Reading and vowels in Hebrew. Is it possible to read without vowels? Vowels (icons for vowels) in Read by Hebrew syllables

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Writing in Hebrew - from right to left (except for writing numbers).

Hebrew has 22 letters. These letters convey their own sounds, as well as syllables.

For example, the letter מ "ma'am" conveys the sound m, in words it can sound like m, ma, mi, me, mo, mu.

Let's start learning letters in alphabetical order, noting that printed letters are different from capital letters, so you should not try to write them down. WITH capital letters You can read the material "Technique of writing in Hebrew" (see the link below, in the "Read also" section)

You can watch the video on this page.

Letters א-ה

Letterא “a lef” does not have its own consonant sound - it conveys vowel sounds, or is not pronounced.

Letterב "bet" conveys sounds b And V. At the beginning of a word, ב always sounds b, and at the end of the word V(exceptions are words of foreign origin ending in the sound b, e.g. Bob).

Let's study the words (if the stress does not fall on the last syllable, it is indicated by underlining the vowel in the transcription):

אב father aw

אבא papa a ba

בא he came, arrived ba

Letterג "gimel" transmits sound G. Let's learn new words:

back woof

אגב by the way, by the way agave

אגב, אבא בא.

agave, a ba ba

By the way, dad came.

Once again, we especially note: in Hebrew, a letter can convey not only a certain sound, but also a syllable.

For example, the letter ג might sound g, ha, ge, gi, go, gu. In this case, a certain combination of letters is read in a strictly defined way. For example, the word גב should be read woof, but not gav, Not gov, Not gouv etc.

For comparison, as in Russian with abbreviations: PRC is read kaene r, but not knyr; The media is being read mass media, but not messages. Words in Hebrew are built according to logical word-formation schemes, so reading is not as difficult as it seems at the initial stage.

Also note: not in Hebrew capital letters . Therefore, the first letter in a sentence does not differ from subsequent ones in size. Later you will see that proper names ( geographical names, names of people) are not capitalized.

Letterד "dalet" transmits sound d. Let's read the words:

fish doug

fabric bad

uh gad

בגדאד Baghdad Baghdad

In modern Hebrew, in words of foreign origin (for example, Baghdad), the letter א can be added to the stressed syllable - to facilitate reading (most likely this "relief" is not yet felt at this stage of learning).

Hebrew has a one-letter location preposition ב, which is written together with the next word. For example:

בבגדאד in Baghdad Be-Baghdad

Let's read a short sentence:

בד בבגדאד cloth in Baghdad bad be-baghdad

Letter ה "h to her" transmits sound h (absent in Russian, resembles English h). For example:

הד echo, response hed

At the end of the word, the letter ה is not pronounced (there are exceptions, but they are very few and are not considered in this material). You can also say: if a word ends in ה, then it ends in a vowel - A or uh(very rarely O). For example:

steering wheel huhge

Ending ה in most cases indicates that the word ends with a sound A, and this word female. Compare words:

בא he came ba

באה she came ba a

Word באה differs from בא in the ending ה (sound A at the end of a word). By analogy with the Russian language: he / he A came / came A.

Compare words:

אגד Egged (bus cooperative in Israel) uh gad

fairy tale haggadah

Word אגדה differs from אגד by the ending ה (sound A at the end of a word).

אהב he loved; he liked Ahaw

אהבה she loved; she liked AhAva

Let's learn interesting word, in which there are 3 letters ה:

הגהה correction, correction hyeahhA

Notice again: at the beginning of a word and in the middle, ה sounds like h, and at the end of the word does not sound, but the word ends in a vowel.

Let's read the sentence:

אבא אהב אגדה.

Aba ahhahaha

Dad loved fairy tales.

The translation of this phrase can be: "Dad liked the fairy tale."

Hebrew has a definite article - ה hA. Note that all single-letter parts of speech in Hebrew (article, conjunction, preposition) are written together with the next word.

Let's look at examples. If דג doug is some kind of abstract fish, then הדג ha-dag- “the fish in question”, “this fish”. If בד bad this is some kind of abstract fabric, then הבד ha-bad -"this tissue", "the tissue in question".

In Israel, many do not pronounce the sound h letters ה. Instead of ha-bad They pronounce a-bad instead of AhAva pronounce aava.

