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Hebrew 2nd Edition

by Jill Suzanne Jacobs, M.A.

Hebrew For Dummies®, 2nd Edition Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com Copyright © 2022 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

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For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit https://hub.wiley.com/community/support/dummies. Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Control Number: 2022932609 ISBN: 978-1-119-86202-4 (pbk); 978-1-119-86203-1 (ebk); 978-1-119-86204-8 (ebk)

Contents at a Glance Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Part 1: Getting Started with Hebrew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 You Already Know Some Hebrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 CHAPTER 2: The Nitty-Gritty: Basic Hebrew Grammar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 CHAPTER 3: Shalom, Shalom!: Meeting and Greeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 CHAPTER 1:

Part 2: Hebrew in Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Getting to Know You: Making Small Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Eat! Eat! You’re So Thin!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 CHAPTER 6: Going Shopping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 CHAPTER 7: Having Fun Hebrew Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 CHAPTER 8: Enjoying Your Free Time: Hobbies, Sports, and Other Fun Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 CHAPTER 4: CHAPTER 5:

Talking on the Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 CHAPTER 10: At the Office and Around the House. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 CHAPTER 9:

Part 3: Hebrew on the Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 CHAPTER 11: Planning and Taking a Trip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

191 CHAPTER 12: Getting Around: Flying, Driving, and Riding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 CHAPTER 13: Money, Money, Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 CHAPTER 14: Handling Emergencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Part 4: Diving Deeper into Hebrew Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 CHAPTER 15: An Introduction to Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 16: War and Peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

267 279

Part 5: Sacred Hebrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 CHAPTER 17: Let’s Get Biblical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

289 CHAPTER 18: Like a Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 CHAPTER 19: Sacred Time, Sacred Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Part 6: The Part of Tens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 CHAPTER 20: Ten Books on Hebrew You Just Gotta Have. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

333 337 CHAPTER 22: Ten Great Israeli Phrases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 CHAPTER 21: Ten Favorite Hebrew Expressions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Appendix A: Verb Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Appendix B: Hebrew–English Mini-Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Appendix C: Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 About This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Foolish Assumptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 How This Book Is Organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Part 1: Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Part 2: Hebrew in Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Part 3: Hebrew on the Go. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Part 4: Israeli Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Part 5: Sacred Hebrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Part 6: The Part of Tens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Appendixes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Icons Used in This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Beyond the Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Where to Go from Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

PART 1: GETTING STARTED WITH HEBREW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 CHAPTER 1:

You Already Know Some Hebrew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Taking Stock of What’s Familiar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Speaking Hebrew Like a Native. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Stressing out (not). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Getting out the gutturals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Opening your mouth to say “Ah!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Counting in Hebrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Counting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Counting higher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Recognizing Tips to Help You Read Hebrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Figuring out the Hebrew alphabet’s shapes, sounds, and stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Reading and writing from right to left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

CHAPTER 2:

The Nitty-Gritty: Basic Hebrew Grammar. . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Making Sense of Hebrew Syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Putting your sentences in order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Questioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Recognizing Parts of Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Naming nouns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Perfecting your pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Table of Contents

Applying adjectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Pinpointing Hebrew verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Detecting adverbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Spotting prepositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Understanding Gender and Number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 CHAPTER 3:

Shalom, Shalom!: Meeting and Greeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Greeting and Saying Goodbye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Greeting all day long. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Replying to a greeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Putting a name to a face. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Making Grand Introductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Introducing yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Introducing others. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Getting Better Acquainted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Finding out who speaks English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Talking about where you come from. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Chatting about how you feel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Extending and Responding to Invitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Asking Questions: The Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. . . . 59 Asking yes or no questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Forming negative questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

PART 2: HEBREW IN ACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 CHAPTER 4:

Getting to Know You: Making Small Talk. . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Shootin’ the Breeze. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Talking About Yourself and Your Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Chatting About the Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Six Days You Shall Labor: Talking About Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Getting Addresses, Phone Numbers, Email, and Instagram/ Twitter handles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Asking and telling where you live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Asking and giving a phone number, email address, or Instagram handle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

CHAPTER 5:

Eat! Eat! You’re So Thin!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Jewish Love Means Never Having to Say “I’m Hungry”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Quieting a growling stomach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Taming a wild thirst. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Getting Down to Business: Food, Glorious Food!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Starting the day with breakfast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Enjoying lunch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Eating dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Raiding the refrigerator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Hebrew For Dummies

Going to Shabbat dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Chefing it up at home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Matching Adjectives and Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Taking Your Grocery List to the Market. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Going Out for a Bite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 CHAPTER 6:

Going Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Exploring Places to Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Selecting the Perfect Outfit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Styling Your Clothes around the Seasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Fall fashion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 The winter look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Spring attire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Summer wear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Sweatin’ it out in the summer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Color Me Beautiful. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117 The Israeli Fashion Scene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Getting More (and Less) Than You Bargained For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Making comparisons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Speaking in hyperbole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

CHAPTER 7:

Having Fun Hebrew Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Counting the Hours and Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Telling time like an American. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Knowing the time of day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Relating time to the past, present, and future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Discovering the Days in a Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Catching Some Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Visiting museums and art galleries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Going to the movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Enjoying live entertainment: Music and theater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 The Israeli Music Scene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135 The Animals Went on the Ark Two by Two: Visiting the Zoo! . . . . . . . 136 Spicing Up Your Sentences with Adverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

CHAPTER 8:

Enjoying Your Free Time: Hobbies, Sports, and Other Fun Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Chatting About Your Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Amassing an amazing collection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Creating things with your hands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Playing and Watching Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Kickin’ to score in soccer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Shooting for three in basketball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Swinging away at baseball. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

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Taking a dip in the pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Working up a sweat playing other sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Venturing Outdoors for Some Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Boogieing Till You Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 CHAPTER 9:

Talking on the Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Dialing Up the Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Finding someone’s number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Telling someone to call you. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Socializing in fake time (also known as social media) . . . . . . . . . . 159 Asking for People and Getting the Message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Leaving a message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Dealing with voicemail and other annoyances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Making Arrangements over the Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Talking About the Past: How Was Your Shabbat?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

CHAPTER 10:

