Hebrew Lessons!

!שלום Hello!

This is the place to learn how to speak Hebrew. First, here is a brief introduction about the Hebrew Language:

The language Hebrew is spoken in Israel. It is a very ancient language going way back before they started counting. It is spoken mostly by Jewish people.
**NOTE: Unlike English and most other languages, Hebrew is read from RIGHT TO LEFT!**

All the lessons in here will be prepared by your Hebrew Language Mods and posted in this thread. Do not put pressure on us, as we have real lives outside SS. We are by no means real or experienced teachers, but preparing these lessons voluntarily. If you don't like the way the lessons are structured, then you don't have to follow them. (Rather send us a polite PM with suggestions). Also, maintain respect at all times.

DO NOT CHAT IN THIS THREAD. You can only post questions concerning the lesson here.

If you have any suggestions about the content of the next lessons, feel free to send us a PM!

Hebrew Alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters in it and unlike English which is written from left to right, Hebrew is written from right to left (but on SS it doesn't work so just imagine that all these letters are on the right side of the page):


א = "Alef", usually silent, this is the first letter
ב = "Bes" or "Bet" (depending on dialect)
ג = "Gimmel"
ד = "Daled"
ה = "Hey"
ו = "Vav"
ז = "Zayin"
ח = "Chet"
ט = "Tet"
י = "Yud"
כ = "Caf"
ל = "Lamed"
מ = "Mem"
נ = "Nun"
ס = "Samech"
ע = "Ayen", another silent letter
פ = "Pey" or "Fey"
צ = "Tzadik"
ק = "Kuf"
ר = "Resh"
ש = "Shin" or "Sin", it'll be a sh if the dot is on the right cause sins are never right
ת = "Taf"



For those who prefer to hear the pronunciation to make sure they have it correct, then here's a site I just found where you could click on the letters and listen to the pronunciation of them!

Hebrew Numbers

Learning numbers is important for any language and it's no different for Hebrew. Once you learn the numbers, then you'll be able to go shopping and understand when prices when are given. We'll start with numbers 1-10.

Numbers 1 through 10:
1 - אחד ("eh'chad")
2 - שתיים ("shtayim")
3 - שלושה ("shlosha")
4 - ארבע ("arba")
5 - חמש ("h'amesh")
6 - שש ("shesh")
7 - שבע ("shèva")
8 - שמונה ("shmone")
9 - תשע ("tesha")
10 - עשר ; עשרה ("assara" ; "esser")

Read through the numbers 1-10 a couple of times until you are comfortable with them. Try counting from 1 to 10 without referring to them. Then for practice, try counting backwards from 10 to 1 in Hebrew.

Numbers 11 through 19:

Now that you are comfortable with the first 10 Hebrew numbers, try to learn the numbers from 11 to 19. To help you with reading practice we will not include the transliterations.

11 - אחד עשרה
שנים עשרה - 12
שלוש עשרה - 13
ארבע עשרה - 14
חמש עשרה - 15
שש עשרה - 16
שבע עשרה - 17
שמונה עשר - 18
תשע עשרה - 19

The numbers 20 and onwards

As you could see, the numbers 11-19 are simply formed by adding "עשר" or "עשרה"to the numbers 1-9.

20 in Hebrew is "עשרים" or "essrim". The numbers 21-29 are formed in a similar way to 11-19. Here are some examples:
twenty
20 עשרים -
עשרים ואחד- 21
עשרים ושתים- 22
עשרים ושלוש - 23
עשרים וארבע - 24
עשרים וחמש - 25

Other compound numbers are formed in the same way, quite similar to English. Here are the other numbers you may need to form numbers in Israel. It will be useful to learn as many of these numbers as you can because it makes it easier to understand the price of goods in the Israeli sheckle.

30 - שלושים
ארבעים - 40
חמישים - 50
ששים - 60
שבעים - 70
שמונים - 80
תשעים - 90
מאה - 100
מאתיים- 200

אלף - 1000
מיליון - 1,000,000

For example: 156 - מאה חמישים ושש

You may also need to know the name of the digit 0.

0 - אפס

Conclusion
At first it may be difficult to remember all those numbers. But don't worry. You can always return to this lesson to review them. In the next lesson or two we will cover some useful Hebrew words and phrases that will help you to introduce yourself and have a basic conversation.

Hebrew Days

Knowing the days of the week is important, so you'll be able to say things like "Today is Monday" or "Tomorrow is Saturday". Once you learn how to say the days in Hebrew, you'll be well on your way to making plans on certain days. We'll start with the Days of the Week (or ימי השבוע)

Sunday - ראשון ("reeshon")
Monday - שני ("shenee")
Tuesday - שלישי ("shleeshee")
Wednesday - רביעי ("re'vee'ee")
Thursday - חמישי ("chameeshee")
Friday - שישי ("sheeshee")
Saturday - שבת ("shabbat")


Now for some more generic terminology referring to when:

Second - שניה ("shneeya")
Minute - דקה ("daka")
Hour - שעה ("sha'a")
Day - יוֹם ("yom")
Week - שבוע ("shavua")
Month - חוֹדש ("chodesh")

Yesterday - אתמול ("etmol")
Today - היוֹם ("hayom")
Tomorrow - מחר ("machar")
Two days ago- שלשום (Shilshom)

For example, if you wished to say "Today is Friday", then it is היוֹם יוֹם שישי

Conclusion
Interesting fact about the Hebrew Calender is that all days start at dusk. Which is why you will find that the Jewish Holidays all start in the evening (in case you were ever wondering). With that in mind, keep practicing the words, the letters and remember:
רק עברית!

