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Chapter 1

You Already Know Some Hebrew

In This Chapter

Identifying English-sounding words in Hebrew

Recalling Hebrew sayings and words

Figuring out English words that come from Hebrew

Counting in Hebrew

Eyeing the Hebrew alphabet

B aruch HaBa! Welcome to Hebrew! In studying Hebrew, you’re joining mil-

lions of other Hebrew speakers around the world. Its two centers are
Israel (of course), and North America, which is home to many Hebrew news-
papers, Hebrew-speaking camps and schools, and institutions. You’re also
speaking the Bible’s original language and one of the most ancient languages
still spoken today. Furthermore, you’re speaking the only language in the his-
tory of the world known to have undergone a revival, returning fully to being
a spoken language after hundreds — perhaps even two thousand — years of
being relegated to correspondence, literature, and the sacred world of prayer
and the Bible.

Hebrew was once almost exclusively a holy language — a language of prayers

and ritual, of the Bible and other sacred texts, and a language above the hum-
drum of the everyday. No longer true. That same ancient and holy tongue is
now the language of sunbathing on the beach, eating dinner, going to the
doctor, and the myriad of everyday life.

All languages are portals — openings to culture and friendship, literature and
ideas. Discover any one, and a whole new world opens up to you. Discover
Hebrew, and a whole Jewish and Israeli world is yours.

Taking Stock of What’s Familiar

If you’ve ever been to a synagogue or had a bit of Jewish education, you prob-
ably already know a little Hebrew. But even if you’ve never walked through a
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10 Part I: Getting Started

synagogue’s door or studied anything Jewish, you still probably know some
Hebrew words. For example, you have probably heard the word amen. That
word is Hebrew! “Amen” comes from a word meaning faith or belief and
people usually say it at the end of a prayer. And the word Hallelujah? Hebrew
again! The word literally means, “Praise God.” Even the word alphabet derives
from the Hebrew words for the first two letters of its alphabet, aleph and bet.
To see what the Hebrew alphabet looks like, check out the section,
“Recognizing Tips to Help You Read Hebrew,” later in this chapter.

Of course, you may have heard of other Jewish words, such as Shlepp
(shlehp; to drag or pull) and Kvetch (kvehtsh; to complain), that are actually
Yiddish (the language of the Jews of Eastern Europe combining Old High
German, Hebrew, and other languages), that are part of the Israeli vernacular
today. You may never even have thought about other words that have
Hebrew roots. For example, did you know that cinnamon is a derivative of the
Hebrew word Kinamon (kee-nah-mohn) which appears in the Biblical book,
The Song of Songs? The English word dilute may derive from the Hebrew
word Dal (dahl), which means weak or thin and first appears in the Biblical
book of Genesis.

Some people claim that Hebrew is the mother of all languages. No matter
what its history or origin, Hebrew, a language that has its origins in the
Fertile Crescent, has crept into North American–spoken English. And this
process works in reverse too, as many English words and phrases have crept
into the Hebrew language. Interestingly enough — while you as an English
speaker may identify these words as “English,” some of these words derive
from Italian and French, which shows the universality of certain words. But if
you say the following words with an Israeli accent, you’re speaking Hebrew!

 Cafe
 Hamburger
 Macaroni
 Pizza
 Radio
 Telephone

Incidentally, The Academy for Hebrew Language, the institute responsible for
creating Modern Hebrew words, did create an authentic Hebrew word for the
telephone. The academy called the telephone a Sach-Rachok (sahch-rah-
chohk), which put together the words for conversation and long distance. So
telephone translated as “long-distance conversation.” Pretty clever, huh?
However this word didn’t “stick” with the Israeli public. So telephone it is.
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Chapter 1: You Already Know Some Hebrew 11

