Like the Alfabet, The letters in Hebrew are called the Alef - Beyt They are presented on my blog from bottom to the top so you can learn them order, then to read them right to left. You will see what the original "Bible" said and what the names meant as they went through the stories of old.

This is an important lesson

• One new letter
• A look at all the vowels, and their sounds
• The left to right reading pattern
• And some snapshots of words from the Tanakh

Let's compare Zayin to Vav

On the left we see Zayin: Symbolizing a sword or a weapon.

It's the seventh letter. It is a consonant. It is also the number 7 when used as a number.

• The sound this letter makes when pronounced is just like "Z" in "zoo"

On the right we see Vav, which can be a consonant, a vowel, or a consonant with a vowel impacting its sound.

Above you can see three samples of Vav

• v as in "very"
• o as in "owe"
• oo as in "luke " or "boot"

Vowels

There is no need to concentrate on the names of the vowels. I had actually forgotten the names - I never use them except to teach. You will easily learn the sounds of the vowels as you go. That is what is important and quite easy.

Below is a chart of the Niqqudim (vowels). By now, you are familiar with five of them. The other four can be learned as we go. The second one is "Shva" and it has almost no sound - it's short and indistinct. Let's say its sound is " - " and for the others, I will write a word that contains their sound above and below each vowel in the image (separated with : . : for spacing).

OWE : . : " - " : . : PAY : . : HATE : . : BLA : . : BLAH

: . : : . : SHOE : . : SMOOTH : . : MEET(if under)
source

The single dot (chirik) sounds like "ee" if it appears under a letter
If the single dot appears above a letter it sounds like "owe" (and so does cholam)

I will do a more in depth lesson on the sound of each Niqqud in other lessons.

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Reading in Hebrew is not quite right to left.

I will explain reading. It is read in a shark-tooth or, wave pattern, right to left while encountering the vowel and consonant sounds as we go. Below I have written the word.

Bah Bay Bee Boe Boo

It's not a real word but here is how we find the B sounds and the vowel sounds that are found after (below or above) each "Bet". The numbers represent each sound in the order they should be found and pronounced.

Starting at the top right we find consonants and vowels in this order...
1 and 2 = Bah on a down-left motion with our eyes.
3 and 4 = Bay on a down-left motion
5 and 6 = Bee on a down-left motion
7 and 8 = Boe on an UPWARD left motion
no vowel is found on the next down-left motion
9 and 10 = a Boo on a down-left motion

This is the simplest of explanations that I can make in order to get you started. Now let's start reading some words using the letters you already know.

Practice

Here is where I add meaning to these lessons. Let's read together and learn some words clipped right out of my Tanakh (Bible). Please use the same type of motion to find your sounds. The English meaning appears below each Hebrew word.

O or Owe = Or

Top right, moving down we have aleph (silent with no vowel above or below) - followed by Cholam (Vav with a dot above it) which has a the sound "Owe". **The word is pronounced "Owe" or like the Spanish word "O" which also means "Or"**

Who or Hoo = He

Top right, moving down we have He which has an "H" sound

Followed by Milupim (Vav with a dot left of it) - "'oo"
The Aleph which is silent (no vowel with it)

He or Hee = She

Top right, moving down we have "He" which has an "H" sound

Under "He" there is a dot (Chirik) which sounds liek "ee"
Vav is a silent vowel here
Aleph is a silent vowel here. The colon is punctuation

V-ayzov = and hyssop

Top right, moving down we have Vav with a "Shvah" which has an "V-" sound

Next: Aleph (silent) with two dots under it (a Tzeireh) - sounds like "ay"
Then moving upward, Zayin with a dot above it = "zo" or "zoe"
Finally we have a Bet (with no dot in the middle) sounds like "V"
The colon is punctuation

voe or voh = "in him" or "on him"

Top right, moving down we have only "bet" Without a dot = "V" There is no vowel below, so we move left... Next we find Vav with a dot above it (the vowel "Cholam")

These are two words, put together for to say "on him"

Note: there are other markings that you see in the clippings from the Tanakh - these are called Cantillation marks and are used in order to recite (almost like a chant or song) Hebrew aloud. They are usually not included in children's books and literature other than the Tenakh

Thanks for taking the time to read.