Lesson 5: Chalfway Point

After this brief lesson and review, you will officially be halfway done learning to read Hebrew. Before we start the review, let’s take a moment to learn one new letter.

Chet: Chanukah

ח

Chet (ח)

The letter CHET looks like a square, but without the bottom line. Just like TSADI and SHIN, CHET has a sound that combines two English letters to make a “ch” sound like Chanukah or challah. CHET does NOT make the sound like Cheezit or pretty much any other English word you would pronounce with a “ch” sound like chipmunk or championship. The “ch” is a sound you would make if you are clearing your throat and hocking a loogie which, for the record,  I definitely do not condone.

Here are 3 letters that all look remarkably similar to each other. Let’s go through them one more time to make sure we can appropriately identify each. 

Tav

Chet

Hey

ת

ח

ה

Tav has a Toe/Tail

Whether you prefer toe or tail, the letter TAV has an additional line coming out of the bottom left hand corner of the letter. 

Chanukah Chet

There is nothing remarkable about CHET which makes it difficult to remember, so we focus instead on the differences between it and HEY and TAV

Hey Has a Hole

Do you see that space in the upper left hand corner of the letter? That space is how we distinguish the letter HEY as having a hole.

Now that we’ve compared Hey, Chet, and Tav, let’s review a bit.

Read the 5 words aloud. Try to cover up the transliteration as best you can.

 (ChEHtEHnAHh)    חְתֱנָה   

 (GAHshbEHd)     גֲשְׁבְּד   

 (EEtsEEvAHyAHr)    אִצִיוַיָר   

 (AHzEEchtsEEt)      עָזִיחְצִתּ   

(VEHzAHdEHtsEEch)  וְזַדְאֶצְעִח    

 

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HEBREW LESSONS TO GO!

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Click LESSON 6: TWINNING to begin!