Lesson 2

Contents:

         2.a Alphabet
         2.b Verbs
         2.c Nouns
         2.d Sentences

2.a: Alphabet

We keep on with some new consonants:

• ל - [l], as in 'last'.
  
  
• ס - [s], as in 'last'.
  


• ר - [r], as in 'Ricci' (hebrew 'r' is closer to french 'r', like in 'croissant' or 'citroen').
  
  
• פ - [f], as in 'stuff', or [p], as in 'apple'. We'll learn later how to distinguish.
  
  

Now, the [p]/[f] consonant "פ" also has a final form:

• ף - [f] final (when final, it's always pronounced [f], and not [p]).
  
  

And the last vowel:

• וּ - [u], as in 'cool' (a vertical line, the size of a consonant, and a dot to its left).
  

Let’s practice a bit - first try to read the (fictional) words, then click to hear:

סִיפוּר	listen
פֵסֵל	listen
סַיַר	listen
סַלגַד	listen
פַרַס	listen
יוֹתֵר	listen

And now listen and try to write down in hebrew. Having done that - click 'show' button to see the right answer:

listen	פַתַר
listen	תַפַר
listen	רֵסֵס
listen	סוּרַף
listen	רִיסֵס

Finally, write in hebrew the following:

london	לוֹנדוֹן
paris	פַרִיס
madrid	מַדרִיד
barcelona	בַרסֵלוֹנַה
oslo	אוֹסלוֹ(*)
prague	פרַאג
miami	מַיַאמִי
opera	אוֹפֵרַה
radio	רַדִיוֹ
cellular	סֵלוּלַר
million	מִיליוֹן
dollar	דוֹלַר
euro	יוּרוֹ
februar	פֵברוּאַר
april	אַפרִיל
may	מַאי
november	נוֹבֵמבֵר

(*) When a word starts with 'o' or 'u' sound, it usually begins with the no-sound letter א

And, to exercise some more, there's a bonus game! Write in hebrew pairs of countries and capitals, from the list:

capital cities: sofia, belgrad, berlin, beirut, dublin, london

מֵדִינוֹת: בוּלגַרִיַה, אִירלַנד, אַנגלִיַה, סֵרבִיַה, לֵבַנוֹן, גֵרמַנִיַה

2.b Verbs

Let's learn 3 more verbs:

• the root למד (l.m.d.) means 'learn, study'.
• the root הרס (h.r.s.) means 'destroy'.
• the root ירד (y.r.d.) means 'go down, descend'.

Now we add 2 more pronouns:

הוּא	[hu]	he	listen
הִיא	[hi]	she	listen

Note that in both cases א is not pronounced; it’s an archaic (aramic) form, having a never-pronounced א in the end.

We also introduce 3 prepositions:

בֵ	[be]	in	listen
לֵ	[le]	to	listen
מֵ	[me](*)	from	listen

(*) [me], from, is actually [mi] (מִ). It's not a big deal though, as the pronunciation is occasionally smoothed. These, being of just one letter, are adjoined to the next noun, for example:

לֵבַרסלוֹנַה	to barcelona	listen
בֵמַדרִיד	in madrid	listen
מֵבֵרלִין	from berlin	listen
לֵדַנַה	to Dana	listen

And finally, 3 more verbs:

• the root ספר (s.f.r.) means 'count'.
• the root אספ (!.s.f.) means 'collect, pick up'.
• the root נפל (n.f.l.) means 'fall'.

Note that in all these roots פ is pronounced as 'f'.

Practice time! Read the sentences aloud, then listen to audio, and translate the sentences to english:

אַנִי אוֹסֵף	listen	I (masc.) pick up
הוּא הוֹרֵס	listen	he destroys
אַתֵם יוֹרדִים	listen	you (plural masc.) descend
הֵן לוֹמדוֹת	listen	they (fem.) study
אַתַה סוֹפֵר	listen	you (masc.) count
היִא נוֹפֵלֵת	listen	she falls

And final exercise for the part - write in hebrew, read aloud, and then check your answer and pronunciation:

I (masc.) learn in berlin.	אַנִי לוֹמֵד בֵבֵרלִין	listen
She goes down to opera.	הִיא יוֹרֵדֵת לֵאוֹפֵרַה	listen
He (is) lover from prague.	הוּא מֵאַהֵב מֵפרַאג	listen
You (plur.masc.) count fish (plural) in april.	אַתֵם סוֹפרִים דַגִים בֵאַפרִיל	listen
You (plur.fem.) love in miami.	אַתֵן אוֹהַבוֹת בֵמַיאַמִי	listen
He picks up son from Oslo.	הוּא אוֹסֵף בֵן מֵאוֹסלוֹ	listen
She studies in garden.	הִיא לוֹמֵדֵת בֵגַן	listen

Don't forget - you can always consult our table of hebrew verbs!

