Proper Pronunciation of Hebrew Alphabet: Beginning with Consonants (Aleph through Yod)

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[@joemysic7942]

His 3 videos of the Hebrew Alphabet are by far the best I've ever watched.

[@ArielaShines]

I cannot tell you how much this means to me personally Rabbi. I lost my languages many years ago to a stroke and am finally recovering my Hebrew, and this is something that always bothered me in the past:) Thank you so much.

[@Terneyah]

Perfect representation of Old Hebrew - this video is a gem and more people should watch this. Thanks alot!

[@abrahamites5441]

May hashem bless you for your valuable insight to the holy language

[@Dadutta]

Thank you for this video, wish the Ashkenazim could climb off it and just learn proper Hebrew

[@deakhanani]

LOL right. They speak Hebrew incorrectly and then expect everyone else to speak Hebrew incorrectly right along with them. It is non-sense. Unacceptable.

[@DavidMueller666]

RABBI, THIS IS A VERY HELPFUL DISCUSSION REGARDING PRONUNCIATION OF THE THE HEBREW ALPHABET. THANK YOU.

[@hcn6708]

In Biblical Hebrew, het actually had two pronunciations! Those two ended up merging into one of the two, the one that sounds like ح in Arabic ofc, knowing where it's 7 and where it's x is tricky, my way of finding out is to just compare it with the Arabic cognate root

[@matthewheald8964]

I've heard something like that as well, but that belongs to a seemingly older system than is discussed here. According to my sources, the fricative counterparts of beth, daleth, etc. debuted ~200 BC, which is also when I believe this consonant merging occurred, among other things. I believe what your talking about is from before then, which is pretty good if you want to read Hebrew the way David or Isaiah seemingly would have (I personally would love to learn Hebrew pronunciation from around David's/Solomon's time), but these guys aren't technically wrong.

[@abhishekjrp13]

Hashem bless you Rabbi!

[@israeltrees]

Gr8 job Thanks

[@TheGrmany69]

So far these are the sounds these letters should sound according to my research and autodidactic research and method to learn Hebrew. I always thought Chet was more like a Spanish soft G than a Khaf sound.

[@iamnnbu]

Thank you! I look forward and anticipate the coming of you videos monthly! One question, I have spoken to many experts in sefardi pronunciation and they have told me that the Beth without a dagesh is not a Veth. Rather it is a sound created by blowing air between the two lips and slightly making a B sound. I have heard Syrians, Temanim, and Moroccan Hachamim make this sound. Is the Rav familiar with the softer B onus I am referring to? If yes, why does the Rav Choose to go with a Vet sound? Thank You!!

[@davidroberts5257]

Isaac Berdugo , the sound you're describing is called by the linguists: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_fricative As opposed to a normal v which is called: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_labiodental_fricative

[@yakigesher-zion7289]

Although true, the two sounds are very similar, I doubt it poses much of a Halachic problem w

[@johnleake5657]

May I suggest that you have four consonants in a single system. פּ and פֿ, /p/ and /f/ are the voiceless equivalents of בּ and בֿ, /b/ and /v/. So we should expect /v/ to be made in the same general way as /f/ but voiced, so if we accept /f/ for פֿ, a labio-dental sound where the upper teeth are against the lower lip, we'd expect a similar sound for בֿ, so /v/ rather than the Spanish bi-labial fricative /β/.

[@altonlg24]

@@johnleake5657 one can make a soft p or f sound with the two lips as well.

[@DrGeorgeAntonios]

Could you please list the sources he quotes? It's very hard to find them online. Thank you.

[@matthewheald8964]

As an aspiring Christian linguist/polyglot looking to study Biblical Hebrew in the future, the proper pronunciation has come up a lot. This discussion was very interesting & I look forward to the rest of the videos in this series! One quick question: what time period of Biblical Hebrew are you looking at? Because some sources I've looked at prior to this one have discussed the fricative versions of these "double consonants" as a later development around 200 BC-200 AD which would not have existed in, for example, Davidic times. This is just one example of a sound change or a pronunciation choice which would date your proposed pronunciation to ~200 BC or later. Which is totally fine if that's the goal; I'm just asking for confirmation &/or correction if I am mistaken in that aspect. Thank you so much & God bless!

[@GilbertGreich]

Todah Rabba!

[@justincabral1150]

I was shocked when you pronounced the ט.

[@michaelevroni8685]

Similar to Isaac's question. If the two forms of a letter from בג"ד כפר"ת should be done in the same manner in regards to mouth positioning, does it not make more sense for a ב (without a dot) to be pronounced using the two lips, similar to a spanish "B".

[@GranMaese]

This is correct, in a sense. But a fricative B ("bh" sound) is almost identical to a "v" sound, the difference being that in "v" we place the teeth over the lower lip, while in the the "bh" sound we don't. However the resulting sound is so similar that it becomes easier to explain בּ and ב as "b" and "v" sounds respectively, rather than "b" and "bh", since few languages use the proper "bh" (no teeth use) but most use a "v" (teeth use). TL;DR: You are right that a fricative ב should be pronounced as "bh" for 100% accuracy following the rule of mouth positioning, but for the sake of easy learning is common to simply address it as "v", which is almost identical.

[@anthonyderosa7730]

If I am not mistaken. The northern yemenite tribes were the ones who pronounce gimel as Jimel. The northern yemenites most likely had more exposure to the surrounding arabic countries in which they adopted the Arabic accent in their Hebrew. It sounds drastically different than the southern yemenites who's hebrew seemed to have been more preserved with the rest if the jewish world. When I hear an elderly sanaani yemenite pray or do brachoth in hebrew it's very difficult to understand. Still a beautiful ancient sound.

