Today’s date: 29th of Adar, 5772 כ״ט באדר תשע״ב
Candle lighting – 5:13p הדלקת נרות
This is the last post for learning to read the Hebrew alef-bet. We’re going to look at three letters that do double duty in looks and pronunciation. You'll need to pay close attention to these as the difference is whether a dot (dagesh) is there or not.
בּ (bet/beit – בֵּית)
This is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet and is called 'bet'. It has the sound of 'b' as in boy.
אַבָּא (‘a-ba) – father
בַּיִת (ba-yit) – house, home
בַּנָנָה (ba-na-na) – banana
מְדַבֵּר (me-da-ber) – desert
ב: The letter vet looks just like bet, but without dagesh. This is pronounced like the 'v' in vet
אֲבָל (‘a-val) – but
בְּבַקָשָׁה (be-va-ka-sha) – please, you’re welcome
מַזָל טוֹב (ma-zal tov) – Congratulations
כּ (kaf – כָּף)
The eleventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called kaf and has the sound of 'k' in kite
אֶשְׁכּוֹלִית (‘esh-ko-leet) – grapefruit
כֵּן (ken) – yes
כִּיתָה (kee-ta) – classroom
סוּכָּר (su-kar) – sugar
When written at the end of a word, the letter כּ looks like this: ך (named kaf so-feet). Try not to confuse it with the letter ר (resh). Kaf so-feet is written extending slightly below the line of writing: ר – ך
When the letter כּ appears as כ (without dagesh) then it represents the 'ch' sound in German "Bach".
בָּרוּך (ba-rukh) – blessed
הוֹלֵך (ho-lekh) – walk / go
שְׁלוֹמֵךְ (sh-lom-ekh) – your welfare
מִכְתָב (mikh-tav) – letter (correspondence)
פ / פּ (pe / pei – פֵּא)
The seventeenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called pei (rhymes with “pay”) and has the sound of 'p' in park
אוּלְפָּן (ul-pan) – studio (Ulpan)
פּוֹלִיטִיקָה (po-li-ti-ka) – politics
פּוֹלָנִית (po-lan-it) – Polish (language)
תַפּוּז (ta-puz) – orange
Without the dagesh it is pronounced like the 'f' in far.:
אֵיפֹה (‘ei-fo) – where?
יוֹפִי (yo-fi) – great! good!
סֶפֶר (se-fer) – book
פְּרוֹפֶסוֹר (pro-fes-or) – professor
Here is the “sofit” form of pe: ף
Reading Practice
Now let’s take some more words and see how well you’ve learned the Hebrew alphabet:
Words you already know:
בַּנָנָה (ba-na-na) – banana
מוּזֵאוֹן (mu-ze-‘on) – museum
סוּכָּר (su-kar) – sugar
סוּפֶּרמַרְקֶט (su-per-mar-ket) – supermarket
פּוֹלִיטִיקָה (po-li-ti-ka) – politics
תֵאַטְרוֹן (te-‘a-tron) – theater
Names of countries:
אַרְצוֹת הַבְּרִית (‘arts-ot ha-brit) – U.S.A.
יִשְׂרָאֵל (is-ra-el) – Israel
בֶּלְגִיָה (bel-gi-a) – Belgium
פּוֹלִין (po-lin) – Poland
פּוֹרְטוּגָל (por-tu-gal) – Portugal
Names of cities:
חֵיפָה (ha-i-fa) – Haifa
תֵּל אָבִיב (tel a-viv) – Tel-Aviv
נְיוּ יוֹרְק (ni-u-yo-rk) – New York
Useful phrases:
בֹּקֶר טוֹב (bo-ker tov) – Good morning
עֶרֶב טוֹב (e-rev tov) – Good evening
מַה שְׁלוֹמְךָ (ma sh-lom-kha) – How are you? (to a man)
מַה שְׁלוֹמֵךְ? (ma sh-lom-ekh) – How are you? (to a woman)
טוֹב (tov) – (I’m) fine
וּמַה שְׁלוֹמְךָ (u-ma sh-lom-kha) – And you, how are you? (to a man)
וּמַה שְׁלוֹמֵךְ (u-ma sh-lom-ekh) – And you, how are you? (to a woman)
בְּבַקָּשָׁה (be-va-ka-sha) – Please
תּוֹדָה (to-da) – Thank you
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