How to quickly learn the Spanish alphabet. Spanish alphabet - Pronunciation and reading rules - Learn Spanish. most famous letter
Updated: 01/08/2020
Shalom! Despite the fact that this article is about the alphabet, there will be no theory about the 22 letters of Hebrew (which are actually 27), stories about the absence of vowels and writing from right to left.
Let's talk about more useful and practical things, namely:
- why knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet is useful in Israel even for those who do not know the language;
- how to learn and memorize the alphabet in 10 - 14 days using a simple step-by-step algorithm.
How knowing the alphabet will help in Israel
Moving around the city
Knowing the alphabet, you can read the name of the street or district in Hebrew and correlate it with the Latin in GPS. An invaluable skill if you do not know the language or just an introvert). Of course, in most cities the information on road signs is duplicated in Hebrew, Arabic and English, but there are inscriptions only in Hebrew, for example, street signs on houses. Let what you read sound like “Zhbotinsky” or “Rmt Khn” - it’s not difficult to correlate with Jabotinsky and Ramat Hen in the navigator)
Numbering of houses, transport, premises
Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical value. Writing numbers in letters is very common in Israel.
Knowing the alphabet and numerical correspondences, you will not get confused in the numbers of houses like "יא" (yud-alef, 10 + 1, that is, 11) and buses with numbers like 18-ב (even if someone writes such a "number" on a piece of paper or send via SMS). Floors and entrance numbers are also often indicated by letters.
In Israeli school classes, the letter denotes the class itself (1st, 2nd, etc.), and the number after the letter is an analogue of the letters "a" and "b" in "1b", "10a". For example, first-graders will have written on the classroom door כיתה א 1 (kita alef ahat = 1a class).
Opening hours of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, banks and shops
The days of the week in Israel are also often denoted by letters. Literally translated from Hebrew, Sunday is “the first day” = 1 = א, Monday is “the second day” = 2 = ב
Accordingly, in calendars, the days of the week are denoted by letters of the alphabet. On a plate with hours of operation or on the organization's website, you can often see the following:
"13:00 - 16:00 א, ג"
"10:30 - 15:30 ב, ד"
Learning Hebrew obviously
Without knowing the letters, you will not be able to read and write. Yes, if you suddenly come up with a wonderful idea in Russian, I would not advise it. Firstly, then everything will have to be re-learned in Hebrew, and secondly, it gives such a “London from the Capital of Great Britain”, which, well, what the hell.
Top up lexicon without reading and writing skills is also problematic. Of course, if you, for example, are auditory, then most likely you will be able to gain some kind of base from hearing, but no more. Those who remember better by writing or reading words, all the more can not do without the alphabet.
Having learned the letters of Hebrew, in the ulpan ( language classes for immigrants) you will begin to read, complete written tasks and understand what the teacher writes on the blackboard faster than those who do not know the alphabet. You will not need to constantly check yourself “stop, what letter is this, but did I write it correctly”?
Algorithm for learning the alphabet
Step 1. Get to know each other
I tried to learn Hebrew letters from textbooks, from videos on YouTube and from articles on the Internet. Some scattered knowledge, of course, these sources gave, but I still forgot the letters or confused them with each other. Finally, the Quick Start course from the Hebrew school Ivrika helped me learn the alphabet. The course is free, it can be downloaded after subscribing to school news.
What I liked about the course:
- the alphabet is learned not “letter by letter” in order, but in groups; each group of letters is united by one common feature.
- color selection of groups helps to memorize letters faster (literally - “today we learn yellow”, tomorrow - “red”);
- in addition to the alphabet itself, the course tells about vowels, letters with dagesh, letters from spotlights, and there are tables with all this for printing;
- the rules of reading with vowels are explained;
- there are copybook templates for practicing writing and spelling samples of the letters of the written alphabet.
The materials are neat, colorful, with large print. Printing and doing is a pleasure :)
My copybooks and tables with Hebrew letters from the "Quick start" course of the Hebrew school "Ivrika".
There are 11 lessons in total. If you go through a lesson a day, you can master the alphabet in 10-11 days.
Step 2. Remember
After getting acquainted with the structure of the alphabet, you need to memorize it corny. I recommend these simulators of the Hebrew alphabet, vowels and numerical values of letters:
Hebrew alphabet simulator
Hebrew Letters Numeric Value Trainer
Step 3. Fixing
Without practice and repetition, the Hebrew alphabet is quickly forgotten. What to do to prevent this from happening?
How to learn Hebrew letters
To consolidate the written alphabet, immediately start writing in Hebrew. For example, try writing down your name, Russian and English words. Work with the copybooks from the Quick Start course (or write in a regular school notebook).
