BS"D

Hebrew 101: Lesson 3

The new letters required for this lesson are:

ב Bet, pronounced like the 'b' in bat. Notice the dagesh, or dot, inside the letter.

כ Kaf, pronounced like the 'k' in kid.

ן Nun Sofit or final nun, pronounced like the 'n' in name. Notice how long it is. It extends below the line on a peice of paper. The arrow pointing at the nun sofit shows about where the line on the paper would be.

ח chet or khet, pronounced like ch in loch.

ו Vav, pronounced like the 'v' in vat. Notice that the vowel holam we learned last lesson (represented by an i) is really a vav with a dot above it the affect of the dot is to turn this letter into a vowel.

The vowels required for this lesson are:

Shva. We have seen this one before, but I want to remind you that at the beginning of a syllable it is pronounced like a short, brief ih sound. This will be represented on IRC by a :

Tsereh, pronounced eh, get. This will be represented on IRC by .. (though this means I will have to put a space after the letter it is under, sorry, there is no good solution for represeting the Tsereh on IRC)

Shuruk, is pronounced like the oo in boot. It is a vav with a dot to the middle left. This will be represented on IRC by a lower case 'L' with a period to the left .l

Vocabulary for this lesson:

ןכ Pronounced kehn and transliterated as ken, it means yes, or it is so. Yes, it has a dagesh (dot) in the kahf and is voweled kahf-tsereh-nun sofit.

אוה Pronounced hoo and transliterated hoo, it means he or it (m). It is voweled hey-shuruk-aleph.

ונחנא Prounounced ah-nach-noo and transliterated anachnu, it mean we. It is voweled aleph-hataph-patach-nun-patach-chet-shva-nun-shuruk

םתא Prounounce ah-tehm and transliterated atem, it mean you plural masculine, or in the south, you all (m). It is voweled aleph-patach-tav (with dagesh)-segol-mem sofit

ןתא Pronounced ah-tehn and transliterated aten, it means you (f, pl) or in the south, you all (f). It is voweled aleph-patach-tav (with dagesh)-segol-nun sofit

םה It means they (m.), it is voweled hey-tsereh-mem sofit. It is pronounced hehm,

ןה They (f.), it is voweled hey-tsereh-nun sofit, and pronounce hen.

...ו It means 'and' -- this prefix is usually voweled with a shva and is Pronounced vih, (short, breif i sound similar to i in him, but of shorter duration).

...ב Pronounce bih and voweled with a shva. It means 'in [a]', or 'with [a]' (a prefix to a word, it cannot stand on its own). There is a dagesh inside the letter, which is a bet (see letters above). This prefix, with a patach under it instead of the shva is pronounced bah (like bah bah black sheep...) and means 'in the' or 'with the'. In this lesson, it will always mean 'in [a]' or 'in the', depending on how it is voweled.

התכ Voweled kaf-hiriq-tav-kamatz-hey, it is pronounced key-tah and means class. There is a dagesh in the kaf.

םידימלת (from the singular דימלת), is voweled tav-patach-kamed-sheva-meme-hiriq-yud-dalet-hiriq-yud-mem sofit. The tav contains a dagesh. It is pronounced tahl-meed-eem, is transliterated talmidim and means students (m). It is used both for a group of all male students, and a group of mixed male and female students

תודימלת (from the singular הדימלת) Students (f.) it contains a dagesh in the first tav and is voweled tav-patach-lamed-sheva-mem-hiriq-yud-dalet-holam-tav (w/o dagesh) and is pronounced tahl-mee-dot, is transliterated talmidot. It is used for a group of all female students.

ןב Son, there is a dagesh in the first letter, making it a bet. Voweled bet-tsereh-nun sofit, it is pronounced behn, is transliterated ben.

תב Daughter, there is a dagesh in the first letter making it a bet. It is voweled bet-patach-nun sofit and is pronounced baht, is transliterated bat.

אבא Dad, there is a dagesh in the second letter making it a bet. It is voweled aleph-patach-bet-kamatz-aleph and is pronounced ah-bah, is transliterated abba.

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