiple letters, we get are great for teaching basic reading skills, for example. NOTE: if the ending consonant letter doesn’t have a vowel under it, don’t pronounce a vowel sound.

b£b / £b¡b / ¡b¡b / Âb£a / b¡a / £aÂb / ¢ab / ¡aÂb
bev / bah-veh / bah-bah / eb / av / beh / vah / bah

Practice these nonsense syllables (just using the Bet and Aleph):

a£b a¡b ¼¼B¼¡B ¼B¼£B ¢¼B¢¼B ¼B¢¼B ¼£B¼¢B ¡¼B¼¡B ¢¼B£¼B ¡ÂB¢¼B

Two real Hebrew words:

Qa¢¼B¡a a¼¢B

father he-comes

Practice these nonsense syllables (VET is now added):

ÂB¡B b£ÂB ÂB¢a b£a ¢B¢b b¢ÂB £b¢b ¡b¡ÂB ¢B£Âb ¡b¢ÂB

b£a b¡a

Hebrew also has words with more than one vowel sound.

This is common in Hebrew, but almost unheard of in English.

¡b¢a¡b / b¢a£b / ¢a£b / ¡a¡b
bah’ahvah / beh’ahv / beh-ah / ba-ah

Practice these nonsense syllables (some have multiple vowels):

¡ab£a ¡bZ£a b£a a¢b¡a b¡a¢Âb ¡a¢Âb a¢b ¡b¢ÂB


Lesson 2 – Gimmel, Dalet

Two new consonants are taught in this lesson:

Gimel / g
Dalet / d

Now using the same three vowels from Lesson 1, we present two new letters:

¯g / ®g / ­g / £d / ¢d / ¡d
geh / gah / gah / deh / dah / dah

Practice these nonsense syllables using just the two new letters:

¡d ­g £d ­g Q¢d ¯g ¡d ®g

g¡d ­g£d ¯g­g Q¡d¢d ®g®g d¡d g®g

Practice these nonsense syllables using all the letters:

g¡¼B g£¼B ¼B¢a g£a ¼¢B¼¢B g®g¢a £g¢¼B ¼¡B£g ­g¢g

b£a®g b¡ag g¡a¢Âb ®g¢¼b g¢d £d®g Qd¼£b­g £¼b¢d

Practice these real Hebrew words:

AAg¡a¢d Ad¡a¢d d¼¢b g¢d Qd¯g¼£b Qd­g¼¢B g®g b­g

be-anxious mourn lie fish covering cover back roof

NOTE: The translations are given, but the purpose of these exercises is to learn reading and pronunciation skills, not Hebrew vocabulary. All the words were chosen only because they use the letters that you have already been taught. In many cases, they were NOT chosen because they are common and frequently used Hebrew words.


Lesson 2b – New Vowel Sounds

Hebrew Vowels / «X / y¥X / ¥X
Sound of Vowel / gutteral stop
(not found in English, but similar to a short “u” as in “but” / “ee” as in “feet” / “i” as in “big”
Name Of Vowel / SH’VAH / dipthong of a CHIRIK and a Yod / CHIRIK
(cheerek)

NOTE: It is very common to see the YOD at the end of a word.
This is often a verb ending (first person past tense)
or a noun-suffix that means “my”.

The following sound almost like English words

B±g g¥d g¥¼B Qdi¥¼B d¥¼B Qdi¥d Qd¥d

Qi¥¼B£d Ai±g¢a«d Qg¢a«d Qi¥d¢¼B

Practice these non-sense syllables:

y¥d¥g y¥b¢a


Lesson 3 – Lamed, Mem

Mem / m
Mem-Sofit
reserved for
Lesson 5 / M
Lamed / l
y¥m / ¥m / £m / ¢m / ¡m / y¥l / ¥l / £l / ¢l / ¡l
mee / mi / meh / mah / mah / lee / li / leh / lah / lah

Practice:

ly¥m my¥l l¥m m¥l ¡m¢m Qy¥my¥m y¥l¥l ¡l¡l

Hebrew Vowels / ¤X / y¤X / y¥X / y¡X
Sound of Vowel / “e” as in “red”
(Some speakers distinguish this sound from the SEGOL,
others do not) / “ei” as in “eight”
or
“ay” as in “bay” / “ee”
as in “beet” / “I” as in “like”
or
“uy” as in “buy”
Name Of Vowel / TZAREH / Dipthong of Tzareh and a Yod / dipthong of a Patach and a Yod

New Vowel Sounds And Prior Sounds
(demonstrated with the letter BET):

y¤bQ / ¤b y¡b / ¡b ... Q¢Âb «Âb Ay¥Âb ¥Âb

bay / bet buy / bah … bah b’ bee bi

Practice with these syllables and English words.

my¡d g¤¼B d£¼B g¤l ly¡m my¡l ly¤m my¤l m¤l ¢l¤m

Qdy¤m Qmy¤L Qmy¡l Qly¤m Adly¡m Qly¡b dy­g Al¢ay¡d

l£¼B g¡l l¡¼B dy¥l by¥l d¥l l¥m ¡m¢l l¢m Qly¥m my¤l Ql®gy¥l ly¥d gy¥l my°g y¥g¢m d¥¼B ¡l¥b ly°g y¥l«g by°g

Qdy¡l«g Ady¡¼B¢a

NOTE: The purpose of this booklet is to learn pronuncation,
not to learn vocabulary. Practice these real Hebrew words,
but you don’t need to memorize their meanings.

