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This page provides additional practice and advanced discussion for the letters you should have
learned in Hebrew for Dummies - Lesson 6.
If you need practice saying or reading the letters - go back to lesson 6 first.
Writing Vav - Vav, unlike the final ן
, should never descend below the line. The name of the letter
ןן means
"hook" and that explains its shape in decorative and serif fonts.
Special uses of Vav - The letter vav is used to mean "and, "
as discussed in lesson 6. In biblical Hebrew it is also used to change the tense of a verb from past
to future and from future to past:
Hahyah - Was; VeHayah - "It will" והיה
Yelech - Will go; Vayelech "He went" וילך
In English, this is often mistakenly translated as "And."
Double vav
Vav is never doubled at the beginning of a word, but it is supposedly
doubled when another letter is added at the beginning of the word, to avoid confusion. For example:
ורד means "rose."
"The rose" is supposed to be written
הוורד to avoid confusion with הורד
which means "was lowered."
Yet Another use of Vav
Vav can be used to write "W" - a letter that does not exist in Hebrew. One can almost never
tell when the Vav is being used to transliterate a German version of a borrow word where the "W" is "V" or whether it is
meant to be pronounced as W. !ואו
is read as WOW!, not Va'av.
Vav as and is sounded different ways:
Vav meaning "and" is usually "veh." But if the letter following it has a
silent sound (shva) then the Vav becomes "oo." If the letter following has a "chataf" vowel sound (a shva and vowel)
then the vav can assume the vowel sound of the next letter.
Vav as W!
| ן |
Vav can be used to write "W" - a letter that does not exist in Hebrew. One can almost never
tell when the Vav is being used to transliterate a German version of a borrow word where the "W" is "V" or whether it is
meant to be pronounced as W. !ואו
is read as WOW!, not Va'av. |
A common and unexpected spelling: - King David's name is usually written
דוד . The Bible was originally written without vowel sounds. We will
never really know if his name was sounded as Dood or Daood or David or Dohd.
Some different (and unexpected) uses of יו :
יו at the end of a word is often pronounced "ahv" because it is the
masculine plural possessive - בנותיו (bnohtahv) means "his daughters."
But it can also be sounded as 'holam or Shuruk:
דיו (Dyoh) ink
רדיו radio (Rahdyoh)
ניו Nyoo (for New York, New Zealand etc.)
A Vav that is not there! There are some cases when the oh sound is heard but the vav is no
place to be seen. This is called a "missing 'holam." For example לא
means "no" and is sounded "Loh." When לא is written with dots (nikkud)
there is usually a little dot near the lamed to signify the missing oo sound.
Different OO and Oh sounds - Hebrew has different ways of making the OH and OO sounds. In
theory they are different from the 'holam and shuruk (usually) and are not supposed to be replaced by a vav unless, at
the dawn of time, it can be shown that there really was a 'holam 'hasehr there. For the "oh" sound there are two
such vowels given in nikud (use of dots to signify vowels: Kamatz Kahtahn (little Kamatz):
 and 'hataf kamatz  (much enlarged!) a
shortened or "kidnapped" kamatz. Kamatz is usually a long "ah" sound, but these two are pronounced "oh" for
reasons we won't get into. An example of a word that is spelled that way:
 (Tso hoh rah yim) which means "noon." Grammarians to the
contrary notwithstanding, there are thousands of listings in Google for צוהריים and צוהוריים.
Note that the double י is also optional.
Another example is אניה (Ohniyah) - Ship. Also
often spelled אוניה though it may be incorrect.
The word "כל" which means "all" is sometimes
supposed to be spelled with a 'holam 'haser and sometimes with a hatahf kamatz. Since we do not see either in normal
writing, it is a moot point how it would be spelled if we did write with vowels.
The Kubutz is a second OO sound. When dots (nikkud, vowels) are used, this sign
 is placed beneath the consonant letter to signify a kubutz. When writing without
dots, it is usually replaced by a shuruk vav.
Some new words and review with the new letters and letters you know:
| Meaning |
Pronunciation |
Hebrew |
| Kibbutz (Collective farm) |
Qey boots' |
קיבוץ |
| Morning |
Boh' qehr |
בוקר, בקר |
| Cowboy |
Boh qehr' |
בוקר |
| Peace |
Shah Lohm' |
שלום |
| Ship or large boat |
oh ni yah |
אניה |
| Noon |
tso hoh rah yim |
צהרים |
| Disorder |
meh hoo mah |
מהומה |
| No |
loh |
לא |
| Maybe |
oo lahy' |
אולי |
| Light (as in light and dark) |
ohr |
אור |
| Skin |
ohr |
עור |
| Blind |
ee vehr' |
עיוור |
| Newspaper |
ee tohn' |
עיתון |
| Atom |
Ah tohm' |
אטום |
| Sealed, closed, obtuse (person, colloquial)
|
Ah toom' |
אטום |
| Caulking, Sealing |
ee toom' |
אטום |
| Briar |
kohtz |
קוץ |
| To him |
Loh |
לו |
| If (conditional "had") |
Loo |
לו |
| This (fem.) |
zoh |
זו |
| This (fem.) |
zoo |
זו |
| Sits (masc. singular) |
yoh shehv' |
יושב |
| Learns (masc. singular) |
loh mehd' |
לומד |
| Passes (masc. singular) , one who passes |
oh vehr' |
עובר |
| Worker, Works (masc singular) |
oh vehd' |
עובד |
| Hope |
Teek vah |
תקווה |
| World |
oh lahm' |
עולם |
| Auditorium |
oo lahm' |
אולם |
| Never happened |
meh oh lam' |
מעולם (לא) |
| Forever |
leh oh lam' |
לעולם |
| Guard (noun) Guards (Masc. Singular verb) |
shoh mehr' |
שומר |
| Reserved |
shah moor' |
שמור |
Confuse-o-grams
Similar words with different meaning and sometimes different spelling
| Meaning |
Pronunciation |
Hebrew |
| To him |
Loh |
לו |
| If (conditional "had") |
Loo |
לו |
| |
|
|
| This (fem.) |
zoh |
זו |
| This (fem.) |
zoo |
זו |
| |
|
|
| World |
oh lahm' |
עולם |
| Auditorium |
oo lahm' |
אולם |
| |
|
|
| Worker, Works (masc singular) |
oh vehd' |
עובד |
| Loses (an object) |
oh vehd' |
אובד |
| |
|
|
| Atom |
Ah tohm' |
אטום |
| Sealed, closed, obtuse (person, colloquial)
|
Ah toom' |
אטום |
| |
|
|
| Morning |
Boh' qehr |
בוקר, בקר |
| Cowboy |
Boh qehr' |
בוקר |
| |
|
|
| Morning |
Boh' qehr |
בקר |
| Cattle |
Bah qahr' |
בקר |
| He visited |
Bi qehr' |
בקר |
| |
|
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Sentences and phrases:
אני ואתה, נשנה את העולם You and I will change the world
ani ve ahtah neshaneh et ha olahm
ואולי. לא היו הדברים מעולם And perhaps, these things never happened
Vey oolai, lo hayoo hah dvarim meh oh lam
The above are first lines of songs.
Before you go on, be sure to write out all the above words and say them out loud.
Here is some cursive script practice with these letters and words:
Ready to move on?
OR
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Isseroff and Zionism-Israel.com, You may use them for personal use or print them out to teach a class, with
this notice. You may not copy
them to a Web site or include them in a commercial text.
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