Hebrew/Aleph-Bet

Welcome to the sixth lesson of the Hebrew alphabet! In this lesson you will learn three new Hebrew letters - Hebrew|ג, Hebrew|ז and Hebrew|ח and two new niqqud symbols - ħataf-pataħ and ħataf-qamats.

Edit

Letters

After reviewing the first nine letters and learning another three, you've already learned more than half the alphabet! Just 10 letters to go.

Now the next three letters:

Edit

Gimmel

Hebrew-Huge|ג The third letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Gimmel. It makes the "g" sound (IPA: /g/, "g" as in "give").

Edit

Zayin

Hebrew-Huge|ז The seventh letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Zayin. It makes the "z" sound (IPA: /z/, "z" as in "zoo").

Edit

Ħet

Hebrew-Huge|ח The eighth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Ħet.
You must have seen the names of vowels like ħiriq, pataħ and ħolam, and have been thinking: "What is that strange letter?". Well, that letter is called Ħet, and is transliterated in the WikiBook as Ħħ. This is to distinguish between it and Khaf, a letter you will later learn. The traditional sound this letter makes is marked in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and the Maltese language as well as many Semitic transliterations as ħ, which is the phoneme we used. Most Israelis, however, pronounce it the same as Khaf.

Now what is that sound? This sound is called voiceless uvular fricative - same as Resh only that you don't use your vocal cords (IPA: /χ/, "ch" as in German "Bach", in Dutch "acht"). A similar sound exists in English, voiceless velar fricative (IPA: /x/, "h" as in "human").

Listen|filename=Voiceless uvular fricative.ogg|title=Voiceless uvular fricative|format=Ogg

Edit

Vowels

We have learned that Shva can either mean the end of a syllable or stand for the "ə" sound. However, the Shva Na‘ (ə) can't be put in guttural letters. What as one wants to make the "ħə" sound? The "hə" sound? The "ə" sound? For that purpose, three special reduced vowels, known as ħataf ("interrupted") have been devised. In this lesson we're going to learn the first two:

Edit

Ħataf-Pataħ

Hebrew-Huge|חֲ The Shva and Pataħ under the ĦetĦataf forms can appear only on the guttural letters Hebrew|א, ה, ח and Hebrew|ע (a letter you haven't learned). The standard form for showing these is Ħet. are the ħataf-pataħ.

It produces the "a" sound (IPA: /a/, "a" as in "spa").

Edit

Ħataf-Qamats

Hebrew-Huge|חֳ The Shva and Qamats under the Ħet are the ħataf-qamats.

It produces the "o" sound (IPA: /o/, "o" as in "gore").

Edit

Words

Hebrew-Large|אֲנִי ani I
Hebrew-Large|אֲנַחְנוּ anaħnu we
Hebrew-Large|אֳנִיָה oniyyah ship (feminine, singular)
Hebrew-Large|חַג ħag holiday (masculine, singular)
Hebrew-Large|חָבֵר ħaver friend (masculine, singular)
Hebrew-Large|זַחַל zaħal caterpillar (masculine, singular)
Hebrew-Large|חַלָּה ħalah chalah, traditional Jewish bread made on the Sabbath and other festivities (feminine, singular)
Hebrew-Large|גֶּזֶר gezer carrot (masculine, singular)

Edit

Summary

In this lesson, you've learned:

• The letters Gimmel Hebrew|ג, Zayin Hebrew|ז and Ħet Hebrew|ח.
• The niqqud symbols ħataf-pataħ (Hebrew|ֲ) and ħataf-qamats (Hebrew|ֳ).
• The words Hebrew|אֲנִי, אֲנַחְנוּ, אֳנִיָה, חַג, חָבֵר, זַחַל, חַלָּה and Hebrew|גֶּזֶר.

Practice what you've learned in the exercises.