23/9/2018 Introduction to Hebrew Pronunciation - HebrewPod101

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Introduction to Hebrew Pronunciation

Learn the basics of Hebrew pronunciation

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English Romanization

‫לשון‬
lashon
language; tongue

‫רכבת‬
rakevet
train
2 EXAMPLES ▾

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Grammar

Introduction to Hebrew Pronunciation

In this lesson, you'll learn the basics of Hebrew pronunciation. Pronunciation refers to the manner in which a word is spoken.

English vs. Hebrew sounds

In Hebrew, there are only 22 letters of the alphabet, and technically they are all consonants. But some of these letters have more
than one sound, so don't think you only have 22 sounds to learn. There are also vowel sounds which are shown by a dot system
called nikud.

Many of the sounds are similar to English, like b, v, sh, s and t: ‫ ת‬,‫ ס‬,‫ ש‬,‫ ב‬,‫בּ‬.

But there are a few sounds you may not recognize at first, like: ‫ צ‬,‫ ע‬,‫ח‬.

In Hebrew, words are stressed differently than in English. Stress is usually on the last syllable of the word.

For example:

1. ‫ מתלבש‬,‫ מוצץ‬,‫עבודה‬
Avodah, motzet, mitlabesh
"work, pacifier, get dressed (m)"

But in some cases, the stress is on the second to last syllable of the word:

1. ‫ מתלבשת‬,‫ נוסע‬,‫לקוח‬
Lako'akh, nose'a, mit'labeshet
"customer, passenger, get dressed (f)"

Vowels in Hebrew

Letters produce consonant sounds. These sounds are combined with vowel sounds indicated by the nikud.

Vowel sounds you find in Hebrew are all found in English as well: a, e, i, o, u.

There are different notations for these vowels, but, in most cases, the basic vowel sound stays the same. The pattern of the word
and the placement of the vowel determines which vowel symbol will be used.
For example, the word for "language," ‫לשון‬, and the word for "crisis," ‫משבר‬, both have a vowels after the first letter. But because of
the way the word is constructed, the vowels are notated differently. They also carry a different kind of stress within the word, even
though the basic vowel sound is the same.

1. ‫לשון‬
lashon
"language"
2. ‫משבר‬
mashber
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23/9/2018 Introduction to Hebrew Pronunciation - HebrewPod101

"crisis"
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Consonants with double sounds in Hebrew

Some letters have two sounds, depending on if there's a stress on the consonant or not.

‫ב‬

bet is both "b" and "v."

‫כ‬

kaf is both "k" and "kh."

‫פ‬

peh is both "p" and "f."

There is also one other letter that changes sound according to the dot above it. That's ‫ שׁ‬and ‫שׂ‬. It makes the "sh" sound when the dot
is on the right, and the "sss" sound when the dot is on the left: shin and sin.

The most daunting group of letters are the guttural letters:

1. ‫ ר‬,‫ ע‬,‫ ח‬,‫ ה‬,‫א‬

aleph, heh, ħet, ayin, resh

Three of these letters are pronounced deep in the throat. These may feel unusual at first, but are fun to say once you get the hang of
them.

1. ‫ ר‬,‫ ח‬,‫ע‬
ayin, het, resh

The sound of Hebrew

Most of the letter sounds in Hebrew are already letter sounds you use in English. That means that if you were to simply imitate a
Hebrew speaker, your pronunciation would be correct a lot of the time!

For example:

1. ‫רכבת‬
rakevet
"train"

Chances are your pronunciation was pretty spot on. The "K," "V," and "T" sounds are practically identical to English. It's only the "R"
that's a little different.
Focus on this first letter. It's often written as an "R," but don't be fooled! This letter is pronounced differently than an English "R!" It's
pronounced at the back of the throat instead of forward in the mouth.
It's actually closer to the German or French "R" but without the roll.
Nearly all sounds in Hebrew are identical to English, like the "K," "V," and "T" sounds in this example. Since you already know how to
pronounce most of these sounds, we only need to pay attention to the handful of sounds that are completely new to you. They're the
ones we need look out fo.