At the Office and Around the House. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Finding Your Way Around Your Job. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171 Supplying your office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Searching for the perfect job. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Working from Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Hanging Out at Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Looking through the rooms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Furnishing your humble abode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Residing in an Apartment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Hunting for your very own flat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Giving your apartment some flair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Keeping your apartment safe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Commanding People: Do As I Say. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

PART 3: HEBREW ON THE GO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 CHAPTER 11:

Planning and Taking a Trip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Choosing Your Final Destination (And When You Want to Go). . . . . . 191 Whittling down your choices — so many places you can go!. . . . 192 Finding your way around. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Packing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Booking a trip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Traveling internationally. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Coming and Going: Knowing Where You Are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Discussing the Future: Verb Forms and Popular Expressions . . . . . . 199 Finding the Hotel That’s Right for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Making your reservations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Asking about the price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Checking In: Names, Addresses and Room Numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

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Filling out the registration form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Settling into your room. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Checking Out and Paying the Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Asking for your bill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Asking about special charges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Leaving the hotel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Staying at an Airbnb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Making Sure You Don’t Get Lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Giving and Understanding Directions For Lost Souls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Keeping North, South, East, and West Straight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 CHAPTER 12:

Getting Around: Flying, Driving, and Riding. . . . . . . . 221 Getting Through the Airport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Checking in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Suffering through the flight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Getting your feet back on the ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Renting a Vehicle and a Phone to Go with It. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Renting a car . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Understanding the rental contract. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Navigating Public Transportation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Traveling by taxi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Watching the wheels on the bus go round and round . . . . . . . . . 229 Traveling on trains and the light rail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Reading maps and schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Being Early or Late. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233

CHAPTER 13:

Money, Money, Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Going to the Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Talking to tellers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235 Counting your change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Changing Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Flowing with the Currency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 Using Credit Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Using Electronic and Digital Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Directing Your Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

CHAPTER 14:

Handling Emergencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Tackling Your Uncooperative Car . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 The knee bone’s connected to the leg bone: Identifying your body parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Describing your symptoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Explaining your unique medical needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Receiving a thorough examination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

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Paying attention to the diagnosis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 Going to the pharmacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Getting Help After You’ve Been Robbed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

PART 4: DIVING DEEPER INTO HEBREW LIFE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 CHAPTER 15:

An Introduction to Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Discovering Multicultural Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Touring Israeli Cities and Towns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Starting at the Beginning: A Brief History Lesson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Fleeing to and from Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 Wanting to be in charge: Nationalism, self-determination, and the Jewish State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

CHAPTER 16:

War and Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 The Big Bang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Paths to Peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 Environmental Cooperation May Be the Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

PART 5: SACRED HEBREW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 CHAPTER 17:

Let’s Get Biblical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Figuring Out the Word Order in Biblical Hebrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 Emphasizing When God Really Meant It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 Wishing, Intending, and Prohibiting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 Deciphering One-Word Wonders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Counting Down the Greatest Biblical Hits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

CHAPTER 18:

Like a Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 Blessing: The Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 Deciphering the blessing formula. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 Identifying some basic blessings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 Spiritually Speaking: Figuring Your Way around the Prayer Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 The Sh’ma and her blessings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 Dissecting the Standing Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 Concluding prayers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 Praying for peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Making Prayer Meaningful. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

CHAPTER 19:

Sacred Time, Sacred Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 Going to a Synagogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 Checking Out Holy Words for Holy Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 Shabbat: The Sabbath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 Rosh HaShanah: The Jewish New Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

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Yom Kippur: The Day of Atonement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 Sukkot: The Fall Harvest Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 Sh’mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah: Praying for Rain and Rejoicing in the Torah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 Celebrating Sigd: The Holiday of Ethiopian Jews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Ḥanukkah: The Jewish Festival of Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .321 HaHag shel HaHagim: The Festival of Festivals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 Tu BiShevat: The Birthday of the Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 Purim: A Jewish Mardi Gras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 Pesach: Passover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 Yom HaShoah V’Ha’G’vurah: Holocaust Remembrance Day. . . . . 324 Yom HaZikaron: Israeli Memorial Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 Yom HaAtzma’ut: Israeli Independence Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 Lag B’Omer: The 33rd Day of the Omer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Shavuot: The Festival of Weeks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Tisha B’Av: The Ninth of Av. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Tu B’Av: The Holiday of Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 All My Life’s a Circle: Jewish Life-Cycle Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 Brit/Simchat Bat: Welcome to the family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 B’nai Mitzvah: Coming of Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Kiddushin: Sacred Partnership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Baruḥ Dayan HaEmet: End of Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

PART 6: THE PART OF TENS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 CHAPTER 20:

Ten Books on Hebrew You Just Gotta Have. . . . . . . . 333 Hebrew Roots. Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 Hebrew: The Eternal Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 The Tongue of the Prophets: The Life Story of Eliezer Ben Yehuda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 The Hebrew Alphabet: A Mystical Journey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Hebrew Talk: 101 Hebrew Roots And The Stories They Tell. . . . . . . . 334 Aleph-Bet Yoga: Embodying the Hebrew Letters for Physical and Spiritual Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 The Word: The Dictionary that Reveals the Hebrew Source of English. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 How the Hebrew Language Grew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 The Story of Hebrew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 Poems of Jerusalem and Love Poems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

CHAPTER 21:

Ten Favorite Hebrew Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 Mazal Tov. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 B’Karov Etzlehḥ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 Titchadesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 B’Teavon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 Table of Contents

B’Ezrat HaShem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 Yishar Koahḥ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 Dash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 Nu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 Kol HaKavod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 L’Ḥaim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 CHAPTER 22:

Ten Great Israeli Phrases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 Mah Pitom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 Yesh G’vul L’Chol Ta’alul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 Pa’am Shlishit Glidah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 Im K’var, Az K’var. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 B’Shum Panim VaOfen Lo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 Stam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 Betahḥ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 Ḥaval Al HaZ’man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 Ḥazak V’Amatz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 Yehiyeh Tov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

APPENDIX A: VERB TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 APPENDIX B: HEBREW–ENGLISH MINI-DICTIONARY . . . . 355 APPENDIX C: ANSWER KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

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Introduction

ebrew is an incredible language. If you’re picking up this book, I’m guessing that you have at least a passing interest in the subject, which thrills me because I think that Hebrew is an amazing, fascinating, and beautiful language. It’s the only language in the history of the world to go from a deep freeze to a fully thawed, living, spoken language again. When you speak Hebrew, you’re part of that amazing linguistic history. Whether you’re interested in Hebrew because you want to communicate with your Israeli cousins, want to brush up on the subject so you can understand prayers and other sacred Jewish literature better, or want to impress your Jewish in-laws, Hebrew For Dummies can help.

