Hebrew Lesson 3

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roeeh Tuesday 06th of June 2006 05:48:03 PM
Lesson 3 - Shalom,

These are the personal pronouns, as usual, because of the gender specification hebrew has more of them than english.
first the singular forms:
אני - ani - I
אתה - ata - you (singlular, male)
את - at - you (singular female)
הוא - hu - he
היא - hi - she

Each singular form has it\'s plural form:
אנחנו - anakhnu - we (another form is \"anu\", but it\'s less common)
אתם - atem - you (plural, male)
אתן - aten - you (plural female)
הם - hem - they (males)
הן - hen - they (females)

To make a little order in the mess:
2nd person always starts with את (at)
3rd person starts with ה (h)
plural male pronouns end with ם (m)
plural female pronouns end with ן (n)

When you use the 2nd and 3rd person to talk to or about one person there is no problem deciding if you should use the male of female pronounes (at least in mosr cases... :)), but when it comes to the plural pronouns Hebrew has a little discrimination and the female form should be used only if the group you are talking to/about is 100% female. i.e. if you are talking about a group that consists of 1000 women and one man you should use the male pronoun. Sorry ladies...

Examples:
אני עולה חדש - ani ole\' khadash - I [am] a new immigrant
(don\'t forget that the adjective comes after the described object, therefore the litteral translation is: I [am] immigrant new)
אתן נשים יפות - aten nashim yafot - you [are] beutiful women

הוא מדבר עברית - hu medaber ivrit - he speaks Hebrew

אנחנו תלמידים טובים - anakhnu talmidim tovim - we [are] good students

NOTE: In day-to-day spoken Hebrew the plural female forms (pronouns, verb conjuctions etc.) are rarely used and people just use the male forms in all cases, but when it comes to writing, the correct forms are used.

Moses and a Dog
---------------
There are 7 letters in Hebrew that are special because they are added to the begining of a word and become part of it, even though they are still an indipendant componant. 5 of them are prepositions and the other 2 have other uses. The letters that are used as prepositions are actually abriviations of longer words that can also be used for the same purpose. The Hebrew innitials for them are משה וכלב(=Moses and a dog)

These are the letters and their longer versions:
מ <- מן - m <- min - from, of, out of

ש <- אשר - sh <- asher - that

ה - ha - the (we already talked about it)

ו - ve - and

כ <- כמו - k <- kmo - like, as, such as

ל <- אל - l <- el - to, into, for

ב <- בתוך - b <- betokh - in, inside, at

The punctuation of these letters is a little tricky. In Hebrew script they all (exept ה ) get the \'shva\' punctuation (=no vowel), but when spoken most of them get an \'e\' sound. מ usually get \'i\' sound.

באנו באוטובוס - banu be\'otobus - we came in a bus

אני מישראל - ani mi\'israel - I [am] from Israel

יוסי ודני תלמידים טובים - yosi ve\'dani talmidim tovim - Yosi and Dani [are] good students

הוא קטן כמו עכבר - hu katan kmo akhbar - he [is] small like a mouse

אתן נוסעות לתל אביב - aten nos\'ot le\'tel aviv - you [are] traveling to Tel Aviv

When these letters are added to a word that already has the definite article (the), they get the vowel \'a\'.

הילד בבית - hayeled ba\'bayit - the child [is] in the house

הלכתי לבנק - halakhti la\'bank - I went to the bank

That\'s it for this time, again, feel free to asr questions.
Have fun.

roee

ladysmyrna Thursday 08th of June 2006 06:16:14 PM
- Shalom Roeeh!!!

Can you also talk about this issue which confuses me sometimes :P

When we say \"kol\" it\'s the Kaf sound. But if we put be- before this letter it sounds like \"bechol\". Can you explain when there is a change in sound? What is the rule?

Toda raba!

roeeh Saturday 10th of June 2006 11:33:19 PM
- Ok, you asked for it:

Some of the rules of punctuation talks about a group of 6 letters called \"beged kefet\" these are: ב, ג, ד, כ, פ, ת
All these letters used to have 2 different ways of pronounciation. The difference in the writing of these 2 ways was the emphesis mark (=dagesh. It\'s marked as a single dot inside the letter). In modern Hebrew, dagesh changes the pronounciation of only 3 of these letters:

ב with dagesh sounds like B - ב without dagesh sounds like V.

כ with dagesh sounds like K - כ without dagesh sounds like KH.

פ with dagesh sounds like P - פ without dagesh sounds like F.

All the other letters are pronounced exactly the same whether they have a dagesh or not.