Introducing The Academy for Hebrew Language

Hebrew, the language of the Bible, is spoken even — when you’ve had just a few too many —
today in Israel and around the world as a hangover (Chamarmoret; chah-mahr-moh-reht).
modern language. So the question, of course, is
Of course, the Israeli public doesn’t accept all
where did all these modern words come from?
the words the Academy invents, although the
Who decides? The answer is The Academy
Academy’s decisions are binding for govern-
for Hebrew Language, an institute founded in
ment documents and the offical Israel
Israel in 1953 to oversee the language’s devel-
Broadcasting Authority.
opment, and to create new words — as the
need arose — in a manner consistent with And Israelis aren’t above taking matters into
Hebrew’s historical development. So, although their own hands and creating words of their
Hebrew is an ancient Biblical language, new own. In the 1990s, Motorola Israel Corporation
words needed to be developed, such as high introduced wireless phones, coining a new
tech (Ta’ah-siaht-Elit; tah-ah see-yat ee-leet) word, pela-phone, meaning “wonder-phone.”
and start-up company (Chevrat Heznek; You can learn more about the Academy at:
chehv-raht hehz-nehk), surfboard (Galshan; http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/
gahl-shan), jet-lag (Ya’efet; yah-eh-feht), and english.html.

Speaking Hebrew Like a Native

When speaking a foreign language, you want to sound as authentic as possible.
Use the tips in the following sections to help you start. The most important
part of sounding like a native is persistence and practice — and then some
more practice! Listen to the CD in this book as much as possible. Spend as
much time listening to Hebrew spoken by native speakers whenever you can.

Memorizing vocabulary and certain stock phrases and repeating them to

yourself until you can say them at quite a clip is also helpful. In no time at all,
you may fool people into thinking you speak Hebrew fluently — or close to it
anyway.

Stressing out (not)

The first tip I give you has to do with the way syllables are stressed. In
American English, we often stress or place emphasis on the first syllable in
each word. For example: “When speaking a foreign language . . . .” But Hebrew
often places the emphasis on the last syllable. So if you were speaking that
previous phrase with an Israeli accent, you’d place your emphasis on the last
syllable. For example: When speaking a foreign language . . . .
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12 Part I: Getting Started

Gesturing like the best of them

Gestures provide the flourishing touch to help  In Israel, the American “thumbs-up” sign
you seem like a native speaker. Use the follow- has been seen traditionally as an unfriendly
ing gestures when speaking in Israel: gesture that means you’re Brogez (broh-
gehz; mad or pissed off at someone).
 When you hold one hand up about shoulder
level with the palm upright and all the fin- Interestingly, an extremely recent ad cam-
gers cupped together in the center of the paign in Israel encourages kids to make a
palm, this means Rega! (reh-gah; wait a “thumbs-up” sign to drivers when they’re
minute). crossing the street, with the drivers return-
ing a thumbs-up, as an indication that the
 When you want to catch a cab, point your
drivers acknowledge they see the children
index finger down at the ground, indicating
and will let them cross without running
that you want the cab to stop where you are
them over. So thumbs-up is taking on a pos-
pointing.
itive connotation!

Getting out the gutterals

The second piece of advice I can give you has to do with certain Hebrew let-
ters that are pronounced at the back of the throat. Use these tips for pro-
nouncing them:

 Ayin (eye-yeen): This letter makes a barely audible gutteral sound in the
back of the throat. For practical purposes, this letter is nearly a silent
syllable.
 Chaf (khahf): This letter makes a sound you don’t hear in English. It’s a
hard h sound like you make when you clear your throat.
 Chet (cheht): This letter makes a strong throaty h sound. In this book,
this syllable is written as ch.
 Reish (raysh): This letter makes the r sound as in round. To sound like a
native, roll this syllable like a Spanish r, and try to produce the sound
from the back of your throat.

Find out about the rest of the Hebrew alphabet in the section, “Recognizing
Tips to Help You Read Hebrew,” later in this chapter.

Opening your mouth to say, “Ah!”