About This Book This book is a great place to start regardless of your motivation for picking up or dusting off your Hebrew skills. It won’t make you fluent overnight (though wouldn’t that be nice?) or turn you into a Biblical scholar, but Hebrew For Dummies can give you a solid foundation in both conversational Hebrew and the Hebrew of prayer, sacred texts, and holidays. As if that’s not enough, I also share with you my love of things Jewish and the delightful, sometimes quirky culture of the modern State of Israel, where the largest group of Hebrew speakers resides today. But if you aren’t planning on taking a trip to the Middle East, don’t worry: Hebrew is alive and well all over the world. You can find plenty of opportunities to practice your language skills. (If you’re not sure where to turn, I have you covered with some tips on where you can find Hebrew speakers and Hebrew sources right here in North America.) ‫( ! ְּב ַהצְ לָ ָחה‬beh-hahtz-lah-ḥah; Good luck! Much success to you!) This book is only the beginning — but I hope it’s a good one! You can pick up a language only through exposure and repetition, so go online and listen to the audio files for this book again and again. Be sure to practice, practice, and (you knew it was coming) practice. Go to places where you hear Hebrew and speak Hebrew in your home and workplace. Teach your favorite Hebrew words and expressions to everyone you know. Before you know it, Hebrew will creep into your mind, soul, and heart, and you’ll speak it day and night!

Introduction

Here are a couple of conventions that I use in this book for your reading pleasure:

» For this second edition, we’re proud to include the Hebrew letters for each

word (with vowels), along with the pronunciation (how to say the word) and translation (what the word means in English). In the pronunciations, the stressed syllables are italicized.

» Because Hebrew language is often gender-specific (with masculine and

feminine nouns, verb forms, and so on; see Chapter 2 for an explanation of gender), I’ve included the following abbreviations wherever necessary:

• Masculine singular (MS) • Feminine singular (FS) • Nonbinary singular (NB) • Masculine plural (MP) • Feminine plural (FP) To help you develop your language skills, For Dummies language books include

» Talkin’ the Talk dialogues: Here’s where you get to see Hebrew in action.

These relatively short, real-life dialogues use the vocabulary and grammatical concepts that I introduce in the book.

» Words to Know blackboards: Here’s where you can find the key words and phrases I introduce. It’s all here: the word as it’s written in Hebrew, the proh-nun-see-aye-shun, and the translation.

» Fun & Games activities: I’m a teacher; I just can’t help myself. So, at the

end of each chapter, I include some fun little exercises to help reinforce your newly acquired Hebrew.

Foolish Assumptions My father taught me never to assume anything. He even had a little ditty about assumptions that I won’t repeat here. But my editor said that I had to come up with some assumptions about you, the reader. So here they are:

» You know no Hebrew — or if you learned Hebrew in religious school, you don’t remember a word of it.

Hebrew For Dummies

» You’re not looking for a book that will make you fluent in Hebrew; you just

want to know some words, phrases, and sentence constructions so that you can communicate basic information in Hebrew.

» You don’t want to have to memorize long lists of vocabulary words or a bunch of boring grammar rules.

» You’re inexplicably drawn to all yellow-and-black books. » You want to have fun and pick up some Hebrew at the same time. Do any descriptions sound like you? Well, good. I bet you’re in good company.

How This Book Is Organized This book is organized into six parts plus an appendix. The six parts are broken down into chapters. I’ve organized the chapters around active topics — things you want to do (like go to a bank, go to a restaurant, or go to a synagogue). Each chapter gives you the lowdown on the Hebrew you need to know to get by while doing that activity. And, though I know that you don’t want to be bogged down by grammar rules, I sneak a grammatical tidbit or two into each chapter. Don’t worry: I make these brief excursions as quick and painless as possible.

Part 1: Getting Started This part of the book starts with the basics. I introduce you to the Hebrew letters and vowels and give you some basic Hebrew vocabulary. I explain how I represent the Hebrew sounds in English letters (so you don’t have to crack your teeth reading the Hebrew, although I encourage you to try). In Part 1, I also give you a basic grounding in Hebrew grammar.

Part 2: Hebrew in Action Here’s where I really get going. In these chapters, I give you basic Hebrew vocabulary to start using in your daily life — when you rise up, when you lie down, in your home, and when you walk (to quote from an important Hebrew prayer). Part 2 gives you the words to meet and greet, flirt and work, eat and drink, and shop ’til you drop. I also give you vocabulary to use when you go out for a night on the town and when you talk about it on the phone the next day. And I give you all the words you need when you’re hanging out at home and cleaning up your place after you’ve made a mess.

Introduction

Part 3: Hebrew on the Go Here’s where I start to get practical. I cover dealing with money, going to the bank, asking directions, getting around using various forms of transportation (funny thing — I don’t mention camels; oh well), and hitting the road for a trip. So, if travel bug has paid you a visit, take a look at Part 3. I give you the words and phrases you need for planning the trip. And I also give you some vocabulary for handling — God forbid — an emergency.

Part 4: Israeli Life When you travel to Israel or converse with Israelis about Israeli life, you’ll need a specialized vocabulary. In these chapters, I’ve got you covered. You’ll learn the names of some Israeli cities and towns, Israel’s diverse religious, cultural and ethnic groups, and how to talk about Israel’s history, conflicts and quest for peace. There’s even a bit of Arabic in these chapters, too.

Part 5: Sacred Hebrew Where would Hebrew be without Judaism? In this part, I present the sacred side of the Hebrew language. I tell you all about blessings, prayers, and Jewish holidays.

Part 6: The Part of Tens What would a For Dummies book be without one of these? I’ll put my top ten lists up against anyone’s. In this section, I give you ten Israeli sayings so you can sound like a real ‫( צַ ָּבר‬tzah-bahr; native Israeli), plus the top-ten Hebrew sayings heard in the Jewish Diaspora (that’s everywhere outside of the Land of Israel). I also give you a list of some great reads about the wonderful, wild, and wacky world of Hebrew. It’s all here.