In hebrew there are 2 kinds of Shva (=no vowel punctuation. Marked as 2 dots one above the other and appears under the letter).
שווא נח (shva nakh) - a still shva. Every shva which appears in the base form of the word (verbs - 3rd body single, male; nouns - single; etc.), or on the last letter of the word is a shva nakh.
שווא נע (shva na) - a wandering shva. Every shva which appears on the first letter of the word and every shva which does NOT appear in the base form of the word is a shva na.

Confused already? these were only the defenitions... :)

Now,
If one of the letters ב, כ, פ appears at the begining of a word or after a shva nakh it gets a dagesh and pronounced as a hard sound.

In your example the word כל (=every) beggins with כ therefore it gets a dagesh and pronounced as a hard כ(kol).
other examples:
כלב - kelev = dog. The כ is at the begining of the word, therefor is hard.
ברוז - barvaz = duck.
מלכה - malka = queen. The כ comes after the shva nakh of the ל, and therefor is hard.
חרפה - kherpa = disgrace.

When one of the \'beged kefet\' letters comes after a shva na they must never have a dagesh:
הלכה - halkha = she went. Here the ל has a shva na so the כ after it will not have a dagesh and is pronounced as a soft sound.

In your example, when you add the ב, it appears at the begining of the word, gets a dagesh and pronounced as a hard ב(b), but it is punctuated with a shva na, so the כ can not have a dagesh so it is droped and it\'s pronounced as a soft כ(kh)- בכל(bekhol = in every)
Other examples:
פנים -> בפנים - pnim -> bifnim = interior -> inside
פנקסו -> בפנקסו - pinkaso -> befinkaso = his pocket book -> in his pocket book

I hope you\'re confused enough for today, but as I said at the begining - you asked for it :)
A little comfort might be that this punctuation thing is really confusing even for native Hebrew speakers so if you\'ll make a few mistakes no one will look at you in a funny way.

shavua tov (have a good week),
roee

ladysmyrna Monday 12th of June 2006 01:17:30 PM
- Wow!!! :S

Yeah I am confused but you\'re right I asked for it :p

I\'ll study this and come up with more questions! :D

Hamon toda Roeeh *huggs*

ladysmyrna Thursday 15th of June 2006 03:03:47 PM
- How am i going to know if the letter before these mentioned letters have dagesh or not? :-o