Thirdly, watch the pronunciation of your vowels. When pronouncing the ah
sound, pronounce that vowel fully. Open your mouth wide and say, “Ah,” as if
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Chapter 1: You Already Know Some Hebrew 13

you were at the doctor. Hebrew doesn’t have a short i sound (like the vowel
sound in sit), so any time you see an i, remember to make it a long sound like
ee as in Whoopee! In Hebrew, oh sounds are long like in over.

In Hebrew, remember that the language is a Mediterranean language, and as

such, has a certain nasal quality to it. More so than English — but actually a
lot like French — you use your nasal cavity when making sound. On a less
technical tip: When speaking Hebrew, try to fake a French accent! At the very
least, your Hebrew will sound better than with an American one!

Counting in Hebrew
Learning how to count is fundamental to the study of any language. Hebrew
divides words into masculine and feminine genders (see Chapter 2), and
numbers are no different — they have masculine and feminine forms. You
may feel a little confused, but don’t worry! Table 1-1 gives you the cardinal
numbers (the numbers you use for counting) from 1 to 10. When you only
want to count, without counting objects, use the feminine form. See the sec-
tion “Counting objects,” later in this chapter to find out how to incorporate
gender with numbers.

Table 1-1 Counting from 1 to 10

Number Masculine Feminine
1 Echad (eh-chad) Achat (ah-chat)
2 Shnayim (shnah-eem) Shtayim (shta-yim)
3 Shlosha (shloh-sha) Shalosh (sha-lohsh)
4 Arba’ah (ahr-bah-ah) Arba (ahr-bah)
5 Chamisha (chah-mee-shah) Chamesh (chah-mesh)
6 Shisha (shee-shah) Shesh (shesh)
7 Shiv’a (sheev-ah) Sheva (she-vah)
8 Sh’monah (shmoh-nah) Shmoneh (shmoh-neh)
9 Tish’a (teesh-ah) Tay-shah (tey-sha)
10 Asarah (ah-sah-rah) Eser (eh-sehr)
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14 Part I: Getting Started

A people dispersed, a language intact

Hebrew served as the vernacular during the languages, giving rise to new Jewish languages,
ancient Jewish commonwealth until it was con- such as Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, and Yiddish.
quered by the Romans in 70 CE (Common Era).
In the 1800s, a movement began to revive
Then Jews fanned out across the globe to Asia,
Hebrew as a spoken language. Eliezer Ben-
Africa, and Europe. Even though they were dis-
Yehuda championed the cause and moved to
persed, the Jewish people continued to prac-
Eretz Yisrael (eh-rehtz yees-rah-ehl; the Land of
tice their religion — Judaism — and remain
Israel) to revive Hebrew, writing the first Modern
literate in their language — Hebrew.
Hebrew dictionary. Today Hebrew is one of the
Hebrew continued to be the language of prayer, two official languages in Israel (Arabic being
study, and correspondence for Jewish people. the other official language), and is a living,
Gradually, Jews adopted the languages of their spoken language for millions of Israelis and
host countries as their spoken language. They other Hebrew speakers across the globe.
mixed Hebrew with their different host countries’

Counting objects
The gender of the number you use when you want to count something
depends on the noun’s gender you’re counting. (Sound confusing? Don’t
worry. You can do it.) Counting objects in Hebrew is easy. Just remember to
do the following:

 Figure out the gender of the noun you’re counting: For example, if you
want to talk about one book, you first have to figure out if the noun book
is masculine or feminine. (It’s masculine.) So when you count books, you
need to use the masculine form of the number.
 Place the number appropriately before or after the noun: For the
number one, place the number after the noun. So rather than one book,
you say book one (Sefer Echad; seh-fehr eh-chad). But after you get to
the number two, place the number before the noun. [To make Sefer
plural in Hebrew, it becomes S’farim (sfah-reem; books).] So, to say two
books, you say Shnai S’farim (shnay sfah-reem), for three books, say
Shlosha S’farim (shloh-shah sfah-reem), for four books say Arba’ah
S’farim (ahr-bah-ah sfah-reem), and so on.

