Alef, Bet/Vet
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What's in this unit
Letters
אבבּ
Vowels
אַPatachאָKamats
Vocab
אָבאַבָּאאָבַבבָּבָאבָּא
Letters
Alef /'/
אאאאא
- •Makes no sound on its own — how it's pronounced depends entirely on what vowel goes with it.
- •Two arms and two legs, but no head — it can't make a sound.
- •Silent — traditionally read as a stylized ox's head lying on its side (its oldest pictograph); a wordless, patient leader at the front of the alphabet.
- •Picture it as a diagonal beam threaded between two dots, top and bottom — a needle that makes no sound as it passes through.
Vet /v/
בבבבב
- •Vet is missing something — it has a "V"oid.
- •בית (bayit) = house — the open side is the doorway, and it faces left, into the direction you're about to read.
- •Dagesh slams the door shut (hard B, "boy"); no dagesh leaves it cracked open, air leaking through (soft V, "very").
Bet /b/
בּבּבּבּבּ
- •Bet has a "B"it on the "B"ack.
- •בית (bayit) = house — the open side is the doorway, and it faces left, into the direction you're about to read.
- •Dagesh slams the door shut (hard B, "boy"); no dagesh leaves it cracked open, air leaking through (soft V, "very").
Vowels
Patach /a/ · A as in father
אַ- •The tongue depressor that makes you say "Aaah."
- •A single flat horizontal dash — the shortest possible mark for the shortest, flattest "ah."
Kamats /a/ · A as in father
אָ- •Your uvula hanging down when you say "Aaah."
- •Reads like a small capital T under the letter — the "T-ah" vowel.
- •Historically a long ah (vs. Patach's short one) — in Modern/Sephardi pronunciation the two have merged to the same sound, so this pair is really about recognizing two different written marks for one sound.
Words (5)
אָבAvfather
nounroot: א-ב
אַבָּאAbbaDad
אָבַבAvavBloomed / blossomed
בָּבָאBavaGate (Talmudic tractate names)
בָּאBaCame (he came)