Lesson 1

Contents:

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

1.a: Alphabet

Let’s dig heavier into consonants:

• א - doesn't represent any sound. It serves either as a dummy for its following vowel, or purely for archaic reasons.
  
• ה - serves either as groan version of [h], as in 'ahead', or as a no-sound.
  
  
• י - a no-sound, or [y] as in 'you','yawn' or 'yankee'.
  


• ת - [t], as in 'stuff'.
  
  
• מ - [m], as in 'mom'.
  
  

Now, [m] also has a special final form, it goes like that:

• ם - [m] final.
  
  

Note, for instance, that the following words would all sound the same ([mama]): מַםַ, מַאםַ, מַאמַא, מַמַה, מַאמַה

As well as these ones ([titi]): תִתִ, תִיתִי, תִתִי

Now let’s have one more vowel:

• וֹ - o, as in 'more' (a vertical line, the size of a consonant, and a dot above it).
  

Note that this vowel, unlike the three from previous lesson, consists not just of dots – but also of a “consonant”.

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

תַבַד	listen
אַמַד	listen
דַמַת	listen
מִנִיר	listen
אִיתִב	listen
גֵדֵג	listen
מוֹנוֹת	listen
דַבֵנִג	listen
בִמנַאתַה	listen

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

listen	בַב
listen	גַנַן
listen	דִיבִים
listen	גַמַב
listen	בַמוֹת
listen	מֵבֵת
listen	גַגוֹת
listen	בִידוֹת

Finally, write in hebrew the following names:

dina	listen	דִינַה
dona	listen	דוֹנַה
adam	listen	אַדַם
dana	listen	דַנַה

1.b Verbs

We start with the pronouns:

אַנִי	[ani]	I	listen
אַתַה	[ata]	you, singular, referring to masculine	listen
אַת	[at]	you, singular, referring to feminine	listen
אַתֵם	[atem]	you, plural, masculine – or mixed	listen
אַתֵן	[aten]	you, plural, feminine (when all the referred objects are feminine)	listen

So – you can already say:

אַנִי דַנַה	[ani dana]	I (am) Dana	listen
אַתַה אַדַם	[ata adam]	You (are) Adam	listen
אַת דִינַה	[at dina]	You (are) Dina	listen

Note that in hebrew you don't need the 'to be' verb for present tense. Hebrew is quite a compact language, and often some english words become obsolete in translation. We'll denote these by the () brackets.

And there we get to central part of hebrew – verbs and roots. All words, and verbs particularly, are based on 3-consonant roots. Every root has its vague meaning, and the different usages of the root give it the different grammatic forms and meanings. For example – the root R.K.V. means 'drive'. It gives rise to: RaKaV – (he) drove, RoKeV – rider, ReKeV – car, RaKeVet – train, ReKiVa – riding and so on. Very useful - once you know the meaning of the root, you can create dozens of words using typical constructions.

Let's get to verbs now. The good news is there are only 3 tenses – present, past and future (nowhere near the complexity of english!). Today we'll study the present.

There are 4 forms for present conjugation ('XXX' stand for the three consonants of root):
The basic form is XoXeX, and it's also the singular masculin form.
The feminine form is obtained by adding the suffix [et] to the basic form (XoXeXet).
Plural masculin gets [im], and plural feminin – [ot], so it should have been XoXeXim and XoXeXot. However, to make the speech easier and faster, the 'e' sound is omitted from plural forms, and so we have:

[XoXeX]	singular masculine
[XoXeXet]	singular feminine
[XoXXim]	plural masculine
[XoXXot]	plural feminine

Let's demonstrate it on the root ב.ג.ד (b.g.d), which means “cheat, betray” (here the ב is pronounced as 'b'):

בוֹגֵד	[BoGeD]	I (masc.), you (singular masc.), he cheats (and also 'is/am cheating')	listen
בוֹגֵדֵת	[BoGeDet]	I (fem.), you (singular fem.), she cheats	listen
בוֹגדִים	[BoGDim]	we (masc.), you (plural masc.), they (masc.) cheat	listen
בוֹגדוֹת	[BoGDot]	we (fem.), you (plural fem.), they (fem.) cheat	listen

Let's learn a couple of verb roots, and start practicing:

• the root גנב ([g.n.v]) means 'steal'. (here the ב is pronounced as [v])
• the root אהב ([!.h.v.]) means 'love, like'. (note the first consonant is not pronounced. it will be denoted by !)
• the root דאג ([d.!.g.]) means 'care,worry'. (note the second consonant is not pronounced)