Many of these words were selected,

only because they use the 6 letters you have just learned.

aÂb¥l¡a Qa¤l¢m Qb¢b¤l Ql£B¡¼B y¥m b¤l a¢l£a

according-to fill heart Babel who heart but/only

Ql¡a®g ZQl¡d®g ZQd¡b¥l Qd¡b¢a Qd¯g£Âb l¤a l£a l¡a

redeem make-great alone destroy garment God to not

d¡b«l dÂb¥a d¤a y¥d®g¡a d°g¥a dy¥g¢a l¯g¤a

alone lose vapor/mist fabulous bind/tie gill drop/bead

Lesson 4 – Resh, Shin

New Letters Compare

£¾s / ¢¾s / ¡¾s / £r / ¢r / ¡r / £²s / ²¢s / ²¡s
sheh / shah / shah / reh / rah / rah / seh / sah / sah

Don’t get the Resh and the Dalet Mixed Up!

Qy¥¾s¡r AAA¾¡sZZ¦¡S AA¾sZ¦¡S Q¦sy¡r AQ¾s¡d AQy¡¾s QAdy¤r ¾s¥d

Hebrew Vowels / ²uX / ²X / »uX / ³X
Sound of Vowel / “o” as in “boat” / “o” as in “boat” / “oo” as in “boot” / “oo” as in “boot”
NOTES: / The letter VAV with a dot on top is pronounced as a vowel, not a “V”. / Sometimes the CHOLAM appears with a VAV, sometimes as just a dot to the upper left of the Hebrew letter. / The letter VAV with a dot in the middle is pronounced as a vowel, not a "V”.
Memory
Tricks / The cholam goes Over the Vav / The cholam goes Over any letter / The shuruq goes thru
the Vav
Name Of Vowel / CHOLAM
MALE / CHOLAM
CHASER / SHURUQ / QUBUTZ
²d / »uZZd / ²ud / ³d / §Âb / »uÂb / ²uÂb / ²b
doh / doo / doh / doo / boo / boo / boh / boh

Practice Single Syllables:

y¥r ¥r ¡r ¤r §r ¢r »wr ²ur y¥r ¦r

¾ u¾s Qy¥¾s Qy¡¾s ¥¾sQ ¡¾s Q§¾sQ y¤¾sQ ¢¾s Q»w¾s Ay¥¾s

²ub ¦¼B §g ¦d »wm ²u¾s ²u¦S §r ¦a ²ul

§b »w¼B ¤r A§¾s »wb ¢d ¦m ¡¾s Qy¥¾s ¢r

Practice these English words:

Q¦s«dy¤r Qdy¤r Qry¤d g¥r Q¼B¥r Qr¤by¤¾s Qby¤¾s

QMy¤¦s Ady¡r«¼B Qry¤¾s Qd»wm Qy¥m§l«g Qd»wr Ad«l²u¦s Qly¤¦s

Qd¢¦s Qy¥¼By¤m Qdy¤¾s Q¼B«m¡¼B ¦s§m Qd«l¦m

Qm§l«¼B Qm§l«¼B Qby¤¦s ¦sy¡r QA¦sy¤ÂB Q¦sy¤r

Q¦sy¤l D»ug Qy¥r¤b Q¾sA¡¦s Qm§r«¼B Q¾s«r«¼B

Practice these real Hebrew words:

AAAA¾s¤a Qla¦m«¦s Qy¡l»wa Q¾sy¥a Qr»wg¢l Aby¥b¢a Ar¢¦s¢¼B

fire left perhaps man live spring flesh

AAy¾¥sy¥a y¥l¡r²ua A¾s²ul¢¾s AAy¥l£¾s g£l£¾s AA¾sZ¤¾s Ar¤¼B¢d«l

personal oral three my snow six to-speak

g¤lg¥l y¥a¢rÂb¯gl¡a r¡l²ua b¤r²ua g¤r²ua r²ua

mock algebraic pocket-knife ambusher weaver light

y¥l®g£l y¥m²ug-¾sy¥a l¡a®g y¥m²ug y¥ry¥a yÂ¥by¥l¡a

legal contortionist redeem rubber Irishman alibi

(man-of-rubber) .

y¥dy¥d«l d¤b¥l y¥b¢b«l b¤b¥l y¥m¾s¥r aºl

for-my-part combine cordially fascinate ---- informal ----

b²ud d¤m¢l y¥ly¤l y¥ry¥l b¢l²ul b¢l»ul y±g²ul

bear learning nightly liric(al) bolt palm-branch logical

d¡¾s«l l¢¾s¢m«l dy¥m¢l d»um«l y¤d¡m«l

marrow for-example teachable experienced enough/rather

a²ub¢m d¤db¡m ry¥a«m d²ua«m d®g»ua«m r¢Âb«m¡a

preface insulator shining very-much associated storehouse

AAAAA¾s¢rd¥m l£b¢b-l¢dg¥m ¾ sy¥b¤m l»uÂb¡m r®g»ub«m

learning Tower-of-Babel shameful flood adult