I started learning the language using the Sheat Hebrew textbook and just did all the exercises from it in my notebook for writing words with each letter of the alphabet. It's tedious, but it really helps to memorize printed and written Hebrew letters well.
My exercises for memorizing capital letters: rewriting words from a textbook
Fans of "digging deeper" may be interested in this video with the analysis of the alphabet from the point of view of Kabbalah. The lecturer talks about the symbolic meaning of the Hebrew letters and, what is especially interesting, how each of them is connected with the neighboring ones. Such things help me a lot - knowing the "story" behind the letter, I remember the letter better.
The lecture has a very interesting introduction, but the analysis of the alphabet itself begins from the 20th minute.
I hope after reading the article you will be able to learn the alphabet easily and quickly. I wish you to master the letters as soon as possible and start learning Hebrew)
Please note: This content requires JavaScript.
In contact with
Since Hebrew uses a consonantal script, the alphabet consists of consonants; however, many of them are also used to write vowels in Hebrew and especially in other diaspora languages.
Also used in Karaite and Krymchak languages.
Alphabet
There are 22 letters in the alphabet, there is no difference between uppercase and lowercase letters.
Five letters have two styles each - the main one (used at the beginning and middle of the word) and the final one.
In Hebrew, all letters are consonants, but four of them - , ה hey, ו vav and י yod - are sometimes used to write vowels (matres lectionis).
For the complete recording of vowels, a system of diacritical vowels "nekudot" (dots) is used, placed under or above the letter.
Previously, special badges (tags) were also used, which served as an ornament that adorned some letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
In Yiddish, the alphabet is complete: the letters א aleph, ו vov, י yud and ע ayin have lost the role of consonants and turned into vowels.
Hebrew letters are also used to write numbers, each letter is assigned a numerical value - .
Hebrew alphabet
| Letter | Name | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| earlycf. | con. | num. value | standard | Ashkenazi |
| א | 1 | Aleph | Aleph | |
| ב | 2 | Bet (wet) | Beys (weiss) | |
| ג | 3 | Gimel | Gimel | |
| ד | 4 | Dalet | Doles | |
| ה | 5 | he | hey | |
| ו | 6 | wav | wow | |
| ז | 7 | Zain | Zain | |
| ח | 8 | Het | Hes | |
| ט | 9 | Tet | tes | |
| י | 10 | Iodine | Yod | |
| כ | ך | 20 | Kaf (khaf) | Kof (hof) |
| ל | 30 | Lamed | Lomed | |
| מ | ם | 40 | meme | meme |
| נ | ן | 50 | Nun | Nun |
| ס | 60 | Samekh | Somekh | |
| ע | 70 | Ayin | Ayin | |
| פ | ף | 80 | Pe (fe) | Pei (fai) |
| צ | ץ | 90 | Tzadi | Tsodi, tsodik |
| ק | 100 | coffee | Kuf | |
| ר | 200 | Resh | Reish | |
| ש | 300 | Shin (shin) | Shin (shin) | |
| ת | 400 | Tav | Tov (owls) |
Notes
- In Israel, mostly standard letter names with name elements are used.
- The Russian transliteration given in the table is approximate.
History
For a long time, experts could not answer whether the letter ב (bet or vet - depending on the presence of the “dagesh” sign in the letter, which is usually omitted when writing) can convey the sound “b”. Many linguists believed that the letter ב conveyed only the sound "in".
The discussions went on until a clay tablet was deciphered with a text that told about sheep walking in the field: their bleating was recorded using the letter "ב".
In the I millennium BC. (960-585) Jews begin to use the so-called Hebrew script - a system similar to the Phoenician, widely used in the Middle East at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e.
The oldest known documents using this system are the alphabet from Tel Zayit, the tablets from Gezer (~950 BC, epoch ), and the stele and other inscriptions of Mes (King of Moab, ~850 BC). n. e.).
Samaritan writing inherited many features of the Old Hebrew writing.
During the Babylonian captivity, the Jews gradually stop using the old script, and by 535 BC. e. change to Babylonian Aramaic (in turn also derived from Phoenician), the so-called Hebrew square script .
The first biblical texts were written in square Hebrew, which undoubtedly helped preserve this script and allowed it to revive.
Despite the fact that in the Middle Ages each region had its own stylizations, the spelling of the letters of this alphabet has come down to our times practically unchanged. As the Hebrew languages of the diaspora emerged, the square Hebrew script adapted to write those languages.
Square letters were often used as decorations in architecture. The art of calligraphy and micrography was greatly developed.
History according to Judaism
According to the Torah, the first Tablets of the Covenant were received by Moses from God and were made by God himself, including the script with which the commandments were carved, which was also the work of God himself.