The number two in Hebrew is an exception. When you’re specifying two

of something, say two boys (Yeladim; yuh-lah-deem) or two girls (Yeladot;
yuh-lah-doht), and you drop the last syllable (im) of the number 2. So you get:
Shnei Yeladim (two boys) and Shtei Yeladot (two girls). Drop the im regard-
less of the noun you’re counting.
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Chapter 1: You Already Know Some Hebrew 15

Counting higher
To form the numbers 11-19, place the second number in front of the ten. For
example, eleven in the masculine form is Echad-asar. In the feminine form,
eleven is Achat-esrei (ah-chaht es-reh). Table 1-2 shows the numbers for 11-19.

Table 1-2 Counting from 11-19

Number Masculine Feminine
11 Echad-asar (eh-chad ah-sahr) Achat-esrei (ah-chaht ehs-reh)
12 Shnaym-assar (shnehym ah-sahr) Shtaym-esreh (shtehym ehs-reh)
13 Shlosha-asar (shloh-sha ah-sahr) Shlosh-esreh (shlosh-ehsreh)
14 Arba’ah-asar (ahr-bah-ah ah-sahr) Arba-esreh (ahr-bah es-reh)
15 Chamisha-asar Chamesh-esreh
(chah-mee-shah ah-sahr) (chah-mesh es-reh)
16 Shisha-asar (shee-shah ah-sahr) Shesh-esreh (shehsh ehs-reh)
17 Shiv’a-asar (sheev-ah ah-sahr) Shva-esreh (shvah es-reh)
18 Sh’monah-asar Shmoneh-esreh
(shmoh-nah ah-sahr) (shmoh-neh ehs-reh)
19 Tish’a-asar (teesh-ah ah-sahr) tu-shah-esreh (tshah-esreh)

Use the appropriate gender for the ten and the additional number that makes
up the compound number.

The multiples of ten (10, 20, 30, and so on) are easy because these numbers
are gender neutral. Table 1-3 shows the multiples of 10.

Table 1-3 Counting between Multiples of Ten

Number Hebrew Pronunciation
20 Esrim ehs-reem
30 Shloshim shloh-sheem
40 Arba’im ahr-bah-eem
50 Chamishim chah-mee-sheem
60 Sheeshim shee-sheem
(continued)
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16 Part I: Getting Started

Table 1-3 (continued)

Number Hebrew Pronunciation
70 Shiveem sheev-eem
80 Sh’monim shmoh-neem
90 Tish’im teesh-eem

However, if you want to say something like twenty-one or forty-seven, you have
to pay attention to gender again (see Table 1-4). The pattern for making these
numbers is first to state the number in the tens, such as Esrim (ehs-reem;
twenty), and then add the word for and (V’; veh), and then the single number,
such as Echad (eh-chad; one). So twenty-one would be Esrim v’echad (ehs-
reem veh-eh-chad; twenty-one).

Table 1-4 Counting from 21-29

Number Masculine Feminine
21 Esrim v’echad Es-rim v’achat
(ehs-reem veh-eh-chahd) (ehs-reem veh-ah-chat)
22 Esrim u’shnayim Esrim u’shtayim
(ehs-reem oosh-nah-yim) (ehs-reem ush-tah-yeem)
23 Esrim u’shlosha Esrim v’shalosh
(ehs-reem oosh-loh-shah) (ehs-reem veh-shah-lohsh)
24 Esrim v’arba’ah Esrim v’arba
(ehs-reem veh-ahr-bah-ah) (ehs-reem veh-ahr-bah)
25 Esrim v’chamisha Esrim v’chamesh
(ehs-reem vah-chah-mee-shah) (ehs-reem veh-chah-mesh)
26 Esrim v’shisha Esrim v’shesh
(ehs-reem veh-shee-shah) (ehs-reem veh-shehsh)
27 Esrim v’shiv’a Esrim v’sheva
(ehs-reem veh-sheev- ah) (ehs-reem veh-sheh-vah)
28 Esrim u’shmonah Esrim u’shmoneh
(ehs-reem ush-moh-nah) (ehs-reem ush-moh-neh)
29 Esrim v’tish’a Esrim v’tay-shah
(ehs-reem veh-teesh-ah) (ehs-reem veh-teh-sha)
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Chapter 1: You Already Know Some Hebrew 17

