Words
Read this unit's vocabulary: how each word is pronounced, what sound each letter inside it makes, what each word means, and which word carries a given meaning.
Not startedA quick look before you start
Letters
- אAlef /'/Picture it as a diagonal beam threaded between two dots, top and bottom — a needle that makes no sound as it passes through.
- בVet /v/Dagesh slams the door shut (hard B, "boy"); no dagesh leaves it cracked open, air leaking through (soft V, "very").
- בּBet /b/Dagesh slams the door shut (hard B, "boy"); no dagesh leaves it cracked open, air leaking through (soft V, "very").
Vowels
- אַPatach /a/ · A as in fatherA single flat horizontal dash — the shortest possible mark for the shortest, flattest "ah."
- אָKamats /a/ · A as in fatherHistorically 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
- אַבָּאAbbaDad
- אָבַבAvavBloomed / blossomed
- בָּבָאBavaGate (Talmudic tractate names)
- בָּאBaCame (he came)