Jill Suzanne Jacobs, MA, is a writer, Jewish educator, and part of the editorial team of MyJewishLearning.com. She has taught and helped create course materials for Hebrew and Jewish studies classes.

Hebrew For Dummies

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

In This Chapter

* Identifying English-sounding words in Hebrew

* Recalling Hebrew sayings and words

* Figuring out English words that come from Hebrew

* Counting in Hebrew

* Eyeing the Hebrew alphabet

Baruch HaBa! Welcome to Hebrew! In studying Hebrew, you're joining millions of other Hebrew speakers around the world. Its two centers are Israel (of course), and North America, which is home to many Hebrew newspapers, Hebrew-speaking camps and schools, and institutions. You're also speaking the Bible's original language and one of the most ancient languages still spoken today. Furthermore, you're speaking the only language in the history of the world known to have undergone a revival, returning fully to being a spoken language after hundreds - perhaps even two thousand - years of being relegated to correspondence, literature, and the sacred world of prayer and the Bible.

Hebrew was once almost exclusively a holy language - a language of prayers and ritual, of the Bible and other sacred texts, and a language above the humdrum of the everyday. No longer true. That same ancient and holy tongue is now the language of sunbathing on the beach, eating dinner, going to the doctor, and the myriad of everyday life.

All languages are portals - openings to culture and friendship, literature and ideas. Discover any one, and a whole new world opens up to you. Discover Hebrew, and a whole Jewish and Israeli world is yours.

Taking Stock of What's Familiar

If you've ever been to a synagogue or had a bit of Jewish education, you probably already know a little Hebrew. But even if you've never walked through a synagogue's door or studied anything Jewish, you still probably know some Hebrew words. For example, you have probably heard the word amen. That word is Hebrew! "Amen" comes from a word meaning faith or belief and people usually say it at the end of a prayer. And the word Hallelujah? Hebrew again! The word literally means, "Praise God." Even the word alphabet derives from the Hebrew words for the first two letters of its alphabet, aleph and bet. To see what the Hebrew alphabet looks like, check out the section, "Recognizing Tips to Help You Read Hebrew," later in this chapter.

Of course, you may have heard of other Jewish words, such as Shlepp (shlehp; to drag or pull) and Kvetch (kvehtsh; to complain), that are actually Yiddish (the language of the Jews of Eastern Europe combining Old High German, Hebrew, and other languages), that are part of the Israeli vernacular today. You may never even have thought about other words that have Hebrew roots. For example, did you know that cinnamon is a derivative of the Hebrew word Kinamon (kee-nah-mohn) which appears in the Biblical book, The Song of Songs? The English word dilute may derive from the Hebrew word Dal (dahl), which means weak or thin and first appears in the Biblical book of Genesis.

Some people claim that Hebrew is the mother of all languages. No matter what its history or origin, Hebrew, a language that has its origins in the Fertile Crescent, has crept into North American-spoken English. And this process works in reverse too, as many English words and phrases have crept into the Hebrew language. Interestingly enough - while you as an English speaker may identify these words as "English," some of these words derive from Italian and French, which shows the universality of certain words. But if you say the following words with an Israeli accent, you're speaking Hebrew!

• Cafe
  • Hamburger
    • Macaroni
      • Pizza
        • Radio
          • Telephone

            Incidentally, The Academy for Hebrew Language, the institute responsible for creating Modern Hebrew words, did create an authentic Hebrew word for the telephone. The academy called the telephone a Sach-Rachok (sahch-rah-chohk), which put together the words for conversation and long distance. So telephone translated as "long-distance conversation." Pretty clever, huh? However this word didn't "stick" with the Israeli public. So telephone it is.

            Speaking Hebrew Like a Native

            When speaking a foreign language, you want to sound as authentic as possible. Use the tips in the following sections to help you start. The most important part of sounding like a native is persistence and practice - and then some more practice! Listen to the CD in this book as much as possible. Spend as much time listening to Hebrew spoken by native speakers whenever you can.

            Memorizing vocabulary and certain stock phrases and repeating them to yourself until you can say them at quite a clip is also helpful. In no time at all, you may fool people into thinking you speak Hebrew fluently - or close to it anyway.

            Stressing out (not)

            The first tip I give you has to do with the way syllables are stressed. In American English, we often stress or place emphasis on the first syllable in each word. For example: "When speaking a foreign language...." But Hebrew often places the emphasis on the last syllable. So if you were speaking that previous phrase with an Israeli accent, you'd place your emphasis on the last syllable. For example: When speaking a foreign language....