AXAZ website. orgconducts webinars (online group lessons) for Hebrew learners in different levels. Some of the webinars are free. Information - .

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Of course, first you need to learn how to read the voiced text.
There are also certain rules for the pronunciation of consonants in texts without vowels, now we will consider them:

The letters א and ע are not pronounced by themselves.
The letters ב, כ, פ at the beginning of a word are always read as the sounds B, K, P, and at the end of the word - as the sounds V, X (ך), Ф (ף). Exceptions can only be borrowed words of foreign origin.
The letter ה at the end of a word is almost never pronounced in Modern Hebrew.
The letter ו can be read both as the sound B, and as the sound O, and as the sound U. In the middle of a word, this letter takes on the spelling וו when it denotes the sound B.
The sound A is always pronounced before the letter ח at the end of a word.
The letter י can be read both as the sound Y and as the sound I. After the vowel sound, this letter is always pronounced as the sound Y. Do not forget also that the letter י for the following combinations of sounds: YA (I), YE (e) , YO (yo), YU (y).
The letters ם, ן, ץ at the end of the word are read in the same way as the letters מ, נ, צ at the beginning and middle of the word - M, N, C.
The letter ש has two pronunciations - Ш and С. You should remember exactly how this letter is read in certain words.
Hebrew texts may use borrowed sounds that are not native to Hebrew. The sound Zh is denoted as follows - ז", sounds J - ג", and the sound Ch - צ" or ץ".

INTUITIVE RECOGNITION
-If you already know some words, then you will read them intuitively.
-The first word that comes to mind is probably correct.
-Definition in context.

VOWELS
It is necessary to know which vowels fall out of the unvoiced text.
All vowels denoted by alphabetic letters in an unvoiced letter remain unchanged.
FOR EXAMPLE: in the word מַדְלִיק (madlik - ignites), the alphabetic character denotes the sound “and”, and in the text you will find it without vowels - מדליק. The vowels denoted by kamatz (־ָ) and patah (־ַ), i.e. the vowel "a" (long and short) are not indicated in any way. The exception - the final "a" - is denoted - ה.
"e", denoted by segol (־ֶ), tsere (־ֵ), also disappears, except for the final - ה.
The vowels “o”, “u” are always denoted by the letter “vav” (ו), it is used to write in a voiced letter, or they are denoted simply by a dot - holem (־ֹ) (long “o”), kamats-katan (־ָ ) (short "o") or kibbutz (־ֻ) (short "y").
FOR EXAMPLE: שֻׁלְחָן (shulkhan - table) in an unvoiced text - שולחן in an unvoiced text. In the voiced "y" is indicated by three dots. The word חָכְמָה (hochma - wisdom), short "o" is denoted by kamats-katana written as חוכמה

The long sound “and” is indicated by a dot under the letter “yod” (יִ) and to the left of it, in an unvoiced text - using the alphabetic letter “yod” (י).

A short “and”, which is indicated by a single dot in feminine segolats like שִׂמְחָה (“simha” - joy), רִצְפָּה (“ritspa” - gender) and in nouns ending וֹן “he” like פִּתַרוֹן (“pitaron” - decision) or זִכַּרוֹן ("zikaron" - memory) is not expressed in any way in the ordinary text. These words are written as follows: זכרון, פתרון, רצפה, שמחה.

"Yod" is also not indicated in any way in the prefixes תִ, מִ, לִ. For example: מִכְתָב (“mikhtav” - a letter) - מכתב. In other cases, a short "and" is indicated like a long one, using the letter "iodine".

nuances of the unvoiced text
Yet sometimes it happens that a word without vowels cannot be guessed. And then one letter or one vowel is added for a hint - then the model is calculated, and with it the whole word. (fig.1)

Now we can understand how errors live, almost turning into a new colloquial norm. Here is a word that also has three theoretical readings. If a person encounters it for the first time, he chooses reading from our list, compiled according to known models, but not always correctly. (fig.2)

An example of reading without vowels

Here is another mute riddle that we will try to voice and understand: something from a series of "inscriptions on the doors." The figure shows how these words are divided into root and model. Let's take them one by one.