2.c Nouns

How to say “the garden”? Very simple, if you want to turn an undefinite noun into a definite one, you just attach הַ ('ha') to the beginning of the noun. For example:

גַן	[gan]	a garden
הַגַן	[hagan]	the garden
מֵדִינַה	[medina]	a country
הַמֵדִינַה	[hamedina]	the country

Time for new nouns:

• יֵלֵד [yeled] (m.) boy. However, in plural second 'e' changes into 'a': יֵלַדִימ – yeladim – boys, children
• יַלדַה [yalda] (f.) girl (second 'e' has dropped, because 'yeleda' sounds too clumsy. first [e] changes into [a], that's an exception to remember..).
• גַן יֵלַדִים [gan yeladim] (m.) kindergarten; literally – garden of children
• בַית [bayt] (m.) home, house
• סֵפֵר [sefer] (m.) book. Similarly to 'yeled', plural turns into 'sefarim', and since it sounds clumsy, first e drops, so that 'books' is ספַרִימ - 'sfarim'
• בֵית סֵפֵר [beyt sefer] (m.) school; literally – house (of) book
• סוּפֵר [super] (m.) supermarket, colloquially

Exercise – write in hebrew, pronounce and check out the answer&pronunciation:

He loves books.	הוּא אוֹהֵב ספַרִים	listen
I (masc.) fall in home.	אַנִי נוֹפֵל בֵבַית	listen
The children (are) in school.	הַיֵלַדִים בֵבֵית סֵפֵר	listen
The girl is in kindergarten.	הַיַלדַה בֵגַן יֵלַדִים	listen
Who (is) in home?.	מִי בֵבַית?	listen
Girls learn in school.	יֵלַדוֹת לוֹמדוֹת בֵבֵית סֵפֵר	listen
(There are) many supermarkets in country.	הַרבֵה סוּפֵרִים בֵמֵדִינַה	listen

2.d Sentences

We can now expand our question vocabulary by combining:

מֵמִי	[memi]	from whom?
מֵמַה	[mema]	from what?
לֵמִי	[lemi]	to whom?
לֵמַה	[lema]	to what?

The last one, לֵמַה, also means 'why?'; it's sometimes pronounced also as לַמַה - [lama].

Let's add three important words:

• מֵאוֹד – [meod] – very. Comes before adjective and verbs, for example: אֵנִי מֵאוֹד אוֹהֵב – [ani meod ohev] – I love very much, literally – I very love.
• לא – [lo] – no, not. For example: לא, אַנִי לא אוֹהֵב – [lo, ani lo ohev] – no, I (do) not like. (We will explain later why it's not written as לוֹא, as one could expect).
  
• הַרבֵה – [harbe] – many, lot of. For example: הַרבֵה יֵלַדִים – [harbe yeladim] – many kids.

And finally, exercise for the day – translate the sentences, and then check out your answers and listen to the audio. As usual, brackets mean you don't need these english words in hebrew.

He picks up fish (plural) from son (of) the gardener.	הוּא אוֹסֵף דַגִים מֵבֵן גַנַן	listen
(There are) many books in school.	הַרבֵה ספַרִים בֵבֵית סֵפֵר	listen
(There are) not many books in kindergarten.	לא הַרבֵה ספַרִים בֵגַן יֵלַדִים	listen
Why (are) you (sing. masc.) not in school?	לַמַה אַתַה לא בֵבֵית סֵפֵר?	listen
Kids in school collect million dollars in may.	יֵלַדִים בֵבֵית סֵפֵר אוֹספִים מִיליוֹן דוֹלַר בֵמַאי	listen
Children in kindergarten fall a lot (literally – fall many).	יֵלַדִים בֵגַן יֵלַדִים נוֹפלִים הַרבֵה	listen
Why (do) you (masc.) destroy school?	לַמַה אַתַה הוֹרֵס בֵית סֵפֵר?	listen
I count million fish (in plural).	אַנִי סוֹפֵר מִיליוֹן דַגִים	listen
Children, to whom many books? (meaning – who has many books?)	יֵלַדִים, לֵמִי הַרבֵה ספַרִים?	listen
From whom did she pick up the portion?	מֵמִי הִיא אַספַה הַמַנַה?	listen
He falls from the stage.	הוּא נוֹפֵל מֵהַבַמַה	listen