^Does it mean a new week starts at Saturday evening?

Could you complete the alphabet list, please? Because I have to check every single letter.
And could you explain where the vowels come from? That's rather confusing.

Thanks for the thread. It's quite interesting. ^_ ^

Yes, a new week starts on Saturday, 18 minutes after sunset. The same goes for each day of the week. (Monday starts on Sunday, 18 minutes after sunset.)

The alphabet is complete. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

Unlike the english language the hebrew language has no such thing as vowels. Take the first letter of the alphabet א for example, the sound of it it Ahh. And the second letter ב the sound is B. Some of the sounds are like the english sounds. But only a few.

I hope this helped! We're glad you like it.

Why exactly 18 minutes? (just curious)

Thanks for the alphabet. So. I tried. But. It's quite difficult. D=
For example:
שמונה ("shmone") It's Shin-Mem-Vav-Nun-Hey, right? So why is it shmone? [/stupidn00bquestion]

Hmm, I might be mistaken on this and Shirel can correct me if I'm wrong... But I do believe that it is 18 minutes because the number 18 in Hebrew is equivalent to the Hebrew word "Chai" which means "life" =)

As for Shmone..... when you're putting together the letters, and perhaps I didn't go through this clearly, they combine to form a word. Much like in English, how we don't sound out each letter separately.

The "vav" could be either an "O" or an "OO" sound, which once familiar with the language, you know just from the word.

Shirel said there weren't vowels, but that's not true... There ARE vowels, but not like in English. The vowels go underneath certain letters... Perhaps I need to do a lesson on vowels next and try to include them with my words? =]

The world "chai" does equal to 18 but that is not the reason. 18 minutes means from sunset until the first three stars are shown in the sky. If you count from sunset until the first three stars are shown in the sky, you should get too 18 minutes.

Yeah, I forgot about those! lol You learn them in first grade but after you know how to write and read you don't need them anymore. It is called ניקוד "Nikud."

About the shmone, I'm just adding to what Jess said, that there are sounds that people who don't live in Israel or moved here even during their teens, can't pronounce. They can't pronounce letter ח, and ר like the people who live here or moved here at a later stage in life. They pronounce the ר as R and the letter ח like H.


Jess: OOH! Three stars, yes I knew that, but i forgot out that! i think the chai theory is better though

* * *
Oh, that's nice. ^_ ^ I'm going to check this, since I live in a place where you can actually see the stars in the sky.

Vowels...well. (er...Taxus with his terrible accent when he speaks English) <-- I think that's the problem.


Shirel: Tell us if it worked!

Vowels are very important when learning hebrew, I have a limited knowledge of the language do to going to an after-school hebrew school through my shull when I was younger.

Unfortunatly they really didn't teach us the language, the goal was to get us familiar enough with the language that when reading, rather reciting, for out bar/bat mitzvot that we could find our place if we got lost.

Anyway, for the past few years I have been attempting to teach myself the language. I can read but painfully slowly, only with vowels and I have no idea what I'm saying most of the time.

I know you don't want to put the transliteration up but it is hard to read without the vowels without knowing the language because the same combinations of letters can mean two distinct things. Also the letters make slightly different sounds with different attached vowels.

I know with some hebrew programs it's sometimes difficult to type with vowels, and if that was the case just posting the transliteration next to it can help.

sorry I ranted a bit, but I do want to learn and I'm just giving a few suggestions.

^^
Hey! Okay, I read what you wrote. My computer doesn't write with vowels on it, but we will see what we can do. I think I might have a few ideas about that. Anyway thanks for the suggestion.
Sorry it's taking so long. More lessons coming soon...
-*~ Shirel ~*-

EDIT: I found how to type on the computer with vowels!!! I will add them.

A list of common needed words for a vacation in Israel =)

1. Where is the bathroom? - eifo hasherotim? - איפה השרותים?
2. How do i get to X? - eich ani magi le X? - איך אני מגיע לX?
3. Excuse me - tislah li - תסלח לי
4. I want this - ani rotze et ze - אני רוצה את זה
5. I am hungry - ani ruevh - אני רעב...


Where is the nearest hotel? - Eifo hamalon hahi karov? -
איפה המלון הכי קרוב?

Where can i get a taxi? - eifo ani yahol limtzo monit? -
איפה אני יכול למצוא מונית?

How much does this cost? - Kama zeh oleh? - כמה זה עולה?

I have to admit, I've never found out. All I know is that Venus shows up first, and she's not even a star. ; )

I've seen a Hebrew movie lately, and I was quite surprised at the familiar sound. I think it is the Chet that sounds just the same like the Ch in my first language.

At my former school, we could have learned Hebrew, but only some sort of "Ancient Hebrew". How different is it from the language you speak today?

I guess it depends in which part of the world you live in.

Yeah, the Chet and the ch are very similar sounds. I wonder, Hebrew is not your first language. Are you able to pronounce the Chet sound?

Well, ancient Hebrew is the hebrew language that is written in the bible (just in Hebrew). It's pretty similar. Today the language is much more modern and the vocabulary has expaned, but a lot, if not most, of the Hebrew is from the bible (Ancient Hebrew).

A sentence in the bible will begin with (examp): "Said Moses to god..." The setup of the sentences was quite diffrent then. Another example, with numberes: "One three hundred a thousand." Which means a thousand three hundred and one.