            Getting out the gutterals

            The second piece of advice I can give you has to do with certain Hebrew letters that are pronounced at the back of the throat. Use these tips for pronouncing them:

            • Ayin (eye-yeen): This letter makes a barely audible gutteral sound in the back of the throat. For practical purposes, this letter is nearly a silent syllable.
              • Chaf (khahf): This letter makes a sound you don't hear in English. It's a hard h sound like you make when you clear your throat.
                • Chet (cheht): This letter makes a strong throaty h sound. In this book, this syllable is written as ch.
                  • Reish (raysh): This letter makes the r sound as in round. To sound like a native, roll this syllable like a Spanish r, and try to produce the sound from the back of your throat.

                    Find out about the rest of the Hebrew alphabet in the section, "Recognizing Tips to Help You Read Hebrew," later in this chapter.

                    Opening your mouth to say, "Ah!"

                    Thirdly, watch the pronunciation of your vowels. When pronouncing the ah sound, pronounce that vowel fully. Open your mouth wide and say, "Ah," as if you were at the doctor. Hebrew doesn't have a short i sound (like the vowel sound in sit), so any time you see an i, remember to make it a long sound like ee as in Whoopee! In Hebrew, oh sounds are long like in over.

                    In Hebrew, remember that the language is a Mediterranean language, and as such, has a certain nasal quality to it. More so than English - but actually a lot like French - you use your nasal cavity when making sound. On a less technical tip: When speaking Hebrew, try to fake a French accent! At the very least, your Hebrew will sound better than with an American one!

                    Counting in Hebrew

                    Learning how to count is fundamental to the study of any language. Hebrew divides words into masculine and feminine genders (see Chapter 2), and numbers are no different - they have masculine and feminine forms. You may feel a little confused, but don't worry! Table 1-1 gives you the cardinal numbers (the numbers you use for counting) from 1 to 10. When you only want to count, without counting objects, use the feminine form. See the section "Counting objects," later in this chapter to find out how to incorporate gender with numbers.

                    Counting objects

                    The gender of the number you use when you want to count something depends on the noun's gender you're counting. (Sound confusing? Don't worry. You can do it.) Counting objects in Hebrew is easy. Just remember to do the following:

                    • Figure out the gender of the noun you're counting: For example, if you want to talk about one book, you first have to figure out if the noun book is masculine or feminine. (It's masculine.) So when you count books, you need to use the masculine form of the number.
                      • Place the number appropriately before or after the noun: For the number one, place the number after the noun. So rather than one book, you say book one (Sefer Echad; seh-fehr eh-chad). But after you get to the number two, place the number before the noun. [To make Sefer plural in Hebrew, it becomes S'farim (sfah-reem; books).] So, to say two books, you say Shnai S'farim (shnay sfah-reem), for three books, say Shlosha S'farim (shloh-shah sfah-reem), for four books say Arba'ah S'farim (ahr-bah-ah sfah-reem), and so on.

                        TIP

                        The number two in Hebrew is an exception. When you're specifying two of something, say two boys (Yeladim; yuh-lah-deem) or two girls (Yeladot; yuh-lah-doht), and you drop the last syllable (im) of the number 2. So you get: Shnei Yeladim (two boys) and Shtei Yeladot (two girls). Drop the im regardless of the noun you're counting.

                        Counting higher

                        To form the numbers 11-19, place the second number in front of the ten. For example, eleven in the masculine form is Echad-asar. In the feminine form, eleven is Achat-esrei (ah-chaht es-reh). Table 1-2 shows the numbers for 11-19.

                        REMEMBER

                        Use the appropriate gender for the ten and the additional number that makes up the compound number.

                        The multiples of ten (10, 20, 30, and so on) are easy because these numbers are gender neutral. Table 1-3 shows the multiples of 10.

                        However, if you want to say something like twenty-one or forty-seven, you have to pay attention to gender again (see Table 1-4). The pattern for making these numbers is first to state the number in the tens, such as Esrim (ehs-reem; twenty), and then add the word for and (V'; veh), and then the single number, such as Echad (eh-chad; one). So twenty-one would be Esrim v'echad (ehs-reem veh-eh-chad; twenty-one).

                        If you can count to 30, you can count to a million! For all the numbers, you follow the same pattern as Table 1-4. First, state the number that is the multiple of ten (twenty, thirty, forty, and so forth) and then you add V' (veh; and) plus the single digit. For example, Shloshim v'ehad (shloh-sheem veh-eh-chahd; thirty-one), Arba'im v'echad (ahr-bah-eem veh-eh-chahd; forty-one), and so forth.

