Do you want to speak Hebrew? No? Fuck you, get off this blog! Here, I will teach you how to speak Hebrew! It's really easy. Here we go!
Letters of the Hebrew alphabet[]
There are 22 Hebrew letters. Hebrew is read left to right, as opposed to right to left. Here's a run down:
Alef[]
Alef (א) is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It makes an "ah" sound, like in "all"
Bet/Vet[]
Bet and Vet are the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It can either make a "b" like in "boat", or a "v" sound like in "vote", you distinguish it by the dot in the center of the letter. If the letter has a dot (בּ) it is Bet, if it doesn't (ב) it is Vet.
Gimel[]
Gimel (ג) is the third letter of the alphabet. It makes a "g" sound, like in "giddy".
Dalet[]
Dalet (ד) is the fourth letter of the alphabet. It makes a "d" sound like in "dick"
Hē[]
Hē (ה) is the 5th letter of the alphabet. It make an "h" sound like in "hey"
Vav[]
Vav (ו) is the 6th letter of the alphabet. It makes a "v" sound like "view"
Zayin[]
Zayin (ז) is the 7th letter of the alphabet. It makes a "z" sound like "zion"
Ḥet[]
Ḥet (ח) is the 8th letter of the alphabet. Don't confuse it with Hē, it makes a "kh" or "ch" sound like "loch"
Tet[]
Tet (ט) is the 9th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It makes a "t" sound like "tech"
Yod[]
Yod (י) is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It makes a "y" like "young"
Kaf/Ḥaf[]
Kaf and Ḥaf are the eleventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It can make either a "k" sound like "kangaroo", or a "kh" sound like "loch". Like Bet/Vet, you can distinguish between Kaf and Ḥaf by the dot in the letter. If there is a dot (כּ), it's Kaf, if it has no dot (כ), it is Ḥaf.
If Kaf is the last letter in the word, it's written as ך.
Lamed[]
Lamed (ל) is the twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It makes an "l" sound, like "log"
Mem[]
Mem (מ) is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It makes an "m" sound, like "mom"
If Mem is the last letter in the word, it's written as ם
Nun[]
Nun (נ) is the 14th letter. It makes an "n" sound like in "none"
If Nun is the last letter in the word, it's written as ן
Samekh[]
Samekh (ס) is the 15th letter. It makes an "s" sound like in "suck"
Ayin[]
Ayin (ע) is the 16th letter. It doesn't really make a sound, it makes whatever sound of the vowel is affixed to it.
Pe/Fe[]
Pe and Fe are the 17th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It can either make a "p" sound like in "pan" or an "f" sound like in "fan". Just like Kaf/Ḥaf and Bet/Vet, it is distinguished by a dot. If it has a dot (פּ), it's Pe, if it doesn't (פ) it's Fe.
If Pe/Fe is the last letter in the word, it's written as ף
Tsade[]
Tsade (צ) is the eighteenth letter. It makes a "ts" sound like "its"
If Tsade is the last letter in the word, it's written as ץ
Kuf[]
Kuf (ק) is the nineteenth letter. It makes a "k" sound like in "cooper"
Resh[]
Resh (ר) is the twentieth letter. It makes an "r" sound like "rope"
Shin/Sin[]
Shin/Sin is the 21st letter. It either makes a "sh" sound like "shower", or a "s" sound like in "soap". If the dot is on the right side (שׁ) it's Shin, if the dot is on the left side (שׂ) it's Sin
Tav[]
Tav (ת) is the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It makes a "t" sound like in "toe"
Tav is sometimes written with a dot in the center (תּ), but this doesn't change the pronunciation at all.
Niqqud[]
Niqqud is what we call Hebrew vowels. Vowels are written underneath the letter they are affixed to.
Kamatz/Patach[]
Kamatz and Patach are used whenever there is an "ah" sound. A kamatz looks like ָ , a patach looks like ַ
This is important: if there is a letter with a patach/kamatz written before a Yod, the vowel changes from "ah" to "eye", an example would be how נָ is pronounced "Nah", but נָי is pronounced "Nye".
Example: If you want to write "Dah" (Dalet + Kamatz) it would be written as דָ
Shva[]
Shva is used whenever there's an "ih" sound, as in "idiot". Shva looks like ְ
Example: If you want to write "Bih" (Bet + Shva) it would be written as בְּ
Hiriq[]
Hiriq is used to make an "e" sound, as in "we" Hiriq looks like ִ
Example: If you want to write "Vi" (Vet + Hiriq) it would be written as בִ
Tzere[]
Tzere is used to make an "ay" sound. Tzere looks like ֵ
Example: If you want to write "Tay" (Tav + Tzere) it would be written as תֵּ
Segol[]
Segol is used to make an "eh" sound. Segol looks like ֶ
Example: If you want to write "Veh" (Veh + Segol) it would be written as בֶ
Holam[]
Holam is used to make an "oh" sound. Holam is unique as instead of being written under the letter, it's written on top. Holam is looks like ֹ. Note: Holam is often written with a vav. Vav is not actually pronounced, it is just there as a placeholder. If a vav is included, it looks like וֹ
Example: If you want to write "Moh" (Mem + Holam) it would be written as מֹ or מוֹ
Kubutz/Shuruk[]
Kubutz and Shuruk are used to make an "uuu" sound. Kubutz looks like ֻ
Like most other vowels, Kubutz is placed under the letter. However, like Holam, Shuruk is not placed under the vowel. Shuruk is placed in the middle of the vowel. On its own, Shuruk looks like ּ. Like Holam, Vav is often used as a placeholder symbol to show where the Shuruk is meant to be located, in this case it looks like וּ.
Example: If you want to write "Ku" (Kuf + Kubutz/Shuruk) it looks like קֻ or קוּ