Notice that the little marks - the dots and dashes and so on - appear mostly below the Hebrew letters. Yes, these marks are the objects of our study in the following lessons, and if you study well, they will soon become indispensable aides as you are learning to read and write Hebrew -- especially the Hebrew Scriptures and the prayerbook (Siddur).
"Simple" Hebrew Vowels
Most vowels in the Hebrew are called "simple" vowels (or basic) because they are composed of one Hebrew letter and an identifying vowel mark:
Note that the "X" refers to any Hebrew letter (for example Aleph, Bet, and so on) and the rectangular boxes below and to the upper left of the letter refer to a possible vowel mark location. This scheme will become abundantly clear as you progress through this lesson.
"Consonantal" Vowel Letters: ו, ×”, × and ×™
Before the vowel points were introduced, the scribes used the letters Aleph (×), Hey (×”), Vav (ו), and Yod (×™) to indicate vowel sounds. These are sometimes called "consonantal vowels," or matres lectionis (Latin for "mothers of reading"), so that when one of these consonants was encountered, the reader understood to make an associated vowel sound. In general, the letter Aleph represented an "ah" sound (i.e., paran: פ×רן); the letter Hey represented an "ei" or "ay" sound (i.e., Leah: ל××”; Moshe: משה), unless it appeared at the end of a word, in which case it represented an "ah" sound (i.e., brachah: ברכה); the letter Vav could represent either an "oh" sound (i.e., Yoel: יו×ל) or an "oo" sound (i.e., barukh: ברוך); and the letter Yod represented an "ee" sound (i.e., David: דויד).
Often these consonantal letters were used to indicate "long vowels." Originally Aleph and Hey were put at the end of words, while the Yod and Vav were used to write diphthongs (combined vowel sounds, such as "oy"). The Yod was also placed after a consonant to indicate that the vowel was to be determined as a long vowel sound. Words spelled with vowel letters are sometimes called malei (מָלֵ×) spellings. Apparently, the Masoretic scribal tradition later added vowel marks (diacritic symbols) to avoid any ambiguity in the spelling of Hebrew words. Today this writing system is called Ketiv menukad ("writing with nikkud").
"Full" (or mixed) Hebrew Vowels
After the scribes added vowel points to the texts, the consonantal vowels were often retained with the result that some of the vowels included both "simple" vowel marks as well consonantal letters. These are now known as "full vowels" (as opposed to the "simple vowels," which are the marks without the additional letters Vav, Yod, and Hey).
My approach
As mentioned above, in English we have the basic vowel categories of "A-E-I-O-U," and we will introduce the Hebrew vowels in this same order. In other words, we will show you the "A-type" vowels first, then the "E-type," and so on, each as a separate lesson.
A few additional comments before we begin looking at the actual Hebrew vowels. First, originally each Hebrew vowel marking had its own unique sound, but over time many of these were gradually combined to indicate the same intonation. Thus you will see examples of different vowel marks that make the same sort of sound.
Second, Hebrew vowels are given special names which you may or may not wish to memorize (though it is recommended if you wish to pursue Hebrew studies). In this book, we will provide the names for the vowels, but the important thing is for you to be able to determine the appropriate vowel sound when you see a given Hebrew vowel mark. The emphasis, in other words, is not the academic but the practical: we want you to be able to confidently pronounce the Hebrew words you will be learning.
We will present the vowels slowly and methodically, just as we did with the Hebrew letters. If you take the time and apply yourself diligently, you will soon enjoy the satisfaction of sounding out real Hebrew words. May the Lord God of Israel bless you in your study.
A word of caution
Be patient and go slowly. Each Lesson presents a separate vowel type in sequence. Review the reading exercises until you feel comfortable with what you are learning. It might help to make flash cards with a vowel mark on the front and the name of the vowel and its sound on the back.
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