It is not clear what "vav" means - "o" or "u". In any case, the root is associated with the concept of "cautious", and it is from this adjective that the desired word is formed. With "o" it's just its feminine gender, with "y" - an abstract noun derived from it (caution). The context shows that the last option is correct.
The root is associated with the concept of "prohibit". If we assume under the first letter "and", the name of the action (prohibition) is obtained, and if "a" - passive participle(forbidden). Other options are less likely, and it is clear from the context that the second option has already led us to the goal.
The combination -לה at the beginning of the word suggests that we are dealing with a verb, and the enumeration of binyans leaves us only "nif'al". This is the verb "to lean on", from the same root comes "the back of a chair" (מִשְׁעֶנֶת) and one of the words translated as "support" (מִשְׁעָן).
One letter from the root is missing, but it doesn't matter. This is the well-known preposition "on", related to the words עֲלִיָּה (rise), מַעֲלִית (elevator), עֶלְיוֹן (upper), etc.
Here, there may be problems with the separation of letters into a root and not a root, because according to Saadia Gaon, “tav” could be an additive at the end, but fortunately for us, we recognize the familiar word “door” in the last three letters, and then “hey” is an article.

The translation we have so far turned out like this: "Caution! It is forbidden to lean on the door." Bringing this into line with the norms of the Russian language is already easy ...
Of course, we will have to analyze each word in this way only at the beginning, while we are studying the language. Later, the bulk of the words become familiar and we will read how to mother tongue: Capturing the meaning at a glance.

When you can't go without voicing

Please note: all our reading techniques without vowels concerned those 80% of the words that have a root and a model, and it was desirable that there was some kind of suggestive context around. Otherwise, reading becomes difficult or even impossible. Particularly sad is the fate of proper names that have fallen into Hebrew. The surname Krivosh in Hebrew is written קריבושי and is usually read "Kribushi". The surnames Gurvich and Gurevich merged into one, just like Lifshitz and Lipshitz, or Bergman and Bregman. What can we say about surnames or names of cities, which generally come across to the reader for the first time! After all, everyone who writes in Hebrew cannot write only about things that bear purely Hebrew names with a transparent etymology.

There are several salvations, and all of them lie outside the bounds of Hebrew in its form as it is. One can learn all the languages ​​from which different proper names come, and learn to guess what this language is and what it could be. It is possible to transmit pronunciation separately from spelling, through other channels, for example, from father to son by word of mouth.
And finally, one can remember that there are vowels in Hebrew that are not even written in documents today, and start putting them in proper names. But this, alas, is not entirely up to us.

It's time to move on to reading the unvoiced text. Suppose that if a certain Hebrew text were read out, its reading would not cause any difficulties. Thus, the whole problem comes down to the lack of vowels, and not to the fact that the words are unfamiliar to the reader. Grammatical basis The unvoiced letter in Hebrew is that not all combinations of vowels are allowed at the root, but only those that correspond to . Therefore, two or three possible options vowels of the word, each of which you further distinguish by context.

Suppose you have a word written in letters חבר in front of you. How to read it? What are the possible options for vocalizations with this spelling?

1. Segolat חֶבֶר "hevar"

2. The word of the first mishkal with two kamats - חָבָר "havar"

3. The word mishkal actorחַבָּר "swag" (where in the middle is )

Nominal forms are finished here. From verb forms it can be:

4. Past tense binyan פָּעַל — forms חָבַר “havar”

5. Past tense binyan פִּעֵל — forms חִבֵּר “hiber”

6. Past tense binyan פֻּעַל — forms חֻבַּר “khubar”

7. Verb of state - form חָבֵר "haver"

So we have seven various options reading. Three of them are nouns, four are verbs. The last form, חָבֵר, can also be used as a name, since it is an active participle. How can we determine which of these forms we are dealing with?

First, a general note:

Verbs and names (nouns and adjectives) usually end up in different contexts.

Often followed by the preposition אֶת "et", and before nouns and adjectives "ha" or other prepositions. These are true parts of speech. In addition, general considerations, the general meaning of the phrase also help to distinguish these forms.

Distinguishing nominal forms from each other, like verbs, is somewhat more difficult. Here, in extreme cases, you just need to rely on visual memory. However, as a rule, not all variants of vowels are found with the same frequency. For example, in our case, the noun חֶבֶר (“hevar” - league) is quite rare. The word חָבָר “havar”, as well as the word חַבָּר “khabar”, is absent in Hebrew and the only possibility in this case is חָבֵר “khaver”. This word means "comrade" and is used incomparably more often than its "competitor". Therefore, if you meet such a combination of letters in a letter, then you need to assume that it is most likely חָבֵר, and if not, then חֶבֶר.