If you can count to 30, you can count to a million! For all the numbers, you
follow the same pattern as Table 1-4. First, state the number that is the multi-
ple of ten (twenty, thirty, forty, and so forth) and then you add V’ (veh; and)
plus the single digit. For example, Shloshim v’ehad (shloh-sheem veh-eh-
chahd; thirty-one), Arba’im v’echad (ahr-bah-eem veh-eh-chahd; forty-one),
and so forth.

To count by hundreds, first say the feminine number of the quantity of hun-
dreds, such as four (Arba), and then add the word for hundreds (Me’ot). This
pattern continues until a thousand. For example,

100 Me’ah meh-ah

200 Matayim mah-tah-yeem
300 Shlosh-me’ot shlohsh-meh-oht

To count by thousands, first you say the feminine number of the quantity of
thousands, and then follow it with the word for thousands, Alafim (ah-lah-
feem). This pattern continues until one million. The Hebrew word for one
thousand is Elef (eh-lehf) and the word for two thousand is Alpayim (ahl-pah-
yeem).

1,000 Elef eh-lehf

2,000 Alpyim ahl-pah-eem
3,000 Shloshet Alafim shloh-sheht ah-lah-feem
10,000 Aseret Alafim ah-seh-reht ah-lah-feem
1,000,000 Mil-yohn meel-yohn

Several chapters in this book give you an opportunity to practice using num-
bers. Check out Chapter 9 to find out how to ask for and give phone numbers,
and Chapter 14, which is all about money — don’t you love counting money?

Recognizing Tips to Help

You Read Hebrew
Hebrew is no ordinary language. Quite the contrary — Hebrew’s origins date
back more than 3,500 years ago to antiquity and the Hebrew alphabet is quite
possibly the first alphabet known to humankind. Hebrew was the language of
King David and King Solomon, and the Bible’s original language. Furthermore,
ancient people called the Phoenicians based their alphabet on the Hebrew
alphabet. The Greeks based their alphabet on the Phoenicians’ letters. And
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18 Part I: Getting Started

the Latin letters you’re reading right now are derived from the Greeks’ letters!
So although the Hebrew language may look a little different, only four degrees
separate it from what you’re used to.

In Jewish circles, using the terms C.E. (Common Era) and B.C.E. (before the
Common Era) instead of the terms A.D. (Ano Do minus; year of our Lord) and
B.C. (Before Christ) is customary. In Hebrew, you say Lifnei Ha’Sfira (leef-
nahy hah-sfee-rah; before the counting) and Acharei Ha’Sfiraha (ah-chah-ray
hah-sfee-rah; after the counting).

Figuring out the Hebrew alphabet’s

shapes, sounds, and stories
The Hebrew alphabet is one of the oldest alphabets still in use today. Even
though the letters look different than the Latin characters that comprise the
English alphabet, don’t be intimidated! Just spend some time memorizing the
shapes and sounds of these Hebrew letters and reading Hebrew will be
easier!

Like many ancient alphabets, you write the Hebrew alphabet from right to
left. Hebrew consists of 22 different letters — all consonants. Vowels aren’t
written within the consonant letters but rather are written in the form of dots
and dashes below the consonant letter. For a more complete discussion of
Hebrew vowels, see the section, “Those dots and dashes they call vowels,”
later in this chapter.

The pronunciation I provide in this book is the Sephardic (Mediterranean)

pronunciation, which is spoken in Israel today. Ashkenazi (European) pronun-
ciation differs slightly; the vowels have different pronunciations and there are
a few consonants that are different as well. I will be using Sephardic pronunci-
ation in this book.