Appendixes Here’s all the nuts and bolts. The cogs that make Hebrew run — verb tables and a Hebrew-English/English-Hebrew dictionary. And it doesn’t stop there. I put the answers to the Fun & Games activities (which you find at the end of each chapter) here too. This is the place to go when you want some information, and you want it fast.

Hebrew For Dummies

Icons Used in This Book Sometimes, I want to point out something that’s especially important or interesting: a grammatical concept, something to remember, a tip to help you with your Hebrew skills, or a bit of insider insight into the wonderful world of Jewish culture. In these cases, I use the following icons, which you can find in the margins. This icon accompanies helpful tips for picking up the Hebrew language. Think of this icon as that string around your finger that reminds you of all the little things you’ve gotta do but tend to forget. This icon flags important concepts that you have to keep in mind while you study Hebrew. You know what they say: God is in the details. This little guy is by far my favorite icon. When you see this icon, you know that I’ve taken the opportunity to cram in all sorts of interesting information about the Jewish world — religious and secular — in Israel and the Jewish Diaspora (lands outside Israel). Ah, grammar. Can’t live with it; can’t live without it. This icon alerts you to instances where I point out the quirks of the Hebrew language and all those grammar rules that underlie the language’s structure. The website associated with this book gives you the opportunity to hear Hebrew in action. The site features audio files of native Hebrew speakers bringing to life some of the dialogues from the pages of this book. I bet you’ll be amazed by how beautiful Hebrew can sound. Check it out at: www.dummies.com/go/hebrewfd2e. I really tried to make this foray into Hebrew as painless as possible for you, but every now and then, I felt the need to explain things in technical terms. Don’t worry — you can skip the paragraphs marked with this icon and still get all the Hebrew you need for basic conversation.

Beyond the Book In addition to what you’re reading right now, this book comes with a free, accessanywhere Cheat Sheet containing tips and techniques for learning Hebrew faster. To get this Cheat Sheet, simply go to https://www.dummies.com and type Hebrew For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the search box.

Introduction

Where to Go from Here First, the good news: You don’t have to read this entire book. In fact, you don’t have to read any of it. (But if that’s the case, you probably wouldn’t have bought it.) Anyway, here’s my point: This book is organized so that you can read only the chapters that interest you and skip the rest. At no point in the text do I assume that you’ve read any of my scintillating writing in other chapters or sections, and I won’t get insulted if you want to read only certain chapters. If you’re interested in the religious stuff, by all means, go straight to chapters 17, 18, and 19. But if you’re interested in the day-to-day stuff, or if you just want to know how to ask that cute Israeli out on a date, Chapter 3 may be your cup of tea. Take a look at the table of contents and turn to the chapter that most interests you. Go ahead and do it! Read this book out of order. Skip chapters. I won’t tell anyone. In fact, I’ll never know. All right, all right, I do have to add a few exceptions to the read-anythingyou-want rule. You’ll probably want to read Chapter 1, which gives you an overview of the book. And if you’re a grammar geek, you’ll looooove Chapter 2. If you aren’t a grammar geek (most people despise the stuff, and I can’t say that I blame them), you may want to look at Chapter 2 anyway. Here’s a tip from someone who knows: After you understand the basics of Hebrew grammar, picking up the rest of the language is a cakewalk. So, consider checking out Chapter 2.

Hebrew For Dummies

Getting Started with Hebrew

IN THIS PART . . .

See the links between Hebrew and English. Master the basics of Hebrew grammar. Say “Hello” — and “Goodbye”.

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

Chapter

You Already Know Some Hebrew

‫( ָּברּוְך ַה ָּבא‬Bah-rooh Hah-Bah!; 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 2,000 — 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. That’s no longer true. The same ancient and holy tongue is now the language of sunbathing on the beach, eating dinner, going to the doctor, and carrying out the myriad events of everyday life. All languages are portals — openings to culture and friendship, literature, and ideas. Discover any one of these portals, and a whole new world opens up to you. Discover Hebrew, and a whole Jewish and Israeli world is yours.

CHAPTER 1 You Already Know Some Hebrew

Taking Stock of What’s Familiar If you’ve ever been to a synagogue or had a bit of Jewish education, you probably know a little Hebrew already. But even if you’ve never walked through a synagogue’s door or studied anything Jewish, you probably still know some Hebrew words. You’ve probably heard the word amen, for example. 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 “Recognizing Tips to Help You Read Hebrew” later in this chapter.) You may have heard other Jewish words, of course, such as ‫( שלעּפ‬shlehp; to drag or pull) and ‫( ְקוֶ עְ ְט ָטׁש‬kvehtsh; to complain), which are actually Yiddish (the language of the Jews of Eastern Europe combining Old High German, Hebrew, and other languages) and are part of the Israeli vernacular today. You may never have thought about other words that have Hebrew roots. Did you know that cinnamon is a derivative of the Hebrew word ‫( ִקּנָ מֹון‬kee-nah-mohn), which appears in the biblical book The Song of Songs? The English word dilute may derive from the Hebrew word ‫( ַּדל‬dahl), 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. This process works in reverse, too, as many English words and phrases have crept into the Hebrew language. Interestingly enough, although you as an English speaker may identify some words as English, some of them 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!

» Hamburger » Macaroni » Pizza » Cafe » Radio » Internet » Telephone

PART 1 Getting Started with Hebrew

Incidentally, The Academy for Hebrew Language, the institute responsible for creating Modern Hebrew words, created an authentic Hebrew word for the telephone. The academy called the telephone a ‫ ָרחֹוק‬-‫( ָׂשח‬sahch-rah-chohk), which put together the words for conversation and long distance. So, telephone translated as “long-distance conversation.” Pretty clever, huh? This word didn’t stick with the Israeli public, however, so ‫( ֵטלֵ פֹון‬telephone) it is.