The verb form חָבַר “havar” is very rare, and חִבֵּר “kheʹer” is common. Therefore, most likely, if the word was written like this, it should have been read חִבֵּר . This is the past tense of the verb לְחַבֵּר ("lekhaber" - to join / put together). However, in many verbs פָּעַל and פִּעֵל occur with the same frequency. How could these forms be distinguished in this case? In order to somehow help the cause, they came up with the following solution: פָּעַל is denoted by three consonants, and the letter “yod” is added to פִּעֵל to indicate the first sound “and”, and the word חִבֵּר is written as follows: חיבר. A word written in this way is immediately recognizable to the eye as the past tense of binyan פִּעֵל. Similarly, for פֻּעַל, the spelling is used: חֻבַּר becomes חובר .

Another example. The word is written like this: מכתב . How to read it without vowels? Reading options are as follows: for nouns - מִכְתָ “Michtav” or מַכְתֵ “Makhteve”, for verb forms - מְכַתֵ “Mahateve” (active communion in Benjan פִּעֵל) and מְכֻתָ “mastav” in פֻּ canne. Of these four words, the word מִכְתָב (“mikhtav” - writing) is most common, much less often מַכְתֵב (“makhtev” - a slate stick that was used to write on a wax board) and מְכַתֵב (“mekhatev” - covering with inscriptions or writing for a newspaper or magazine) , and מְכֻתָב "mekhutav" is written as מכותב .

Intuitive Recognition

Many of the common words are probably already known to you, so you can trust your intuition as a first approximation. The first word that you recognize that comes to mind is most likely the correct answer. In case of failure, you begin to put forward different assumptions about vocalizations (based on known mishkals and binyans), and, taking into account the context, determine the right word.

Vowels

You should know which vowels are indicated in the unvoiced text, and which fall out when moving to it. First, all vowels denoted by alphabetic letters in unvoiced writing remain unchanged. For example, in the word מַדְלִיק (“madlik” - lights up), the sound “and” is indicated by an alphabetic sign, and in the text without vowels, of course, you will meet it - מדליק. Vowels denoted by kamats (־ָ) and patah (־ַ), i.e. the vowel “a” (long and short) is not indicated in writing in any way. An exception is the terminal "a", which, as you know, is denoted by the letter ה.

As for “e”, denoted by segol (־ֶ) or tsere (־ֵ), it also disappears without a trace, except for the final version, again denoted by ה.

The vowels "o" and "y" are always denoted by the letter "vav" (ו), regardless of whether it is used to write them in a voiced letter or they are denoted simply by a dot - holemʹ (־ֹ) (long "o") , kamatz-katan (־ָ) (short “o”) or kibbutz (־ֻ) (short “y”). For example, the word שֻׁלְחָן (“shulkhan” - table) is written שולחן in the unvoiced text, although in the vowelized “y” it is denoted by three dots and there is no “vav” here. The word חָכְמָה (“Hochma” - wisdom), where the short “o” is denoted by kamats-katana, is written as חוכמה .

The long sound "and", which is indicated by a dot under the letter "yod" (יִ) and to the left of it, is naturally indicated in the unvoiced text using the alphabetic letter "yod" (י). A short “and”, which is indicated by a single dot in the feminine type שִׂמְחָה (“simha” - joy), רִצְפָּה (“ritspa” - gender) and in nouns ending וֹן “on” like פִּתַרוֹן (“pitaron” - decision) or זִכַּרוֹן ("zikaron" - memory) is not expressed in any way in the usual text. These words are written as follows: זכרון, פתרון, רצפה, שמחה .

"Yod" is also not indicated in any way in the prefixes תִ, מִ, לִ. For example: מִכְתָב (“mikhtav” - letter) - מכתב. In other cases, a short "and" is indicated like a long one, using the letter "iodine".

In this lesson we will learn to read in Hebrew. Many of you probably already know that in Hebrew there are practically no letters that convey vowel sounds. But what about without them? And it’s very simple - to designate vowel sounds, special symbols are used, which are called vowels, in Hebrew “nekudot” (in literal translation- "points"). In modern Hebrew, they are practically not used, with the exception of their use in poetry and dictionaries. People, those who know the language well, they can read without them, but you and I cannot do without them in the first couple.