Deciphering the consonant letters

Table 1-5 shows the Hebrew letters and their sounds.

Table 1-5 The Hebrew Alphabet

Name of Pronunciation Hebrew The Sound It Makes
the Letter Character
Aleph ah-lehf a makes no sound
Bet beht B makes a “B” sound as in “boat”
Vet veht b makes a “V” sound as in
“veterinarian”
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Chapter 1: You Already Know Some Hebrew 19

Name of Pronunciation Hebrew The Sound It Makes
the Letter Character
Gimmel gee-mehl g makes a “G” sound as in “girl”
Dalet dah-leht d makes a “D” sound as in “door”
Hey hey h makes a “soft H” sound as in
“hello”
Vav vahv w makes a “V” sound as in “video”
Zayin zah-een z makes a “Z” sound as in “zipper”
Chet cheht j makes a strong guttural “H”
sound. In this book, this letter is
represented as “Ch.”
Tet teht f makes a “T” sound as in
“teaspoon”
Yod yohd y makes a “”Y” sound at the begin-
ning of a word as in “young.”
This letter also behaves like a
vowel at times. I discuss it in the
following section about vowels.
Kaf kahf K makes a “K” sound as in “kite”
Khaf khahf k makes a strong guttural “H”
sound. This letter is represented
in this book as “kh.”
Lamed lah-mehd l makes an “L” sound as in
“lemon”
Mem mehm m makes an “M” sound as in
“mouse”
Nun noon n makes an “N” sound as in “no”
(And you thought only Catholics
had nuns.)
Samekh sah-mehch s makes an “S” sound as in “soda”
Ayin ah-yeen [ makes a barely audible guttural
sound in the back of the throat
(For practical purposes as most
nonnative speakers can’t make
this sound, this letter is a “silent
letter.” You pronounce the
vowels that are placed under it,
but the letter itself doesn’t make
a sound.)
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20 Part I: Getting Started

Table 1-5 The Hebrew Alphabet

Name of Pronunciation Hebrew The Sound It Makes
the Letter Character
Pey pay P makes a “P” sound as in
“popsicle”
Fey fay p makes an “F” sound as in “fish”
Tzadi tzah-dee x makes a hard “Tz” sound as the
double zz in “pizza.” In this book,
I represent it with “tz.”
Kof kohf q makes this “K” sound as in
“Kansas”
Reish raysh r makes the “R” sound as in
“round.” This letter is actually a
“guttural” letter. Roll it like a
Spanish “R,” and also pronounce
it from the back of the throat.
Shin sheen v (Not Charlie’s brother or Martin’s
long-lost son) when the dot is on
the right side of the letter it
makes a “Sh” sound as in
“show.” In this book, I represent
it with “sh.”
Sin seen c when the dot is on the left side of
the letter it makes an “S” sound
as in “Sam”
Tav tahv t makes a “T” sound as in “toe”

Those dots and dashes they call vowels

Originally, Hebrew had no vowels. Vowels, in the form of dots and lines under
the consonants, were added to the Hebrew writing in the seventh century of
the Common Era (C.E.). Before then, people read without vowels. And even
today, most books, magazines, and newspapers in Modern Hebrew — not to
mention the Torah scroll — are written without vowels.
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Chapter 1: You Already Know Some Hebrew 21

Modern Hebrew has both long and short vowels. As a general rule, a long
vowel can make up one syllable, but a short vowel needs either another
vowel or a Shvah (shvah; two vertical dots under a consonant) to form a
syllable. For more on the Shvah, see “Introducing the shvah,” later in this
chapter.

Vowels are divided into long and short vowels. This categorization doesn’t
have to do with their pronunciation, but rather with the fact that long vowels
are usually found in open syllables — syllables that end with a vowel — while
short vowels are usually found in closed syllables — syllables that end with a
consonant. However, the Chirik Maleh (the long vowel) holds it sound longer
than its corresponding short vowel Chirek Chaser. Table 1-6 shows the long
vowels.