                        To count by hundreds, first say the feminine number of the quantity of hundreds, such as four (Arba), and then add the word for hundreds (Me'ot). This pattern continues until a thousand. For example,

                        100 Me'ah meh-ah 200 Matayim mah-tah-yeem 300 Shlosh-me'ot shlohsh-meh-oht

                        To count by thousands, first you say the feminine number of the quantity of thousands, and then follow it with the word for thousands, Alafim (ah-lah-feem). This pattern continues until one million. The Hebrew word for one thousand is Elef (eh-lehf) and the word for two thousand is Alpayim (ahl-pah-yeem).

                        1,000 Elef eh-lehf 2,000 Alpyim ahl-pah-eem 3,000 Shloshet Alafim shloh-sheht ah-lah-feem 10,000 Aseret Alafim ah-seh-reht ah-lah-feem 1,000,000 Mil-yohn meel-yohn

                        Several chapters in this book give you an opportunity to practice using numbers. Check out Chapter 9 to find out how to ask for and give phone numbers, and Chapter 14, which is all about money - don't you love counting money?

                        Recognizing Tips to Help You Read Hebrew

                        Hebrew is no ordinary language. Quite the contrary - Hebrew's origins date back more than 3,500 years ago to antiquity and the Hebrew alphabet is quite possibly the first alphabet known to humankind. Hebrew was the language of King David and King Solomon, and the Bible's original language. Furthermore, ancient people called the Phoenicians based their alphabet on the Hebrew alphabet. The Greeks based their alphabet on the Phoenicians' letters. And the Latin letters you're reading right now are derived from the Greeks' letters! So although the Hebrew language may look a little different, only four degrees separate it from what you're used to.

                        TECHNICAL STUFF

                        In Jewish circles, using the terms C.E. (Common Era) and B.C.E. (before the Common Era) instead of the terms A.D. (Ano Do minus; year of our Lord) and B.C. (Before Christ) is customary. In Hebrew, you say Lifnei Ha'Sfira (leef-nahy hah-sfee-rah; before the counting) and Acharei Ha'Sfiraha (ah-chah-ray hah-sfee-rah; after the counting).

                        Figuring out the Hebrew alphabet's shapes, sounds, and stories

                        The Hebrew alphabet is one of the oldest alphabets still in use today. Even though the letters look different than the Latin characters that comprise the English alphabet, don't be intimidated! Just spend some time memorizing the shapes and sounds of these Hebrew letters and reading Hebrew will be easier!

                        Like many ancient alphabets, you write the Hebrew alphabet from right to left. Hebrew consists of 22 different letters - all consonants. Vowels aren't written within the consonant letters but rather are written in the form of dots and dashes below the consonant letter. For a more complete discussion of Hebrew vowels, see the section, "Those dots and dashes they call vowels," later in this chapter.

                        The pronunciation I provide in this book is the Sephardic (Mediterranean) pronunciation, which is spoken in Israel today. Ashkenazi (European) pronunciation differs slightly; the vowels have different pronunciations and there are a few consonants that are different as well. I will be using Sephardic pronunciation in this book.

                        Deciphering the consonant letters

                        Table 1-5 shows the Hebrew letters and their sounds.

                        Those dots and dashes they call vowels

                        Originally, Hebrew had no vowels. Vowels, in the form of dots and lines under the consonants, were added to the Hebrew writing in the seventh century of the Common Era (C.E.). Before then, people read without vowels. And even today, most books, magazines, and newspapers in Modern Hebrew - not to mention the Torah scroll - are written without vowels.

                        Modern Hebrew has both long and short vowels. As a general rule, a long vowel can make up one syllable, but a short vowel needs either another vowel or a Shvah (shvah; two vertical dots under a consonant) to form a syllable. For more on the Shvah, see "Introducing the shvah," later in this chapter.

                        Vowels are divided into long and short vowels. This categorization doesn't have to do with their pronunciation, but rather with the fact that long vowels are usually found in open syllables - syllables that end with a vowel - while short vowels are usually found in closed syllables - syllables that end with a consonant. However, the Chirik Maleh (the long vowel) holds it sound longer than its corresponding short vowel Chirek Chaser. Table 1-6 shows the long vowels.

                        Sometimes the Kamatz, Patach, Kamatz Katan, or the Segol is paired with a Shvah. This pairing doesn't change the pronunciation.

                        (Continues...)

                        
                        Excerpted from Hebrew For Dummiesby Jill Suzanne Jacobs Copyright © 2003 by Jill Suzanne Jacobs. Excerpted by permission.
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