Now – the first exercise - translate the following to english (and then compare to the correct result by clicking 'show', and listen to the answer):

אַת אוֹהֵבֵת	you (sing.fem.) love	listen
אנִי אוֹהֵב	I (sing.masc.) love	listen
אַתֵם דוֹאגִים	you (plural masc.) worry	listen
אַתַה בוֹגֵד	you (sing.masc.) cheat	listen
אַתֵם גוֹנבִים	you (plural.masc.) steal	listen
אַתֵן אוֹהבוֹת	you (plural.fem.) love	listen
דַן אוֹהֵב דַנַה	Dan loves Dana	listen

And final exercise for the part - write in hebrew (+ check and listen):

I (masc.) love Dina	אַנִי אוֹהֵב דִינַה	listen
You (sing. fem.) care (for) Adam	אַת דוֹאֵגֵת אַדַם	listen
You (plur.masc.) cheat (on) Dina	אַתֵם בוֹגדִים דִינַה	listen
You (sing.fem.) love Dan	אַת אוֹהֵבֵת דַן	listen

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

1.c Nouns

Every noun is either masculine or feminine, and can be singular or plural. Totally like the verb in present, the plural form of masculine is constructed by adding suffix יִמ ('im'), and to get the plural of feminine you just add וֹת ('ot').

How can you know whether a noun is masculine or feminine? First of all – by the meaning, that is - 'actress' would surely be feminine, and 'actor' – masculine. Second – in most cases, if the noun ends with either ה or ת - it's feminine, otherwise it's masculine.

All right, let's learn some nouns:

אַהַבַה	(f.)	[ahava]	love	listen
מֵאַהֵב	(m.)	[meahev]	lover (masc.)	listen
אַגַדַה	(f.)	[agada]	story, fairytale	listen
בַמַה	(f.)	[bama]	stage	listen
מֵדִינַה	(f.)	[medina]	country, state	listen
מַנַה	(f.)	[mana]	portion, dose, dish	listen

Exercise – write each of the above nouns in plural, pronounce it and compare to the recorded version and to the correct answer:

loves	listen	אַהַבוֹת
lovers	listen	מֵאַהֵבִים
fairytales	listen	אַגַדוֹת
stages	listen	בַמוֹת
countries	listen	מֵדִינוֹת
portions, dishes	listen	מַנוֹת

1.d Sentences

Let's learn 3 useful words, and start speaking hebrew!

מַה	[ma]	what	listen
מִי	[mi]	who	listen
הִנֵה	[hine]	here	listen

Note that first ה in הִנֵה is pronounced like 'h', while the second is not pronounced at all.

Questions. As in english, there are two ways to construct a question:

• the direct way - אַתַה אוֹהֵב דַנַה? - literally - you love dana? The same as a statement phrase, except for the rising intonation
• wh-question – מִי אוֹהֵב דַנַה? - literally - who loves dana?

In both cases – no auxiliary verb and no changes in word order.

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.

מַה דַנַה אוֹהֵבֵת?	What (does) Dana like?	listen
מִי אַדַם? גַנַן	Who (is) Adam? (A) gardener	listen
דַן גַנַב?	(Is) Dan (a) thief?	listen
הִנֵה גַן, הִנֵה דַג	Here (is) (a) garden, here (is) (a) fish.	listen
דַנַה אוֹהֵבֵת בֵגֵד?	(Does) Dana like (a) cloth?	listen

And now the other way round – write the sentences in hebrew:

I like (a) portion (of) fish.	אַנִי אוֹהֵב מַנַה דַג	listen
Here (are) sons (of) gardener.	הִנֵה בַנִים גַנַן	listen
Lover (of) Dana (is) thief. Lover (of) Dana steals.	מֵאַהֵב דַנַה גַנַב. מֵאַהֵב דַנַה גוֹנֵב	listen
You (plural masc.) love countries.	אַתֵם אוֹהַבִים מֵדִינוֹת	listen
You (sing. fem.) care (about) son (of) gardener. Son (of) gardener cheats (on) Dina.	אַתֵן דוֹאֵגוֹת בֵן גַנַן. בֵן גַנַן בוֹגֵד דִינַה	listen
Dana loves stage, Adam loves fairytales.	דַנַה אוֹהֵבֵת בַמַה, אַדַם אוֹהֵב אַגַדוֹת	listen