"The tablets were the work of God, and the writings inscribed on the tablets were the writings of God."
— Exodus 32:16
The Mishnah calls the square type used for writing Torah scrolls and other sacred texts “Assyrian” (Ashurit), but this name does not mean that the Hebrew script comes from Assyria, but hints that the type was restored by the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah, who arrived at the head of the returning Babylonian exiles.
For this they also received the nickname "sofrim" - Scribes.
Another mention of the origin of the square script form from the tablets is given in the Babylonian Talmud:
Rav Hisda said: Mem and Samekh, which are on the tablets, stood miraculously. And (more) Rav Hisda said: the text on the tablets could be read both from the front side and from the back, for example: נבוב בובן (רהב בהר) סרו ורס.
- Shabbat, 104a
At the time of the Temples, the Jews did not use the sacred script for everyday purposes, but only for rewriting the Torah scrolls, so the rules for writing the holy script began to be forgotten, for this the Scribes needed to restore these rules, which were also approved by the Men of the Great Assembly and later described in the Oral Torah.
In the Talmud, we find only a few remarks about the shape of the letters of this script, which caused controversy in later halakhic literature about some details of the shape of the letters.
Numerous ancient manuscripts also exist, but all of them were written no earlier than the Second Temple period, such as the scrolls of the Qumran community.
However, in the Alt-Noi Shul synagogue in Prague there was (and possibly still is) a Torah scroll, according to legend, written by Ezra himself.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, when he was in Prague in 1918, saw this scroll himself.
Also, this scroll is mentioned in many earlier books, for example, Maimonides used it to check the text of the Torah.
It is worth noting that since Ezra was born before the Babylonian captivity, he could well see the Torah scroll, which was in - one of the scrolls, according to legend, written by Moses himself, and left in the Tabernacle, and then in the Temple to verify the text of subsequent copies.
Variants of letter styles
| letter name | serif | Sans serif | Monospace | handwritten | Rashi | Phoenician | Aramaic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aleph | א | א | א | ||||
| BetVet | ב | ב | ב | ||||
| Gimel | ג | ג | ג | ||||
| Dalet | ד | ד | ד | ||||
| hei | ה | ה | ה | ||||
| wav | ו | ו | ו | ||||
| Zain | ז | ז | ז | ||||
| Het | ח | ח | ח | ||||
| Tet | ט | ט | ט | ||||
| Yod | י | י | י | ||||
| KafHaf | כ | כ | כ | ||||
| KafHaf (ultimate) | ך | ך | ך | ||||
| Lamed | ל | ל | ל | ||||
| meme | מ | מ | מ | ||||
| Meme (Ultimate) | ם | ם | ם | ||||
| Nun | נ | נ | נ | ||||
| Nun (final) | ן | ן | ן | ||||
| Samekh | ס | ס | ס | ||||
| Ayin | ע | ע | ע | ||||
| PeiFei | פ | פ | פ | ||||
| PeiFei (Ultimate) | ף | ף | ף | ||||
| Tzadik | צ | צ | צ | , | |||
| Tzadik (ultimate) | ץ | ץ | ץ | ||||
| Kuf | ק | ק | ק | ||||
| Reish | ר | ר | ר | ||||
| shinsin | ש | ש | ש | ||||
| Tav | ת | ת | ת |
In this lesson we will learn the written letters of Hebrew. As well as in Russian, they differ significantly from their printed counterparts, but there is nothing difficult in mastering them. If you are already familiar with, then you can safely proceed.
- The main feature of the Hebrew script is that the letters do not connect with each other.
- The second point is the technique of writing itself - from right to left.
Let's look at the spelling of each written letter. The arrows indicate the direction of writing, and the numbers indicate the sequence of strokes. The horizontal dotted lines indicate the line to clarify the spelling of some elements that are written above or below the line.
The letter "aleph" consists of two strokes. We start writing from the right stroke, it is very similar to the Russian "s" - we write from top to bottom. Then we move on to the left - pay attention to how much it protrudes beyond the top border of the line.
ב Bet/Vet
"Bet" is a semicircle with a tail bent at the bottom. Beginning of the letter from top to bottom. If you put a dot inside, then this is the letter “b” (bet), and if without a dot, then “v” (vet).
"Gimel" is written from top to bottom. The top element extends beyond the top of the row. Reminds me of an inverted five without a tail.
"Dalet" should be displayed from top to bottom, slightly not reaching the bottom of the line. Sometimes a small loop can form in the middle of the letter. Reminds me of an unfinished trio.
ה hey
Consists of two strokes. First, we begin to draw the top stroke in the form of a semicircle, then the second smaller one a little lower.
