Hebrew Alphabet
From UniLang Wiki
| Letter | Hebrew Name | Transliteration | IPA Value |
| א | אלף | ¹ | ʔ |
| ב | בית | b/v | b/v |
| ג | גימל | g | g |
| ד | דלת | d | d |
| ה | הא | h³ | h |
| ו | וו | v | v |
| ז | זין | z | z |
| ח | חית | ch | χ, ħ |
| ט | טית | t | t |
| י | יוד | y/² | j |
| כ,*ך | כף | k,ch | k,χ |
| ל | למד | l | l |
| מ,*ם | מם | m | m |
| נ,*ן | נון | n | n |
| ס | סמך | s | s |
| ע | עין | ¹ | ʔ |
| פ,*ף | פה | p,f | p,f |
| צ,*ץ | צדי | tz | ts |
| ק | קוף | k | k |
| ר | ריש | r | ʁ |
| ש | שין | sh,s | ʃ,s |
| ת | תו | t | t |
Note: the second variants of letters (marked with a *) are the different forms used at the ends of words.
¹א and ע usually have no sound of their own, and simply act as "dummy letters" indicating a following vowel, while lengthening a preceding vowel if identical (like in the word מָעַרִיךְ, where the a vowel under מ is lengthened on account of the consonantal א, as opposed to as silent א like in the word ראשי rashi), or shifting and even gliding to a diphthong if a preceding vowel is not identical (like the word שיעור). There are five vowels, indicated by the Nikkud marks surrounding the letters (but there is more than one nikkud per vowel):
אָבא aba "father"
אֶרץ eretz "land"
אִמא ima "mother"
אוֹזן ozen "ear"
שִיעור shijur "lesson"
Traditionally א and ע were pronounced like Arabic ء (hamza) and ع ('ayn) respectively. They, like the other unique Semitic sounds, have been partially lost in the standard language , though they are still pronounced this way by immigrants from Arabic countries, and Israeli Arabs. A glottal stop is sometimes pronounced for both, especially in hiatus.
² ו"ו and יו"ד are considered consonants, like all Hebrew letters, but they can also be used to indicate vowel sounds o/u and ei/i respectively:
אור or "light"
אוניברסיטה universita "university"
עיר ir "city"
אין ein "not"
³ה when appearing at the end of a word is not pronounced. Though it technically has an h sound in other positions in practice it is usually pronounced (except by newsreaders) and, like א and ע, simply gets elided in speech.
Hebrew has an array of vowel signs (נקודות or תנועות), as well as דגש (Dagesh with a hard g) to show pronunciations of the three consonants בי"ת, פ"ה and כ"ף. However these vowel signs are practically never used in everyday printed material and one must learn to get by without them.
The ' is used to make some letters "softer". It is mainly used with foreign words and names.
ch - 'צ (check, pronounced similarly to English - צ'ק)
j - 'ג (jess - ג'ס)
zh/french j - 'ז (jack - ז'אק)
th - 'ת (thor - ת'ור)
Block letters and Script letters
There are two sets of letters in modern hebrew: block letters (otiyot dfoos - אותיות דפוס) and script letters (otiyot chtav - אותיות כתב). Block letters (which are explained above) are used for print - books, signs, subtitles, newspapers and the Internet. The script letters are used for handwriting.
One last thing to remember before you begin to read in Hebrew - it is written from right to left (just like Arabic).