INTRODUCING THE ACADEMY FOR HEBREW LANGUAGE Hebrew, the language of the Bible, is spoken today in Israel and around the world as a modern language. The question, of course, is where all these modern words come from? Who decides? The answer is ‫ ָה ָא ָק ֶד ְמיָה לַ לָ ׁשֹון ָה ִע ְב ִרית‬, (ha-ah-kah-dee-mee-yah la-lhshon hah-eev-reett; The Academy for Hebrew Language), an institute founded in Israel in 1953 to oversee the language’s development and to create new words as the need arose in a manner consistent with Hebrew’s historical development. So, although Hebrew is an ancient biblical language, new words needed to be developed, such as ָ ָ‫ ; ַּת ֲע ִׂשּי‬tah-ah see-yat ee-leet) and start-up company (‫ ; ֶח ְב ַרת ֶהזְנֵק‬hehv-raht high tech (‫העלִ ית‬ hehz-nehk), surfboard (‫ ;ּגַ לְ ָׁשן‬gahl-shan), jet lag (‫ ;יַ עֶ ֶפת‬yah-eh-feht), and even — when you’ve had a few too many — hangover (‫ ; ֲח ַמ ְרמ ֶֹרת‬ḥah-mahr-moh-reht). Other timely words include ‫( נְ גִ יׁשּות‬neh-shee-goot; affordability), ‫( ֲח ִריגָ נּות‬ḥahr- reegahn-oot; exceptionalism), ‫( נְתּונֵי ָע ֵתק‬nee-too-nee ah-tahk; big data), ‫( ַּתג ַה ְק ָּבצָ ה‬tahg-hahk -bahk-tzah; hashtag), ‫( ַה ֲעלָ ַמת זֶהּות‬heet-ahm-aht zah-hoot; anonymization), ‫( ִעילּות‬ee-loot; gentrification), ‫( ַא ֲחוָ ה‬ah-vah; solidarity), and ְ ‫( ַּתצלּום ָמ ָסְך‬tahtz-loom mahḥ screen shot). The Israeli public doesn’t accept all the words the academy invents, of course, although the academy’s decisions are binding for government documents and the official Israel Broadcasting Authority. Israelis aren’t above taking matters into their own hands and creating words of their own. In the 1990s, Motorola Israel Corporation introduced wireless phones, coining the new word ‫פֹון‬-‫ ֶּפלֶ א‬pela-phone (meaning “wonder phone).” You can find out more about the academy at: https://hebrew-academy.org.il/. Here’s a great video on the Academy (it’s in Hebrew, but there are English subtitles); https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=cY62gLh10CM You can even check out their Facebook page and “like” it at www.facebook.com/AcademyOfTheHebrewLanguage.

CHAPTER 1 You Already Know Some Hebrew

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 start. The most important parts of sounding like a native are persistence and practice — and then some more practice! Listen to the dialogues from this book (available online) as much as possible. Spend as much time listening to Hebrew spoken by native speakers as 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 that you speak Hebrew fluently — or close to fluently, 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, as in “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: “When speaking a foreign language . . . .”

GESTURING LIKE THE BEST OF THEM Gestures provide the flourishing touch to help you seem like a native speaker. Use the following gestures when you‘re speaking in Israel:

• Holding one hand at about shoulder level with the palm upright and all the fingers cupped together in the center means ! ‫( ֶרגַ ע‬reh-gah; wait a minute).

• When you want to catch a cab, point your index finger down at the ground, indicating that you want the cab to stop where you’re pointing.

• In Israel, the American thumbs-up sign has traditionally been seen as an unfriendly gesture that means you’re ‫( ְּברֹגֶ ז‬broh-gehz; mad or pissed off at someone).

Interestingly, an ad campaign in Israel once encouraged kids to make a thumbsup sign to drivers when they’re crossing the street, with the drivers returning the thumbs-up as an indication that they see the children and will let them cross without running them over. So, thumbs-up is taking on a positive connotation!

PART 1 Getting Started with Hebrew

Getting out the gutturals The second piece of advice I’ll give you has to do with certain Hebrew letters that are pronounced at the back of the throat. Use these tips to pronounce them:

» ‫( ע‬eye-yeen): This letter makes a barely audible guttural sound in the back of the throat. For practical purposes, this letter is nearly a silent syllable.

» ‫( כ‬ḥahf ): This letter makes a sound you don’t hear in English. It’s a hard H

sound, like the one you make when you clear your throat. In this book it is written as an ḥ.

» ‫( ח‬ḥeht): This letter makes a strong throaty H sound. In this book, this syllable is written as ḥ.

» ‫( ר‬raysh): Traditionally this letter makes an 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 “Recognizing Tips to Help You Read Hebrew” later in this chapter.

A PEOPLE DISPERSED, A LANGUAGE INTACT Hebrew served as the vernacular during the ancient Jewish commonwealth until it was conquered by the Romans in 70 CE (Common Era). Then Jews fanned out across the globe to Asia, Africa, and Europe. Even though they were dispersed, the Jewish people continued to practice their religion (Judaism) and remained literate in their language (Hebrew). Hebrew continued to be the language of prayer, study, and correspondence for Jewish people. Gradually, Jews adopted the languages of their host countries as their spoken language. They mixed Hebrew with their host countries’ languages, giving rise to new Jewish languages such as Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, and Yiddish. In the 1800s, a movement began to revive Hebrew as a spoken language. Eliezer BenYehuda championed the cause and moved to ‫( ֶא ֶרץ יִ ְׂש ָר ֵאל‬eh-rehtz yees-rah-ehl; the Land of Israel) to revive Hebrew, writing the first Modern Hebrew dictionary. Today, Hebrew is one of the two official languages in Israel (Arabic being the other) and is a living, spoken language for millions of Israelis and other Hebrew speakers across the globe.

CHAPTER 1 You Already Know Some Hebrew

Opening your mouth to say “Ah!” Third, watch the pronunciation of your vowels. When pronouncing the ah sound, pronounce that vowel fully. Open your mouth wide and say “Ah” as though you were at the doctor’s office. 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 the ee in Whoopee! In Hebrew, oh sounds are long, as in over. Hebrew is a Mediterranean language, and as such, it has a certain nasal quality. More so than in English — but actually a lot like in French — you use your nasal cavity when making sounds. Here’s a less-technical tip: When speaking Hebrew, try to fake a French accent. At the very least, your Hebrew will sound better than it does with an American accent!

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 want to count without counting objects, use the feminine form. See “Counting objects” later in this chapter to find out how to incorporate gender into numbers.