Phrasebase Archive
	roeeh	Tuesday 06th of June 2006 05:48:03 PM
	Lesson 3 - Shalom, These are the personal pronouns, as usual, because of the gender specification hebrew has more of them than english. first the singular forms: אני - ani - I אתה - ata - you (singlular, male) את - at - you (singular female) הוא - hu - he היא - hi - she Each singular form has it\'s plural form: אנחנו - anakhnu - we (another form is \"anu\", but it\'s less common) אתם - atem - you (plural, male) אתן - aten - you (plural female) הם - hem - they (males) הן - hen - they (females) To make a little order in the mess: 2nd person always starts with את (at) 3rd person starts with ה (h) plural male pronouns end with ם (m) plural female pronouns end with ן (n) When you use the 2nd and 3rd person to talk to or about one person there is no problem deciding if you should use the male of female pronounes (at least in mosr cases... :)), but when it comes to the plural pronouns Hebrew has a little discrimination and the female form should be used only if the group you are talking to/about is 100% female. i.e. if you are talking about a group that consists of 1000 women and one man you should use the male pronoun. Sorry ladies... Examples: אני עולה חדש - ani ole\' khadash - I [am] a new immigrant (don\'t forget that the adjective comes after the described object, therefore the litteral translation is: I [am] immigrant new) אתן נשים יפות - aten nashim yafot - you [are] beutiful women הוא מדבר עברית - hu medaber ivrit - he speaks Hebrew אנחנו תלמידים טובים - anakhnu talmidim tovim - we [are] good students NOTE: In day-to-day spoken Hebrew the plural female forms (pronouns, verb conjuctions etc.) are rarely used and people just use the male forms in all cases, but when it comes to writing, the correct forms are used. Moses and a Dog --------------- There are 7 letters in Hebrew that are special because they are added to the begining of a word and become part of it, even though they are still an indipendant componant. 5 of them are prepositions and the other 2 have other uses. The letters that are used as prepositions are actually abriviations of longer words that can also be used for the same purpose. The Hebrew innitials for them are משה וכלב(=Moses and a dog) These are the letters and their longer versions: מ <- מן - m <- min - from, of, out of ש <- אשר - sh <- asher - that ה - ha - the (we already talked about it) ו - ve - and כ <- כמו - k <- kmo - like, as, such as ל <- אל - l <- el - to, into, for ב <- בתוך - b <- betokh - in, inside, at The punctuation of these letters is a little tricky. In Hebrew script they all (exept ה ) get the \'shva\' punctuation (=no vowel), but when spoken most of them get an \'e\' sound. מ usually get \'i\' sound. באנו באוטובוס - banu be\'otobus - we came in a bus אני מישראל - ani mi\'israel - I [am] from Israel יוסי ודני תלמידים טובים - yosi ve\'dani talmidim tovim - Yosi and Dani [are] good students הוא קטן כמו עכבר - hu katan kmo akhbar - he [is] small like a mouse אתן נוסעות לתל אביב - aten nos\'ot le\'tel aviv - you [are] traveling to Tel Aviv When these letters are added to a word that already has the definite article (the), they get the vowel \'a\'. הילד בבית - hayeled ba\'bayit - the child [is] in the house הלכתי לבנק - halakhti la\'bank - I went to the bank That\'s it for this time, again, feel free to asr questions. Have fun. roee
	ladysmyrna	Thursday 08th of June 2006 06:16:14 PM
	- Shalom Roeeh!!! Can you also talk about this issue which confuses me sometimes :P When we say \"kol\" it\'s the Kaf sound. But if we put be- before this letter it sounds like \"bechol\". Can you explain when there is a change in sound? What is the rule? Toda raba!
	roeeh	Saturday 10th of June 2006 11:33:19 PM
	- Ok, you asked for it: Some of the rules of punctuation talks about a group of 6 letters called \"beged kefet\" these are: ב, ג, ד, כ, פ, ת All these letters used to have 2 different ways of pronounciation. The difference in the writing of these 2 ways was the emphesis mark (=dagesh. It\'s marked as a single dot inside the letter). In modern Hebrew, dagesh changes the pronounciation of only 3 of these letters: ב with dagesh sounds like B - ב without dagesh sounds like V. כ with dagesh sounds like K - כ without dagesh sounds like KH. פ with dagesh sounds like P - פ without dagesh sounds like F. All the other letters are pronounced exactly the same whether they have a dagesh or not. In hebrew there are 2 kinds of Shva (=no vowel punctuation. Marked as 2 dots one above the other and appears under the letter). שווא נח (shva nakh) - a still shva. Every shva which appears in the base form of the word (verbs - 3rd body single, male; nouns - single; etc.), or on the last letter of the word is a shva nakh. שווא נע (shva na) - a wandering shva. Every shva which appears on the first letter of the word and every shva which does NOT appear in the base form of the word is a shva na. Confused already? these were only the defenitions... :) Now, If one of the letters ב, כ, פ appears at the begining of a word or after a shva nakh it gets a dagesh and pronounced as a hard sound. In your example the word כל (=every) beggins with כ therefore it gets a dagesh and pronounced as a hard כ(kol). other examples: כלב - kelev = dog. The כ is at the begining of the word, therefor is hard. ברוז - barvaz = duck. מלכה - malka = queen. The כ comes after the shva nakh of the ל, and therefor is hard. חרפה - kherpa = disgrace. When one of the \'beged kefet\' letters comes after a shva na they must never have a dagesh: הלכה - halkha = she went. Here the ל has a shva na so the כ after it will not have a dagesh and is pronounced as a soft sound. In your example, when you add the ב, it appears at the begining of the word, gets a dagesh and pronounced as a hard ב(b), but it is punctuated with a shva na, so the כ can not have a dagesh so it is droped and it\'s pronounced as a soft כ(kh)- בכל(bekhol = in every) Other examples: פנים -> בפנים - pnim -> bifnim = interior -> inside פנקסו -> בפנקסו - pinkaso -> befinkaso = his pocket book -> in his pocket book I hope you\'re confused enough for today, but as I said at the begining - you asked for it :) A little comfort might be that this punctuation thing is really confusing even for native Hebrew speakers so if you\'ll make a few mistakes no one will look at you in a funny way. shavua tov (have a good week), roee
	ladysmyrna	Monday 12th of June 2006 01:17:30 PM
	- Wow!!! :S Yeah I am confused but you\'re right I asked for it :p I\'ll study this and come up with more questions! :D Hamon toda Roeeh huggs
	ladysmyrna	Thursday 15th of June 2006 03:03:47 PM
	- How am i going to know if the letter before these mentioned letters have dagesh or not? :-o