Table 1-6 The Long Vowels

Name of Pronunciation Hebrew The Sound It Makes
the Vowel Character
Chirik Maleh chee-reek mah-leh ybii makes the “ee” sound as
in “see”
Cholam choh-lahm bo makes the “o” sound as
in “more”
Kamatz kah-mahtz b; makes the “ah” sound as
in “saw”
Shuruk shoo-rook Wb makes the “oo” sound as
in “mood”
Tzereh tzay-reh be makes the “a” sound as
in “cape”
Vav Cholam vahv choh-lahm /b makes the “o” sound as
in “snow”
Note: In this table, I used the letter Vet, so you could see how the vowels look when attached to a
consonant. (The vowels are the little squiggles and dots around the Vet.) Unlike in English, Hebrew
vowels can never be written alone — they are always attached to a consonant.

Table 1-7 shows the short vowels.

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22 Part I: Getting Started

Table 1-7 The Short Vowels

Name of Pronunciation Hebrew The Sound It Makes
the Vowel Character
Chirik Chaser chee-reek chah-sehr bi makes the “ee” sound
as in “see”
Kamatz Katan kah-mahtz kah-tahn b; makes the “o” sound
as in “more”
Kubutz koo-bootz bu makes the “oo” sound
as in “mood”
Patach pah-tahch b' makes the “uh” sound
as in “nut”
Segol seh-gohl b, makes the “eh” sound
as in “end”
Note: In this table, I used the letter Vet, so you could see how the vowels look when attached to a
consonant. (The vowels are the little squiggles and dots around the Vet.)

Sometimes the Kamatz, Patach, Kamatz Katan, or the Segol is paired with a
Shvah. This pairing doesn’t change the pronunciation.

The Kamatz Katan looks identical to the Kamatz. For example, if you see
something that looks like a Kamatz at the beginning of a word, followed by a
Shva, or between two Shvas, it’s probably a Kamatz Katan and should be pro-
nounced “o.”

Introducing the shvah

The Shva looks like a colon (:), and you find it underneath letters. Hebrew
actually has three types of Shvahs (but they all look the same):

 Shvah Na (shvah nah), which opens a syllable

 Shvah Nach (shvah nahch), which closes a syllable
 Shvah Merachef (shvah mehr-rah-chehf), known as the flying shvah,
which results from two Shvah Nas being next to each other in a word

The Shvahs don’t make their own sound, but are essentially placeholders
for the consonant above them. However, the Shvah Nach holds the sound
for a little bit longer. You can tell a Shvah Nach because it usually comes in
the middle or the end of a word. A Shvah Na is at the beginning of a word or
syllable.
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Chapter 1: You Already Know Some Hebrew 23

Doing it with a dagesh
The little dot that you see in the middle of letters is called a Dagesh. For most
of the time, this dot doesn’t change the pronunciation of the consonant
except for three letters. I discuss this point later in this section.

Hebrew has two types of D’geshim (dgeh-sheem; the plural form of Dagesh):

 Dagesh Kal (dah-gehsh kahl): Appears at the beginning of all words and
at the beginning of all syllables in the following letters: Bet, Gimmel,
Dalet, Kaf, Fey, and Tav.
 Dagesh Chazak (dah-gehsh chah-zahk): Appears after the word the,
which in Hebrew is a prefix consisting of the letter Hey and the vowel
Patach underneath it.

Don’t get too hung up on this distinction because all D’geshim look the same!

Sometimes in Hebrew, a letter acts like a “weak letter,” such as a Hey or a

Nun, disappears in the course of verb conjugation. (By “weak letter,” I mean
that sometimes it drops out during conjugation.) When a weak letter disap-
pears, a Dagesh Chazak appears in the letter that comes after the dropped
letter. Also, certain word patterns called Mishkalim (meesh-kah-leem), where
all the words belong to a certain category of words (such as professions,
colors, and physical challenges), have a Dagesh in one of the letters. For
example, words that describe physical challenges, such as blindness and
deafness, always take a Dagesh Chazak in the middle letter of the word.