TABLE 1-1

Counting from 1 to 10 Number

Masculine

Feminine

‫( ֶא ָחד‬eh-ḥad)

‫( ַא ַחת‬ah-ḥat)

‫( ְׁשנַ יִ ם‬shnah-eem)

‫( ְׁש ַּתיִ ם‬shta-yim)

‫לֹוׁשה‬ ָ ‫( ְׁש‬shloh-sha)

h ‫( ָׁשלֹוׁש‬sha-lohsh)

‫( ַא ְר ָּב ָעה‬ahr-bah-ah)

‫( ַא ְר ַּבע‬ahr-bah)

‫( ֲח ִמ ָּׁשה‬ḥah-mee-shah)

‫( ָח ֵמׁש‬ḥah-mesh)

‫( ִׁש ָּׁשה‬shee-shah)

‫( ֵׁשיׁש‬shesh)

‫( ִׂש ַּבע‬sheev-ah)

‫( ֶׁש ַבע‬she-vah)

‫( ְׁשמֹונָ ה‬shmoh-nah)

‫( ְׁשמֹונֶ ה‬shmoh-neh)

‫( ִּת ְׁשעָ ה‬teesh-ah)

‫( ֵּת ַׁשע‬tey-sha)

‫( ֲע ָׂש ָרה‬ah-sah-rah)

r ‫( ֶע ֶׂשר‬eh-sehr)

PART 1 Getting Started with Hebrew

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

» Figure out the gender of the noun you’re counting. If you want to talk

about one book, first you must figure out whether 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

1, you place the number after the noun. So rather than saying “one book,” you say, “book one” (‫ ; ֵס ֶפר ֶא ָחד‬seh-fehr eh-chad). But after you get to the number two, place the number before the noun. In Hebrew, the plural of ‫ ֵס ֶפר‬is ‫ְס ָפ ִרים‬ (sfah-reem; books). So, to say “two books,” you say ‫( ְׁשנֵי ְס ָפ ִרים‬shnay sfah-reem); ָ ‫( ְׁש‬shloh-shah sfah-reem); for “four books,” say for “three books,” say ‫לֹוׁשה ְס ָפ ִרים‬ ‫( ַא ְר ָּב ָעה ְס ָפ ִרים‬ahr-bah-ah sfah-reem); and so on.

The number 2 in Hebrew is an exception. When you’re specifying two of something, say “two boys” (‫ ;יְ לָ ִדים‬yuh-lah-deem) or “two girls” (‫ ;יְ לָ דֹות‬yuh-lah-doht), and drop the last syllable (im) of the number 2. So, you get ‫( יְ לָ ִדים‬two boys) and ‫ְׁש ֵּתי‬ ‫( יְ לָ דֹות‬two 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 10. In the masculine form, for example, 11 is ‫ ַא ַחד ָע ָׂשר‬. In the feminine form, 11 is ‫ַא ַחת עֶ ְׂש ֵרה‬ (ah-chaht es-reh). Table 1-2 shows the numbers 11–19. Use the appropriate gender for the 10 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.

CHAPTER 1 You Already Know Some Hebrew

TABLE 1-2

Counting from 11 to 19

Number

Masculine

Feminine

‫( ַא ַחד ָע ָׂשר‬eh-ḥad ah-sahr)

‫( ַא ַחת עֶ ְׂש ֵרה‬ah-ḥaht ehs-reh)

‫( ְׁשנֵ ים ָע ָׂשר‬shnehym ah-sahr)

‫( ְׁש ַּתיִ ם עֶ ְׂש ֵרה‬shtehym ehs-reh)

‫( ָׁשלֹוׁש ָע ָׂשר‬shloh-sha ah-sahr)

‫לֹוׁשה עֶ ְׂש ֵרה‬ ָ ‫( ְׁש‬shlosh-ehsreh)

ַ ‫( ַא ְר ָּב ָעה ָע ָׂשר‬ahr-bah-ah ah-sahr)

‫( ַא ְר ַּבע עֶ ְׂש ֵרה‬ahr-bah es-reh)

‫( ֲח ִמ ָּׁשה ֶע ֶׂשר‬ḥah-mee-shah ah-sahr)

‫( ָח ֵמׁש עֶ ְׂש ֵרה‬ḥah-mesh es-reh)

‫( ִׁש ָּׁשה ֶע ֶׂשר‬shee-shah ah-sahr)

‫( ֶׁשּיֵ ׁש עֲ ָׂש ָרה‬shehsh ehs-reh)

‫( ִׁש ְבעָ ה ָע ָׂשר‬sheev-ah ah-sahr)

‫( ְׁש ַבע עֲ ָׂש ָרה‬shvah es-reh)

‫( ְׁשמֹונָ ה ֶע ֶׂשר‬shmoh-nah ah-sahr)

‫( ְׁשמֹונֶ ה עֶ ְׂש ֵרה‬shmoh-neh ehs-reh)

‫( ש ִּת ְׁשעָ ה ָע ָׂשר‬teesh-ah ah-sahr)

‫( ְּת ַּׁשע עֶ ְׂש ֵרה‬tshah-esreh)

TABLE 1-3

Counting Multiples of 10 Number

Hebrew

Pronunciation

‫ֶע ְׂש ִרים‬

ehs-reem

‫לֹוׁשים‬ ִ ‫ְׁש‬

shloh-sheem

‫ַא ְר ָּב ִעים‬

ahr-bah-eem

‫ֲח ִמ ִּׁשים‬

ḥah-mee-sheem

‫ִׁש ִּׁשים‬

shee-sheem

‫ִׁש ְבעִ ים‬

sheev-eem

‫ְׁשמֹונִ ים‬

shmoh-neem

‫ִּת ְׁשעִ ים‬

teesh-eem

If you want to say something like “21” or “47,” however, you have to pay attention to gender again. (See Table 1-4.) The pattern for making these numbers is to state the number in the tens, such as ‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים‬ehs-reem; 20) and then add the word for and ( ְ‫ ;’ו‬veh), followed by the single number, such as ‫( ֶא ָחד‬eh-chad; one). So, 21 would be ‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ֶא ָחד‬ehs-reem veh-eh-chad).