Vocalizations are small dashes or dots that write under, inside, or above a letter. When reading, the letter itself is first pronounced, and only then the sound that this or that vocalization conveys.

Exists 5 basic vowels, for the expression of which there are corresponding signs. There is no vowel for the vowel "e". Nevertheless, the vowel sound "e" can occur in the process of speech, for example, when the sound "e" is added to the consonant letter "y". Let's look at what each vowel looks like, and what sound it stands for (the square acts as any letter under which it should be): Those who are just starting to learn a language usually have questions at this point. Why are there multiple vowels for each vowel? Does it make any difference to spelling or pronunciation which ones are in the word? Or can they be set randomly? In ancient Hebrew, there was a difference in the meaning of vowels and the length of the sounds transmitted by them. The first of each pair given in the table above conveyed a short vowel, the second a long one. There is no longitude or shortness in modern Hebrew pronunciation. And it is very convenient for conversation. Nobody shortens or lengthens vowels. They speak naturally. That is, it does not matter for the conversation which of them is in the word. But for writing it matters. Vocalization may be associated with the sound of the next or previous letter, possible changes in the word.

So, the type of vocalization does not matter for pronunciation, but it does matter when writing!

Hebrew Reading Practice

To understand the structure of Hebrew words, let's imagine what words in Russian would look like if they had vowels instead of vowels: Pay attention to several features:

• In most cases, the letter ו "vav" with a dot below or above it is used as the letters "y / o", and not just the letter preceding it with the vowel "y" or "o".
• A similar thing happens with the letter י "Yud" - the sound "and".
• Under hard letters two points are put - the vocalization of the "seam". We will talk more about the "seam" below.
• In the vast majority of Hebrew words, instead of the sound "e", the sound "e" is used.

The concept of "seam"

In addition to the five above-mentioned vowels, there is one more, it is called "seam". To understand what it is, let's take the words: Where a consonant does not have a vowel, in Hebrew we would put two dots vertically. Let's look at a few of its features:

1. Two dots standing vertically under the letter are called "shva".
2. "Shva" denotes the absence of a vowel in a consonant. As you can see from the examples above, "shva" can be at the beginning of a word, in the middle, or at the end. Certain rules are associated with its location in the word.
3. "Shva" in the middle of the word is not pronounced: The only condition when standing in the middle of the word "shva" is pronounced as short sound"e", if it is under the first of two identical adjacent letters:
4. If there are two seams in a row in the middle of a word, then the first of them is not pronounced, and the second is pronounced as a short sound "e":
5. "Shva" at the beginning of a word is pronounced as a short "e" sound: If during pronunciation it is possible to avoid relying on a vowel sound, then the “seam” at the beginning of the word is not pronounced:
6. At the beginning of a word, two "seams" in a row cannot stand. The meaning of this axiom is this. In Hebrew, it is difficult to say several consonants at the beginning of a word without inserting a vowel between them. That's the way the language works.
7. At the end of the word "seam" is not pronounced

The concept of "dagesh"

• The dot inside the letter is called " "
• "Dagesh" changes the pronunciation of three letters:

In addition to these letters, "dagesh" can also appear in many others, but in order to avoid confusion, we will skip studying the rules for using it in other letters, because. it has little to no effect on reading and pronunciation.

If you have already completed the pro lesson and read the table above, now is the time to start reading.

שָׁלוֹם (shalom) - hello/peace

עֲבוֹדָה (avodʹ) - work

עִבְרִית (Hebrew) - Hebrew

סְטוּדֶנְט (student) - student

שֶׁמֶשׁ (shemesh) - the sun

חָנוּת (hanut) — shop

?מָה נִשְׁמָע (ma nishma) — how are you?

שִׁיעוּר (shiur) - lesson

לִכְתּוֹב (lihtov) - to write

לִלְמוֹד (lilmod) - to learn

לִדְבֹּר (lidaber) - to talk

סֵפֶר (sefer) - book

קוּרְס (course) — course

עֲטִיפָה (atifa) — cover

בַּיִת (byte) - house

רְחוֹב (rehov) - street

אֲנָשִׁים (anashim) - people

We hope that general principle reading you understand. There will be more practice in the future, and now, to consolidate this lesson, be sure to watch the video about vowels and the rule of reading in Hebrew: