Lesson 1 · Stage 1
Six letters, five vowels
Read the first two words of the Bible
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא
bə-rē'-šît bā-rā': "In the beginning he created"
1. Direction
Hebrew is read right to left. The letters are all consonants. Vowels are small marks (points) written under, over or inside the letters. They were added by the Masoretes around 600–1000 AD; the consonants are much older.
2. The six letters
| Letter | Name | Sound | Memory hook |
|---|---|---|---|
| א | alef | silent (a glottal stop, like the break in "uh-oh") | carries a vowel, makes no sound itself |
| ב | bet | b with a dot inside (בּ), v without (ב) | open box on the left |
| ר | resh | r | rounded corner |
| ש | shin | š, said sh as in ship, when the dot is top right: שׁ | three prongs |
| י | yod | y, as in yes | the smallest letter |
| ת | tav | t | foot on the left |
Note: the same letter with the dot top left (שׂ) is sin, read s. You won't need it until later.
3. The five vowels
Shown here on ב, the vowel is always read after its consonant.
| Mark | Name | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| בָ | qamets | a (long) | bā |
| בַ | patach | a (short) | ba |
| בֵ | tsere | e (long, like ey in they) | bē |
| בִ | hireq | i | bi |
| בְ | shewa | very short ə, or nothing | bə |
Two useful patterns:
- hireq + yod (בִי) = one long î. The yod is just a vowel helper here.
- patach + yod (בַי) = ay, as in English eye.
4. Read these (cover the right column)
| Hebrew | Read it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| אָב | 'āv | father (no dot in ב, so v) |
| בַּת | bat | daughter |
| בַּיִת | ba-yit | house |
| שַׁבָּת | šab-bāt | Sabbath |
| בָּרָא | bā-rā' | he created |
| רֵאשִׁית | rē'-šît | beginning |
| בְּרֵאשִׁית | bə-rē'-šît | in the beginning |
In רֵאשִׁית the א is silent: rē-šît. The extra bə- at the front of בְּרֵאשִׁית is the preposition "in". Hebrew glues small words onto the front.
5. Exercises
Read each word and type it in transliteration. Long vowels can be typed with or without their line (bā or ba), and the sh sound as sh.
Now the other way round: build each word from the keys, letter first, then its dot and vowel.