1-1 1-2 Chapter 1 – The Hebrew Alphabet (Alef-Bet) The Alphabet is Just the Consonants Names of the Letters In English, Difficulties Recognizing Letters both consonants and vowels are letters of the alphabet. – Final Forms – E.g., the vowel ‘A’ and the consonant ‘B’ are both – Different Fonts letters of the alphabet. – Similar Letters In Hebrew, only consonants are considered to be letters – The consonant Alef is a letter of the alphabet. א אא Writing and Transliterating the Letters – The vowel Seghol is not a letter of the alphabet. ֶֶֶֶ Begad Kephat Letters The OT was originally written without vowels Pronouncing the Letters – Vowels and accents were added in AD 500-1000 ֶ ֶ מֶ מֶ לל ֶ ך ֶ מךלךךמל מלך ךמלך– HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-3 1-4 Variations on Letter Names Different people spell letter names differently Alef ָ ֶ אֶ אָ לל ָ ף ֶ אף ףלף,E.g., Alef, Aleph, ’ā́ lep – Different people pronounce letter names differently – E.g., Waw vs. Vav. Yod vs. Yud. In Modern Hebrew, three letters are called different names depending on whether or not they have a Dagesh Bet בּבּבּ .Vet vsב בב– Kaf כּכּכּ .Chaf vsכ ככ– Pay פּפּפּ .Fay vsפ פפ– All reasonable variations are acceptable in my class HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-5 1-6 Bet Gimel HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-7 1-8 Dalet Hay HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-9 1-10 Vav Zayin HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-11 1-12 ḤḤḤet Tet HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-13 1-14 Yod Kaf HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-15 1-16 Lamed Mem HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-17 1-18 Nun Samech HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-19 1-20 Ayin Pay HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-21 1-22 Tsadee Qof HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-23 1-24 Resh Sin HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-25 1-26 Shin Tav HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-27 Order of Sin שׂשׂשׂ and Shin שׁשׁשׁ Acrostic poems (e.g., Psalm 119) show alphabet in order. – Acrostics treat Sin שׂשׂשׂ and Shin שׁשׁשׁ as the same letter, א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י .so they don’t tell us the order Modern Hebrew tends to put Shin שׁשׁשׁ before Sin שׂשׂשׂ כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק שׁשׁשׁ then Shin שׂשׂשׂ Our textbook and lexicon have Sin – So memorize this order. ר שׂ שׁ ת .You’ll never lose points for either order Mnemonic: Keep the dots together when writing the אבג ... צקרשׂשׁת alphabet Song copyright © Professor John Walton of Wheaton College Used by permission HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-29 1-30 Memorize the Alef-Bet Before Continuing Chapter 1 – The Hebrew Alphabet (Alef-Bet) Before going on to the next section, Names of the Letters learn the name of each letter and their order. Difficulties Recognizing Letters Use the Alef-Bet song to practice the names in order. – Final Forms – YouTube has 3 versions of the music video: – Different Scripts Letters and their names – Similar Letters Letters alone Writing and Transliterating the Letters All the letters showing at the same time Begad Kephat Letters – The website also has the song in downloadable Pronouncing the Letters formats: mp3, mp4, and wmv. The website links to a place to practice the letters names. HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-31 1-32 Final Forms Multiple Hebrew Scripts 5 letters use different letter shape at end of word There are multiple letter styles for writing Hebrew – Books are printed in a fancy style with serifs כ ככ מ ממ נ ננ פ פפ צ צצ Regular א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר שׂ שׁ ת But letters can be written without most of the serifs – ך ךך ם םם ן ןן ף ףף ץ ץץ Final א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ת Mnemonic: “CoMMoN FaTS” – Modern Hebrew is written in a cursive script א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ת ”This shape is called the “final form” or “sofit form – Sofit (‘sew-feet’) means ‘last’ Use the simplified shapes without serifs, and be legible. Final forms have the same pronunciation and Always write Right-to-Left transliteration as the non-final forms. HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-33 1-34 Look-Alike Letters Kaf) Bet Kaf)כ ככ (Bet)ב בב (Gimel) (Nun) Tail in Lower-Right Rounded Lower-Right נ ננ ג גג (Tav)ת תת (ḤḤḤet)ח חח (He)ה הה שׂשׂשׂ (Sin) שׁשׁשׁ (Shin) (Samek)ס סס (final Mem)ם םם (Resh)ר רר (Dalet)ד דד (Ayin)ע עע (Tsade)צ צצ (Final Kaf)ך ךך (Final Nun)ן ןן (Yod)י יי (Zayin)ז זז (Waw)ו וו HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-35 1-36 Gimel Nun Hay Ḥet Bottom like heel of a boot Flat bottom Gap in Top Left No gap in Top Left HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-37 1-38 Tav Ḥet Sin Shin Foot on Lower Left No foot on Lower Left Dot on Upper Left Dot on Upper Right HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-39 1-40 Final Mem Samech Dalet Resh Square Bottom Round Bottom Bump on Upper Right Round Upper Right HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-41 1-42 Tsade Ayin Zayin Vav Bump on Lower Right Round Lower Right Tail on Upper Right Round Upper Right HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-43 1-44 Final Kaf Final Nun Yod Vav Final Nun Top Line is Big Little or No Top Line Halfway Down Full Height Below the Line Usually a Silent Shewa in Final Kaf HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-45 1-46 Memorize the Letters Before Continuing Chapter 1 – The Hebrew Alphabet (Alef-Bet) Before going on to the next section, Names of the Letters learn to recognize the letters in different scripts, Difficulties Recognizing Letters including their final forms. – Final Forms Make flash cards with the letters on one side and the – Different Fonts names on the other side. – Similar Letters – Include final forms. Writing and Transliterating the Letters – The website has a sheet of letters to print and cut out. Begad Kephat Letters Some letters appear with and without a dot, for Pronouncing the Letters use after you have learned about begad kephat. – Write the name and recognition notes on the other side of each card. HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA HebrewSyntax.org ©JCBeckman 3/29/2012 Copy freely CC BY-NC-SA 1-47 1-48 How to Write the Letters אאא Alef The following slides suggest how to write the letters. – You can write the letters differently, as long as it is clear which letter is intended. Most letters can take a dot inside them.