PART 1 Getting Started with Hebrew

TABLE 1-4

Counting from 21 to 29

Number

Masculine

Feminine

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ֶא ָחד‬ehs-reem veh-eh-ḥahd)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ַא ַחת‬ehs-reem veh-ah-ḥat)

‫ּוׁשנַ יִ ם‬ ְ ‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים‬ehs-reem oosh-nah-yim)

‫ּוׁש ַּתיִ ם‬ ְ ‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים‬ehs-reem ush-tah-yeem)

‫לֹוׁשה‬ ָ ‫ּוׁש‬ ְ ‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים‬ehs-reem oosh-loh-sah)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ָׁשלֹוׁש‬ehs-reem veh-shah-lohsh)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ַא ְר ָּבעָ ה‬ehs-reem veh-ahr-bah-ah)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ַא ְר ַּבע‬ehs-reem veh-ahr-bah)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וַ ֲח ִמ ָּׁשה‬ehs-reem vah-ḥah-mee-shah)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ָח ֵמׁש‬ehs-reem veh-ḥah-mesh)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ִׂש ַּבע‬ehs-reem veh-sheev- ah)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ֵׁשׁש‬ehs-reem veh-shehsh)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ִׁש ְבעָ ה‬ehs-reem veh-sheev- ah)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ֶׁש ַבע‬ehs-reem veh-sheh-vah)

‫ּוׁשמֹונָ ה‬ ְ ‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים‬ehs-reem ush-moh-nah)

‫ּוׁשמֹונֶ ה‬ ְ ‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים‬ehs-reem ush-moh-neh)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ִת ְׁשעָ ה‬ehs-reem veh-teesh-ah)

‫( ֶע ְׂש ִרים וְ ֵת ַׁשע‬ehs-reem veh-the-sha)

If you can count to 30, you can count to a million! For all the numbers, you follow the same pattern as in Table 1-4. First, state the number that’s the multiple of ִ ‫( ְׁשל‬shloh10 (20, 30, 40, and so on); then add ְ‫( ו‬veh; and) plus the single digit: ‫ֹוׁשים וְ ֶא ָחד‬ sheem veh-eh-ḥahd; 31), ‫( ַא ְר ָּב ִעים וְ ֶא ָחד‬ahr-bah-eem veh-eh-chahd; 41), and so on. To count by hundreds, first say the feminine number of the quantity of hundreds, such as four (‫) ַא ְר ַּבע‬, and then add the word for hundreds (‫) ֵמאֹות‬. This pattern continues until a thousand: 100

‫ֵמ ָאה‬

may-ah

200

‫אתיִ ם‬ ַ ‫ָמ‬

mah-tah-yeem

300

‫ְׁשלֹוׁש ֵמאֹות‬

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, ‫( ֲאלָ ִפי‬ah-lah-feem). This pattern continues to 1 million. The Hebrew word for 1,000 is ‫( ֶאלֶ ף‬eh-lehf), and the word for 2,000 is ‫( ַאלְ ַּפיִ ם‬ahl-pah-yeem): 1,000

‫ֶאלֶ ף‬

eh-lehf

2,000

‫ַאלְ ַּפיִ ם‬

ahl-pah-eem

3,000

‫ֹלׁשת ֲאלָ ִפים‬ ֶ ‫ְׁש‬

shloh-sheht ah-lah-feem

10,000

‫ֲע ֶׂש ֶרת ֲאלָ ִפים‬

ah-seh-reht ah-lah-feem

1,000,000

‫ִמלְ יֹון‬

meel-yohn

CHAPTER 1 You Already Know Some Hebrew

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. Also see 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 dates back more than 3,500 years 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. In Jewish circles, using the terms CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before the Common Era) instead of the terms AD (Anno Domini, or year of our Lord) and B. (Before Christ) is customary. In Hebrew, you say ‫( לִ ְפנֵ י ַה ְּס ִפ ָירה‬leef-nahy hah-sfee-rah; before the counting) and ‫( ַא ֲח ֵרי ַה ְּס ִפ ָירה‬ah-chah-ray hah-sfee-rah; after the counting). 2021/22 is 5782, dated from the time of Creation, placed at 3761 BCE.

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 from 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, the Hebrew alphabet is written from right to left. Hebrew consists of 22 letters, all of which are consonants. Vowels aren’t written within the consonant letters; rather, they’re written in the form of dots and dashes below the consonant letters. For a more complete discussion of Hebrew vowels, see “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, for example, have different pronunciations, and a few consonants are different as well. I use Sephardic pronunciation in this book.

PART 1 Getting Started with Hebrew

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

TABLE 1-5

The Hebrew Alphabet

Name of the Letter

Pronunciation

Hebrew Character

The Sound It Makes

Aleph

ah-lehf

‫א‬

Makes no sound.

Bet

beht

‫ּב‬

Makes a B sound as in boat.

Vet

veht

‫ב‬

Makes a V sound as in veterinarian.

Gimmel

gee-mehl

‫ג‬

Makes a G sound as in girl.

Dalet

dah-leht

‫ד‬

Makes a D sound as in door.

Hey

hey

‫ה‬

Makes a soft H sound as in hello.

Vav

vahv

‫ו‬

Also makes a V sound as in veterinarian. (Don’t ask me why.)

Zayin

zah-een

‫ז‬

Makes a Z sound as in zipper.

Chet

ḥeht

‫ח‬

Makes a strong guttural H”sound. In this book, this letter is represented as ḥ.

Tet

teht

‫ט‬

Makes a T sound as in teaspoon.

Yod

yohd

‫י‬

Makes a Y sound at the beginning of a word, as in young. This letter also behaves like a vowel at times. I discuss it in “Those dots and dashes they call vowels” later in this chapter.

Kaf

kahf

‫ּכ‬

Makes a K sound as in kite.

Khaf

khahf

‫כ‬

Makes a strong guttural H sound. This letter is represented in this book as kh.

Lamed

lah-mehd

‫ל‬

Makes an L sound as in lemon.

Mem

mehm

‫מ‬

Makes an M sound as in mouse.

Nun

noon

‫נ‬

Makes an N sound as in no. (And you thought only Catholics had nuns.)

Samekh

sah-mehḥ

‫ס‬

Makes an S sound as in soda.

