Hebrew/Aleph-Bet/7

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Aleph-Bet Lesson 7 — ט כּכך
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 Lessons on the
Hebrew Aleph-Bet
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 Introduction
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 1 א בּ תE
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 2 ב ה נןE
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 3 מם שׁשׂE
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 4 ל וE
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 5 ד ר יE
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 6 ג ז חE
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 7 ט ככּך

E

100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 8 ס קE
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 9 ע פפּףE
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 10 צץE
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 Review
100% developed  as of Jun 5, 2008 TestAnswers
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Welcome to the seventh lesson of the Hebrew alphabet! In this lesson you will learn two new Hebrew letters - ט and כ - and the niqqud symbol ħataf-segol.

Letters[edit | edit source]

Tet[edit | edit source]

ט The ninth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Tet. Like Tav, it makes the "t" sound (IPA: /t/, "t" as in "tomato").

Kaf[edit | edit source]

כּ The eleventh letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Kaf. It has three forms:

  • When the dot is inside כּ, it makes the "k" sound (IPA: /k/, "k" as in "kitten").
  • When there is no dot inside כ, it makes the same sound as Ħet. For spelling distinction purposes, Ħet (Het, Chet) is transliterated as "ħ" whilst Khaf is transliterated as "kh".
  • At the end of a word, it changes form ך. This form is known as Khaf Sofit. There is a hard K final form (ךּ), but it is rarely used.

It is about time for the dot to be explained. This dot, appearing in the letters Bet בּ, Gimmel גּ, Dalet דּ, Kaf כּ, a letter we haven't learned yet and Tav תּ, is known as dagesh ("emphasis"). What it does is to make sounds "harder": "v" to "b", "kh" to "k", and in ancient times "th" to "t", "dh" to "d" etc. Do not confuse the dagesh with mappiq (which indicates that He needs to be pronounced at the end of a word) or dagesh ħazaq (which indicates that a consonant must be emphasized, as in אִמָּא).

Vowels[edit | edit source]

One more and we're done!

Ħataf-Segol[edit | edit source]

בֱּ The shva and segol under the Bet are the Ħataf-Segol.

It produces the "e" sound (IPA: /e/, "e" as in "bet").

Words[edit | edit source]

טוֹב tov good, well (masculine, singular)
אֱלוֹהִים elohim God
מִטָּה mitah bed (feminine, singular)[1]
כָּךְ kakh like this, like so
כֶּלֶב kelev dog, hound (masculine, singular)
חָתוּל ħatul cat (masculine, singular)
כֵּן ken yes
לֹא lo no[2]

Summary[edit | edit source]

In this lesson, you've learned:

  • The letters and forms Tet ט, Kaf כּ, Khaf כ and Khaf Sofit ך.
  • The niqqud symbol ħataf-segol (ֱ).
  • The words טוֹב, אֱלוֹהִים, מִטָּה, כָּךְ, כֶּלֶב, חָתוּל, כֵּן and לֹּא.

Practice what you've learned in the exercises.


Next lesson: Aleph-Bet 8 >>>

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. Ktiv malei ("full writing", with Aleph, Vav and Yod): מִיטָּה.
  2. The Aleph is not pronounced. It is an orthographic irregularity.