Download as PDF

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23/9/2018 Introduction to Hebrew Pronunciation - HebrewPod101

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Lesson Transcript Hide

Hi!

Welcome to Introduction to Hebrew.

My name is Alisha, and I'm joined by...

Hi everyone! I'm Idit

In this lesson, you'll learn the basics of Hebrew pronunciation.

Pronunciation refers to the manner in which a word is spoken. So don't focus on reading what's onscreen. Instead focus on
listening and repeating.

English vs. Hebrew sounds

In Hebrew, there are only 22 letters of the alphabet, and technically they are all consonants.

But some of these letters have more than one sound, so don't think you only have 22 sounds to learn. There are also vowel sounds
which are shown by a dot system called nikud.

Many of the sounds are similar to English, like b, v, sh, s and t...

‫ ת‬,‫ ס‬,‫ ש‬,‫ ב‬,‫בּ‬

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41 Comments Hide

😄😞😳😁😒😎😠😆😅😜😉😭😇😴😮😈❤👍

Leave a comment...

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HebrewPod101.com
TUESDAY AT 6:30 PM

Did you like this video? Please leave us a comment!

HebrewPod101.com
MONDAY AT 8:27 PM

Hi giannis,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! Let us know if you have any questions!

Cheers,

Khanh
Team HebrewPod101.com

giannis
SUNDAY AT 12:11 AM

Intresting, in Greek the r sound is rolling with the tongue , there is also no sh sound or Kh sound but only s and h.
These are the sounds i found very difficult to produce especially the Kh and r sound of Het and resh.

HebrewPod101.com
SATURDAY AT 2:26 AM

Hi Roman Gościk and Annilene Hayman,

Thanks for commenting and posting your issues.

@Roman - I understand your frustration... I will forward this request and hope we can add these slow phrases in the
future...

@Annilene - I'm not sure I understand your problem, and in any case I'm not great with Apple devices... did you try to
upload a Hebrew keyboard on the device's settings?

Yours,
Roi
Team HebrewPod101.com

Annilene Hayman
TUESDAY AT 5:34 AM

Hi, for some reason I am unable to write the Hebrew answers correctly on my IPAD. My keyboard is a standard
keyboard so I can only write the words like telefon and not the Hebrew symbols. Because of this my answers are
marked “F”. How do I fix this?

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23/9/2018 Introduction to Hebrew Pronunciation - HebrewPod101

VOCABULARY
HebrewPod101.com
LESSON NOTES LESSON TRANSCRIPT COMMENTS
TUESDAY AT 9:38 PM

Hi Christian,

Thank you for posting.

We’re adding the audio files in the vocabulary section step by step, as soon as we can record them.

Thank you for your patience.

Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team HebrewPod101.com

Christian
THURSDAY AT 4:25 PM

Hello!

Thank you for this lesson.

Unfortunately, you forgot to upload the audio for the word ‫לשון‬.

Have a nice day.

HebrewPod101.com
MONDAY AT 10:27 PM

Hi Mehmet Ali Akkuş;

Thanks for commenting and for the great feedback!

We're so happy to hear you are managing to have fun learning Hebrew with us! 😄 Please feel free to post any thought
or question and we will do our best to assist.

Yours,
Roi
Team HebrewPod101.com

Mehmet Ali Akkuş

SUNDAY AT 9:52 PM

I did not think hebrew learning would be so enjoyable.That's amazing. I like it 😄😄😄❤❤❤👍👍👍

HebrewPod101.com
WEDNESDAY AT 7:32 PM

Hi Rose Obioma Aniagoh,

Thanks for posting!

Great! Now, can you try to write a Hebrew word using these letters? 😄😄

Yours,
Roi
Team HebrewPod101.com

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23/9/2018 Introduction to Hebrew Pronunciation - HebrewPod101

VOCABULARY
Rose Obioma Aniagoh
LESSON NOTES LESSON TRANSCRIPT COMMENTS
TUESDAY AT 11:19 PM

Todah raba
Ani moda lekem

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