"Vav" is one of the easiest to write - an ordinary vertical stick. The length is the height of the line.
"Zain" is actually an inverted "gimel".
"Het" consists of two strokes, the first is written on the right in the form of a semicircular arc, then the left is a small stick. Visually, it can be compared with the English "n".
"Tet" resembles a large open oval. It is written from bottom to top, goes beyond the top line boundary.
"Yud" is essentially a simple comma pressed to the top of the line.
כ Kaf/Haf
"Kaf" ("k") is an inverted Russian "s" with a dot inside. Without a dot, this is another letter - “haf” (sound “x”)
ך Kaf/Haf soffit (final)
“Kaf / khaf soffit is written when it is the last in the word. Visually distinguished by the addition of a downward, long stroke.
The capital "lamed" is distinguished by its long tail, which protrudes strongly beyond the upper line boundary.
"Ma'am" is very similar to the English "N" with a slight tilt to the right. The right stroke may extend slightly beyond the top of the line.
ם Mem soffit (ultimate)
"Mam soffit" consists of a circle and a small stick that adjoins it on the left side. The tip may protrude slightly beyond the line.
The capital "nun" is written from top to bottom, somewhat reminiscent of a stick.
ן Nun soffit (ultimate)
"Nun soffit" - a long vertical stick protruding noticeably beyond the line.
The capital "samekh" is easy to write - an ordinary zero.
"Ayin" is a loop, similar to the number eight that is not closed from above.
פ Pei/Fei
The Hebrew "Pei" is essentially a spiral with a dot inside. Without a dot, it turns into the letter "fei", the sound "f".
ף Pei/Fei soffit (final)
“Pei/fei soffit” resembles “lamed” in its spelling, but unlike it, the upper stroke bends in a loop and returns to the base.
The letter "tzadik" is very similar to the number three. Its feature is the protrusion beyond the top line boundary.
ץ Tzadik sofit (ultimate)
"Tzadik soffit" is easily confused with "pei soffit". The only difference is that the tail does not bend to the base, but rather soars up.
“Kuf” is similar in words to the Russian “r”, but unlike it, both strokes do not touch each other.
“Reish” is a fairly simple letter to write, reminiscent of a semicircle.
ש Shin/Sin
"Shin" is very similar to the Russian "e". The dot on the right turns it into a "sin" with a "s" sound.
The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, tav, consists of two strokes. First, we draw the right stroke, reminiscent of "reish", then we attach another one to it, slightly protruding beyond lower bound lines.
Spring exercise (for easier Hebrew writing)
Once you've made sure you spell each letter correctly, you can move on to general exercises associated with facilitating writing. To do this, let's think about what the movement of a hand with a pen is like when writing a Russian text. If we abstract from the variations associated with the spelling of each letter, what is it like as a whole, as if from a "bird's eye view"? We will come to the conclusion that in Russian this is a kind of spring, going from left to right, as shown in the diagram below: 
How about in Hebrew? If we follow a similar procedure, we will see that this is exactly the same spring, closing at the bottom, but going from right to left. Thus, in order to learn how to write softly and evenly in Hebrew, you need to practice writing out this spring:
To do this, you first need to relax your hand as much as possible. You must write not with your hand or even with your forearm, but with your shoulder, i.e. as relaxed as possible. You take the pen in a relaxed hand, you can even recommend taking it not as usual - between the index and middle fingers, holding the thumb, but, for example, between the middle and ring fingers - an unusual position for her when the squeeze reflex is turned off, and write with a relaxed hand , movements coming from the shoulder, bringing the spring from right to left. In this case, it is desirable that the circles intersect each other as tightly as possible. This must be done very slowly, calmly. A sign of a correctly performed exercise will be smooth beautiful circles that will lie one next to the other like rings in chain mail:
When you write a few lines of such a spring and make sure that you have achieved relaxation, proceed to the next stage - writing out specific letters of the Hebrew alphabet against the background of this relaxation.
Having done such an exercise, making sure that the letters go very easily and beautifully, as if with one stroke, one light stroke, and you don’t even think about how this happens, you can move on to a more difficult stage, namely, to continuous spelling Hebrew letters. To do this, let's answer the question: what is the difference between separate and continuous writing? When writing a separate letter in Hebrew, after writing a letter, you draw the pen out of the plane of the letter, describe a certain line in space, again apply the pen to the sheet of paper at a small distance from the written letter, write the next one, and so on. If the pen is not lifted from the paper, and all the lines connecting the letters and emerging from the plane of the sheet are thereby projected onto the sheet, you will get thin, connecting lines and the letter will become merged - one letter will go directly into another.
To reinforce the lesson capital letters in Hebrew, we suggest watching a few videos: