Josh Müller
Beginning Hebrew questions Shalom! I'm beginning the process of learning Hebrew, and had a couple questions that will be helpful in the process for me. First of all, the primary reason I'm studying the language is so that I will be able to read the Tanakh with some level of fluency and proficiency. With that in mind, is there anything I should know from the start about studying the language? I'm told that besides some vocab differences (such as biblical Hebrew not having words for Car, Telephone, microwave, etc.), and a few small grammar differences, modern Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew are basically the same language. Is there anything else that would be helpful to know before starting deeper into the language? Also, I was curious if there are any ways to know the vowel sounds for a word when there are not any vowel points or when I don't know the word. Is there any rule or method to figure this out, or is it just a matter of learning and knowing the words? Then, lastly, for any of you reading who follow Tim Ferris' writing, he recommends learning a few specific sentences in the language you're wanting to learn in order to get a grasp of the basic grammar of the language you're learning (this is discussed here for anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about :). http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/11/07/how-to-learn-but-not-master-any-language-in-1-hour-plus-a-favor/ ). With this in mind, may I ask for a Hebrew translation and transliteration (the sentence in Hebrew, and the English letters/pronunciation for the Hebrew words) of the sentences I've listed below? I would really appreciate it! The apple is red. It is John’s apple. I give John the apple. We give him the apple. He gives it to John. She gives it to him. I must give it to him. I want to give it to her. Toda! Thanks for the help, friends! Be blessed! Joshua
Feb 9, 2014 6:00 AM
Corrections · 4
2

My comment turned out a mess, it supposed to consist to different paragraphs (:

As for your sentences (remember, Hebrew is written from right to left):

 

The apple is red. Hatapuah adom. התפוח אדום.


It is John’s apple. Ze hatapuah shel John. זה התפוח של ג'ון.

 

I give John the apple. Male speaker: Ani noten leJohn et hatapuah. אני נותן לג'ון את התפוח. Female

speaker: Ani notenet leJohn et hatapuah. אני נותנת לג'ון את התפוח.
We give him the apple. Anahnu notnim lo et hatapuah. אנחנו נותנים לו את התפוח.

 

He gives it to John. Hu noten oto leJohn. הוא נותן אותו לג'ון.

 

She gives it to him. Hi notenet lo oto. היא נותנת לו אותו.


I must give it to him. Male speaker: Ani hayav latet lo oto. אני חייב לתת לו אותו. Female speaker: Ani

hayevet latet lo oto. אני חייבת לתת לו אותו.


I want to give it to her. Male speaker: Ani rotse latet la oto. אני רוצה לתת לה אותו. Female speaker: Ani

rotsa latet la oto. אני רוצה לתת לה אותו.

 

February 9, 2014
Dear Josh, Modern Hebrew is much simpler than Biblical Hebrew. But you will already be familiar with the Tanakh! Also, the Tanakh is pointed, has the vowels in the text, which helps a lot! It took me a long time to learn to read the Tanakh in Hebrew, but it has been well worth it!
February 10, 2015
Hello Joshua, Good luck with your Hebrew studies, I hope you'll find it fun and effective. As for your questions: Modern and the biblical Hebrew are indeed different evolution stages of the same language. But keep in mind, as Modern Hebrew is a reincarnation of the Biblical, the Grammar is *significantly* different, there are biblical words that are not used today (not just vice versa), words that we don't know their exact meaning, and words that do exist today but are used differently in the bible. For the average Hebrew speaker, decoding the biblical text is generally not a difficult task, but it takes some efforts, and even then, without interpretations one cannot fully understand what is written. Anyway, in order to be able to understand the biblical Hebrew, learning the Modern language is a great start point. There are letters that sometimes function as vowels. For example, the letter י in the word מיטה (mita = bed) indicates that the preceding מ takes the vowel 'i' . But it's true that in general you don't have a systematic way to always tell what are the vowels and how to read specific words,.and in some cases, without context the same word can be read in more than one way. As you go on studying, you'll gradualy develope an intuition for this matter (:
February 9, 2014
Good luck :-)
February 9, 2014
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