Ayin

ah-yeen

‫ע‬

Makes a barely audible guttural sound in the back of the throat. (For practical purposes, as most non-native speakers can’t make this sound, this letter is a silent letter. You pronounce the vowels that are placed below it, but the letter itself doesn’t make a sound.) (continued)

CHAPTER 1 You Already Know Some Hebrew

TABLE 1-5 (continued)

Name of the Letter

Pronunciation

Hebrew Character

The Sound It Makes

Pey

pay

‫ּפ‬

Makes a P sound as in popsicle.

Fey

fay

‫פ‬

Makes an F sound as in fish.

Tzadi

tzah-dee

‫צ‬

Makes a hard Tz sound as in pizza. In this book, I represent it as tz.

Kof

kohf

‫ק‬

Makes a K sound as in Kansas.

Reish

raysh

‫ר‬

Makes an R sound as in round. This letter is actually a guttural letter. Roll it like a Spanish R and pronounce it from the back of the throat.

Shin

sheen

‫ׁש‬

(Not Charlie’s brother or Martin’s long-lost son.) When the dot is on the right side of the letter, it makes a Sh sound. as in show. In this book, I represent it as sh.

Sin

seen

‫ׂש‬

When the dot is on the left side of the letter, it makes an S sound as in Sam.

Tav

tahv

‫ת‬

Makes a T sound as in toe.

Those dots and dashes they call vowels Originally, Hebrew had no vowels. Vowels, in the form of dots and lines below the consonants, were added to Hebrew writing in the seventh century CE. Before then, people read without vowels. 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 ‫ָׁשוְ א‬ (shuh-vah; two vertical dots below a consonant) to form a syllable. For more on the ‫ ָׁשוְ א‬, see “Introducing the Shvah” later in this chapter. As I mentioned earlier, vowels are divided into long and short vowels. This categorization doesn’t have to do with their pronunciation but with the fact that long vowels are usually in open syllables — syllables that end with a vowel — and short vowels are usually in closed syllables — syllables that end with a consonant. The long vowel ‫( ִח ִיריק ָמלֵ א‬Chirik Maleh), however, holds its sound longer than the corresponding short vowel ‫( ָח ִריק ַח ֵּסר‬hirek haser). Table 1-6 shows the long vowels.

PART 1 Getting Started with Hebrew

TABLE 1-6

The Long Vowels

Name of the Vowel

Pronunciation

In Hebrew

The Sound It Makes

Hirik Maleh

ḥee-reek mah-leh

i‫ִאי‬

Makes an Ee sound as in see

Holam

ḥoh-lahm

‫ֹא‬

Makes an O sound as in more

Kamatz Gadol

kah-mahtz

‫ָא‬

Makes an Ah sound as in saw

Shuruk

shoo-rook

‫אּו‬

Makes an Oo sound as in mood

Tzere

tzay-reh

‫ֵא‬

Makes an A sound as in cape

Vav Cholam

vahv ḥoh-lahm

‫אֹו‬

Makes an O sound as in snow

TABLE 1-7

The Short Vowels

Name of the Vowel

Pronunciation

In Hebrew

The Sound It Makes

Herik Haser

ḥee-reek ḥah-sehr

‫ִא‬

Makes an Ee sound as in see

Kamatz Katan

kah-mahtz kah-tahn

‫אׇ‬

Makes an O sound as in more

Kubutz

koo-bootz

‫ֻא‬

Makes an Oo sound as in mood

Patach

pah-tahḥ

‫ַא‬

Makes an Ah sound as in saw

Segol

seh-gohl

‫ֶא‬

Makes an Eh sound as in end

Note: In this table, I used the letter ‫( א‬aleph) so you could see how the vowels look when they’re attached to a consanant. (The vowels are the little squiggles and dots around the ‫א‬.) Sometimes, the Kamatz Patah, Kamatz Katan, or the Segol is paired with a Shvah. This pairing doesn’t change the pronunciation. The Kamatz Katan looks identical to the Kamatz. If you see something that looks like a Kamatz at the beginning of a word followed by a Shvah or between two Shvah, it’s probably a Kamatz Katan and should be pronounced O.

CHAPTER 1 You Already Know Some Hebrew

Introducing the Shvah The Shvah looks like a colon (:), and you find it below letters. Hebrew actually has three types of Shvahs (but they all look the same):

» Shvah Na (shvah nah), which opens a syllable » Shvah Nach (shvah nahḥ), which closes a syllable » Shvah Merahef (shvah mehr-rah-ḥehf ), known as the flying shvah, which results from two Shvah Nas being next to each other in a word

The Shvahs don’t make their own sound but are essentially placeholders for the consonant above them. The Shvah Naḥ, however, holds the sound a little bit longer. You can tell a Shvah Naḥ because it usually comes in the middle or at the end of a word. A Shvah Na is at the beginning of a word or syllable

Doing it with a Dagesh The little dot that you see in the middle of letters is called a Dagesh. Most of the time, this dot doesn’t change the pronunciation of the consonant except for three letters. I discuss this point later in this section. Hebrew has two types of D’geshim (duh-gehsh-eem; the plural form of Dagesh):

» Dagesh Kal (dah-gehsh kahl): Appears at the beginning of all words and at the beginning of all syllables in the following letters: ‫( ּב‬Bet), ‫( ּג‬Gimmel), ‫( ּד‬Dalet),

‫( ּכ‬Kaf), ‫( ּפ‬Pey), and ‫( ּת‬Tav).

» Dagesh ḥazak (dah-gehsh ḥah-zahk): Appears after the word the, which in

Hebrew is a prefix consisting of the letter Hey and the vowel Patach below it.

Don’t get too hung up on this distinction, because all D’geshim look the same! Sometimes in Hebrew, a letter acts like a weak letter, such as a ‫( ה‬Hey) or a ‫( נ‬Nun), and disappears in the course of verb conjugation. (By “weak letter,” I mean that it sometimes drops out during conjugation.) When a weak letter disappears, a Dagesh Chazak appears in the letter that comes after the dropped letter. Also, certain word patterns called Mishkalim (meesh-kah-leem), in which all the words belong to a certain category (such as professions, colors, and physical challenges), have a Dagesh in one of the letters. Words that describe physical challenges, such as blindness and deafness, for example, always take a Dagesh ḥazak in the middle letter of the word.

PART 1 Getting Started with Hebrew