Hebrew is a language of prayer, religious study, and conversation alike. The language is used often by non-Hebrew speakers for a variety of reasons, and much of the terminology of Judaism and other religions is derived from Hebrew. At the same time, written Hebrew can be a difficult language for those who are not fluent.
Steps
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Know the pronunciation of each letter, as follows:
- א ( alef ) - silent
- בּ ( bet ) - B
- ב ( vet ) - V
- ג ( gimmel ) - G
- ד ( dalet ) - D
- ה ( hey ) - H (or silent, see explanation below on silent letters)
- ו ( vav ) - V ( see explanation below on Vav)
- ז ( zayin ) - Z
- ח ( chet ) - Ch (or H, see explanation below on Kh sound)
- ט ( tet ) - T
- י ( yud ) - Y
- כּ ( kaf ) - K
- ך/כ ( chaf ) - ch with a guttural sound
- ל ( lamed ) - L
- ם/מ ( mem ) - M
- ן/נ ( nun ) - N
- ס ( samech ) - S
- ע ( ayin ) - silent
- פּ ( pei ) - P
- ף/פ ( fei ) - F
- ץ/צ ( tzadi ) - Tz
- ץ׳/צ׳ ( chee ) - Ch (as in "cheetah")
- ק ( kuf ) - K
- ר ( reish ) - R
- ש ( shin ) - Sh
- תּ ( taf ) - T (see explanation of Tav below)
- ת ( taf ) - T
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Know the pronunciations of the Hebrew vowels known as nikudot (נְקֻדּוֹת). The nikudot are as follows:
- Patach בַ - pronounced a as in father .
- Kamatz בָ - in Ashkenazi dialect, pronounced a as in what . In Sephardi dialect, pronounced like Patach.
- Segol בֶ - pronounced e as in bed .
- Tzeirei בֵ - pronounced a as in cake.
- Chirik בִ - pronounced e as in she.
- Shva בְ - pronounced i as in bid or with no sound (see Shva below for explanation).
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Understand how to read Hebrew consonants together with vowels. In the Hebrew language, most vowel symbols are placed directly below the consonant. When such a combination occurs, first the consonant sound is pronounced, then the vowel. For example, when you see a קֻ, first pronounce the K sound of the ק, then pronounce the u sound of the koobootz. The full sound is "ku."
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Understand the concept of the dagesh. A dagesh is a dot that appears in the center of a letter to disambiguate its sound when a letter has multiple sounds. Many Hebrew letters can be found with a dagesh, though only 4 letters have a distinct sound with or without one: ב, כ, פ, and ת, and ת only has a distinct sound in Ashkenazi dialect.When Hebrew is written without vowels, the dagesh is not written, and the reader is expected to know the specific sound.
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Understand the concept of the geresh . A geresh is a symbol similar in appearance to an apostrophe that like a dagesh, disambiguates the sound of a letter, and is specifically used to identify sounds not traditionally found in Hebrew, but introduced into Hebrew through loanwords. Even when Hebrew is written without vowels, the geresh is frequently included.
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Understand the concept of 'silent letters' in Hebrew. The Hebrew language has two letters that are always silent: א and ע. The letters ה and י are also sometimes used as silents. If a silent letter appears with a vowel, it is pronounced plainly as that vowel with no consonant sound. If a silent letter appears with no vowel, it is not pronounced.
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Understand the letter vav (ו). The vav can make the sounds of 4 English letters: O, U, V, and W.
- A vav with a vowel is typical pronounced as a V followed by the respective vowel sound.
- A vav with a dot above (displayed as וֹ) is pronounced O as in "rope." It is typically pronounced in conjunction with the previous consonant and treated just like a vowel together with that letter. This is known as a cholam.
- A vav with a dot to the left (displayed as וּ) is pronounced as U as in "glue."' It is typically pronounced in conjunction with the previous consonant and treated just like a vowel together with that letter. This is known as a shuruk.
- The letter vav is used to represent the English letter W. Though common dialects of Hebrew do not have a W sound, vav is used for loanwords in modern Israeli Hebrew.
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Get to know the pronunciation of the letters ח and כ. These letters make sounds not found in the English language. The sound is very much like a K and an H sound put together, rolling the back of the tongue. Sounds like this are also found in many Eastern European languages. While these letters are viewed as many as having identical sounds, the ח has more of an H-sound and the כ has more of a K-sound. Look at YouTube videos in Hebrew or Eastern European languages to get a sense of how to pronounce these sounds if you do not already know.
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Get to know the pronunciation of the letter Tav (ת). Above, you see 3 versions of the Tav. But the actual pronunciations vary by dialect.
- In Ashkenazi dialect of Biblical Hebrew, when vowels are included, תּ is used for a T-sound and ת is used for an S-sound. When no vowels are included, no dagesh is found, and the reader is expected to know which sound to use.
- In Sephardi dialect, ת is used for a T-sound, with or without a dagesh. This is one of the most notable differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Hebrew used in sacred texts.
- Modern Israeli Hebrew is like Sephardi Hebrew with the ת representing a T-sound. But ת׳ can also be used for a Th-sound.
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Get to know the shva . The shva , which appears as a colon (:) below a letter, can either be pronounced as a short i (as in kid ) or no sound at all. To determine whether or not to use a sound, try to combine the letter under which it is found with the letter that follows as a cluster. If it is possible to pronounce the two letters as a cluster, the shva is silent, and it is a cluster. A shva can also be silent when it is at the end of syllable of a word, and another syllable follows. If neither of these can be accomplished, the shva is pronounced as a short i. The shva is also pronounced when it is beneath a prefix.
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Once you understand these rules, you are ready to transliterate.
- For consonants, use the English letter corresponding with the Hebrew letter as described.
- For vowels, use the following:
- For a patach or kamatz , use A
- For a segol , use E
- For a tzeirei , use EI or EY (or you could just use an E)
- For a chirik , use I
- For a shva that is pronounced, use I or '
- For a shva that is not pronounced, use ' or no vowel
- For a cholam , use O
- For a shuruk or kubutz , use U
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Tips
- Some transliterations of words ending in a vowel sound, most commonly the A-sound, have an H added to the end, and some don't. For example, Chanukah is sometimes spelled Chanuka. Once again, this is not a solid rule.Thanks
- Since the English short O (as in hot ) sounds nearly identical to A as in father , the letter O is often used to transliterate a patach or kamatz .Thanks
- The English letter J is pronounced like a Y in many languages, and it shares the 10th position with the letter yud . This leads a lot of transliterations to use J for a Y-sound.Thanks
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