Hebrew/Aleph-Bet/3

 Aleph-Bet Lesson 3 —

Welcome to the third lesson of the Hebrew alphabet! In this lesson you will learn the two most common Hebrew letters - and, and two new niqqud symbols - segol and ħiriq.

Letters
The two letters (and four forms) you will learn now are the most common in the Hebrew language:

Mem
The thirteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Mem. It makes the "m" sound (IPA: /m/, "m" as in "mother"). Like Nun, when it is at the end of a word, it changes form. This final form is known as Mem Sofit -.

Shin
The penultimate letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Shin. It has two forms:
 * When the dot above the letter is on the right - it's called Shin and it makes the "sh" sound (IPA: //, "sh" as in "ship"). This is more common.
 * When the dot above the letter is on the left - it's called Sin and it makes the "s" sound (IPA: /s/, "s" as in "safe").

Vowels
You will now learn another way to express the "e" sound as well as the exclusive vowel for the "i" sound:

Segol
The segol is the three dots under the Bet.

Like Tsere, it produces the "e" sound (IPA: /e/, "e" as in "bet").

Ħiriq
The ħiriq is the dot under the Bet.

It produces the "i" sound (IPA: /i/, "i" as in "ski").

Words
Thanks to the letter Mem and the symbol Segol, we can complete our collection of 2nd person pronouns (all appearing as "you" in English)!

atah you (masculine, singular) at you (feminine, singular) atem you (masculine, plural) aten you (feminine, plural)

You might notice that all of them begin with at. Some more pronouns:

hem they (masculine) hen they (feminine)

So we have daughter, son, and father. Now we need the mother.

em mother (feminine, singular) ima mom (feminine, singular, informal)

Other new words:

mah what shem name (masculine, singular) shabbat sabbath, Saturday (feminine, singular)

Summary
In this lesson, you have learned: Practice what you've learned in the exercises.
 * The Hebrew letters and forms Mem, Mem Sofit , Shin and Sin.
 * The niqqud symbols Segol (ֶ) and Ħiriq (ִ).
 * The 2nd person pronouns in Hebrew.
 * The words and.

Next lesson: Aleph-Bet 4 >>>