{"id":2155,"date":"2017-12-19T06:31:10","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T11:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hebrew\/?p=2155"},"modified":"2017-12-19T07:06:40","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T12:06:40","slug":"say-wow-how-to-use-and-read-the-letter-vav-in-hebrew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hebrew\/say-wow-how-to-use-and-read-the-letter-vav-in-hebrew\/","title":{"rendered":"Say wow! How to use and read the letter ‘vav’ in Hebrew"},"content":{"rendered":"
Your f<\/span>irst encounter with a Semitic language like Hebrew <\/span>can bombard <\/span>you with a lot of new concepts: the root system, new sounds, and a different script, are just a few of them. Once you get over the fact that Hebrew doesn\u2019t usually write out vowels, you <\/span>realize <\/span>that some of the letters you painstakingly learned to write are in fact consonant-vowels.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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What on Earth are consonant-vowels?!,<\/i><\/span> you might ask. And it\u2019s a fair question. Some Hebrew letters are clearly confused about their identity<\/span> \u2014<\/span> unable to chose whether they are vowels or consonants, they opt to stand in the middle, and freely choose when they want to act as one or the other.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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While it\u2019s easy for them, it creates a pain for learners! This post will remedy at least some of this difficulty<\/span> \u2014<\/span> we\u2019ll investigate one victim of this consonant-vowel identity confusion.<\/span><\/div>\n
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“The Hebrew Letter Vav” by zeevveez on Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Romantic introduction<\/span> to vav<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
I remember when I saw her first<\/i><\/span> <\/i>\u2014<\/i><\/span> slim and petite she nearly disappeared among her bulky friends. She was easy to interact with at first, who would have thought she\u2019<\/i><\/span>d<\/i><\/span> cause so many issues later.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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This is not a fragment from a diary of a teenage male, but my first memory of learning to write the letter vav.\u00a0<\/span>Similar in print and cursive, who would have thought there are so many things to remember about it!\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Writing sounds<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
The l<\/span>etter <\/span>vav<\/i><\/span> represents three sounds<\/b><\/span>:\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n