Are you totally confused yet? So what difference does adding a Dagesh make?
In the Sephardic pronunciation that Israelis and most Hebrew speakers
today use, adding a Dagesh makes no difference in pronunciation. However,
in a few cases, when a Dagesh is placed within a letter (always a consonant),
it changes the way you pronounce that consonant. For example, when you
add a Dagesh to the letter Vet, the v sound becomes a b sound, and you
pronounce the letter like bet. When you pair a Dagesh with the letter Chaf,
the ch sound becomes a k sound, so the sound of that letter becomes kaf.
Finally, the letter Fey with a Dagesh is pronounced peh.

Reading and writing from right to left

Hebrew, like other ancient Semitic languages (such as Acadian, Samarian,
Ugaritic, and Arabic), is written from right to left. Why? Is there a preponder-
ance of lefties in the region? No!
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24 Part I: Getting Started

Hebrew as the holy tongue — don’t bite it

Judaism has always regarded Hebrew as a secret (Sod; sohd) have the same numerical
sacred language. Hebrew is often referred to as value. The Talmud has a saying, “When the
Leshon HaKodesh (le-shohn hah-koh-desh; the wine goes in, secrets come out!” Other Jewish
Holy Tongue), and even the Hebrew word for sacred writings have claimed that the Hebrew
letter, Ot (oht) means sign or wonder. In fact, letters are the manifestation of divine energy
during the period of its revival as a spoken lan- patterns, and even that the universe’s DNA is
guage, some people objected saying that composed of Hebrew letters.
Hebrew was simply too sacred for saying things
A 13th-century Jewish mystic Rabbi Abraham
like, take out the garbage.
Abulafia created a form of Jewish meditation
Hebrew letters also all have numeric value. A similar to yoga based on the Hebraic forms. And
particular form of Jewish numerolgy called a 16th-century mystic Rabbi Isaac Luria devel-
Gematria (gee-meht-ree-yah) plays on the oped another form of meditation based on visu-
words’ numeric values. For example, both the alizing the different Hebrew letters.
Hebrew word for wine (Yayin; yah-yeen) and

Maybe you’ve read the Bible, in particular the part about when Moses comes
down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments in hand. And if you
haven’t read the Bible, then perhaps you’ve seen the Mel Brooks film version
in History of the World. When Moses came down from the mountain, what was
he holding? A copy of e-mail from the Almighty? A scroll of papyrus? No! He
was holding two stone tablets! You may ask: Well, how did the Ten
Commandments get on the stone tablets, did Moses have a special pen or
something?

Moses chiseled the words in the stone with a mallet. And if he was a rightie,
he would have used his dominant hand — his right hand — to pound the
mallet onto the stylus he held with his left. And because ancient Hebrew soci-
ety — like all societies — favored righties, its language was written from right
to left. The Phoencians and then the Greeks followed suit. Then for a period
of time the Greeks wrote in both directions, switching when they got to the
end of the tablet/page. That practice makes sense if you think about it;
instead of pressing the shift key to go to all the way back, just keep going
where you are in the backward direction! Then the Greeks decided left to
right would be the standard, but Hebrew kept on writing right to left.
Tradition!

If you want some practice reading, check out: http://ejemm.com/aleph/,

an online course in Hebrew reading and Jewish values. It features fun interac-
tive activities and audio so you can hear the sounds of the letters. The site
can help you read Hebrew in no time!
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Chapter 1: You Already Know Some Hebrew 25

Fun & Games

Write the sound that each of the following Hebrew characters makes:
B _____ g _____ l _____ v _____
x _____ w _____ r _____ k _____
You can find the answers in Appendix C.
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26 Part I: Getting Started