[@user-xs4rz6vp6w]

As a chinese native speaker, i would like to say that the pronounce of classical chinese that we use today is completely wrong but however works pretty well.

[@michaelg3419]

In your explanation it seemed as if the ח carries same sound as the letter ה. Can you explain. Thank you.

[@deakhanani]

Not the same. ח = Hhheth, ( haaa in arabic, with the breath and suspension of vocal cords) ה = he, him, her.

[@Richard-rb1hf]

I'm not understanding the difference between ח & ה

[@amoswittenbergsmusings]

Try to say the nasal "ng" without a trace of the G and prolong it. You will notice that the air is forced through the nose because your palate prevents the air from entering the cavity of the mouth. Then *remove the barrier of the palate* and allow the air into your mouth. It will be a perfect cheth sound. Do *not* retract your mouth and force the sound backwards into your throat because that will become a khaf! The ה sound has a completely open mouth and the air will flow freely whereas the ח has the air experiencing light friction with the roof of the mouth.

[@naser1109]

this make more since when you make this correct pronauncations many of the hebrew words make sense to other semitic speakers

[@Matthew-re9pb]

Always been confused with Yod...how people say its Yah, Yud or Yod/Yoh. It shouldnt change. From what i gather, when ever you pronounce Hebrew words, the first two letters of a word are sounded. Example , Pesach Pey, Samech, Chet... Pe-Sa-Ch. So for the name of the Father Yod-Hey-Waw-Hey Yoh-whey For Salvation, the son of God/Yod-Hey-Shin-Ayin YOH-SHAY ... intresting the names Rhyme. So to do the names of the angels or messengers or prophets. Ex Moshe rhymes too with Gods' name. For the angels, Micheal/Micha'Elah Gabriel - Gabri'Elah (more similar to the female names we have, makayla, or gabriella)

[@bobharmen4812]

Don't Israelis write חחחחחח to indicate laughter/snickering? Do they pronounce the חית correctly in that contex, or are there actually people who laugh in hard/scraping German/Dutch G sounds? I hope they pronounce it correctly, or they would sound a lot like "ganzen" (Dutch for "geese") laughing.

[@fluffyribbit1881]

unclear how you were pronouncing the chet; is it just an h but farther back?

[@everythingtorah]

Yes. Deep from the throat like ע is too. Arabic has the sound too

[@rkpetry]

*_...I'd've supposed א is anything between 'eh' and 'ah' depending on adjacent consonants..._* *_...mispronounced גּ 'jin' J might-be a mispronounced-semi-hard Gᵍʰ (cf too-awkward Bᵛ)..._* *_...mispronounced ו might be confused as וּ cf the German double-V vs English double-U..._* *_...if-maybe ח sounds like it's between ה and כ then as ה means "the" does ח mean "THE"..._* *_-compare Biblical the lord vs THE LORD, definite article "the" vs definitive article "THE"-_* *_-(which throughout history has been distinguishable as between han vs Khan or Khon)-_*

[@amoswittenbergsmusings]

The alef is a *consonant* and not a vowel. It is *not* ah or eh but the "sound" heard between the two letters "O" in co-operation. This is called the "glottal stop."

[@user-xs4rz6vp6w]

i am wondering about the "Ayin". So is it like the Arabic Ayin?

[@ag3063]

Who said that the yamanite were wrong ang rabbi saadia gaon was right?! Maby the oposit

[@davidroberts3262]

There a Yemenites who also pronounce gimel correctly as g. There's numerous other proofs. It's g.

[@ag3063]

@@davidroberts3262 the sharabi's yemanites pronounce it g and the sanany yemanite pronoune it as j but it proves nothing. you still can't prove that the sanani's yemanites are wrong

[@davidroberts3262]

@@ag3063 there's two definitions of prove. 1) prove scientifically with 100% verifiability or 2) to prove beyond reasonable doubt that no sane rational person would deny. When it comes to consonantal corruption, it's far less likely at the beginning of the alphabet. In english A B C are said so much it's unlikely B will change. The same is true in Hebrew, Aramaic and ancient Arabic. A B G. It's well documented when G got corrupted in the Arab world, and just as Germans say vet vater instead of wet water, and Ashkenazi Jews had their waw corrupted because of the German influence and their th corrupted into s because of the German influence, some Yemenite Jews had their g corrupted because of the Arabic influence. J is two consonants like the corruption of Ssadhei into TZ, and as taught in the video. Hebrew only has pure consonants, so no tz or dj.

[@ag3063]

@@davidroberts3262 if you have just knew what would have happened to you if you pronounce the letters uncorrectly in a yemanite synagoge you would have understanded that it is very unlikly that the yemanite would have corrupt their pronounciation. they are very very strict in the pronounciation as it well known in the jewish world. farther more they werent exiled from one place to another like the ashkenazy. they had sat in yeman before the destruction of the first temple so it was easier fot them to conserve their haritage. the ashkenazi jews totally corrupted their pronounciation. the sananis yemanite dont exept that hebrew only has pure consonants.

[@ag3063]

*accept

[@sielcross8119]

May this viewer ask... Are you Jewish or are you Yahudah?

[@sempsonoo7]

I think due to the Arabic became the most develop Semitic language ,writing system and script (even the most beautiful calligraphy)..should be the standard of all Semitics-except P sound ,I do not know if P sound is originally in other Semitics or influenced by Greek. And Greek system-alphabet was less developed than Semitics, and destroyed the writing logic .,direction(changed it to Left to Right etc.)..In Arabic letter value system is unique..(1-1000).

[@davidroberts3262]

It's sad what happened to g in Arabic. It used to be g, then got corrupted into j, except in Egypt they preserved the original sound. That said, Arabic is a beautiful language. The Yemenite Jews have a translation of the Torah in Arabic they read in their synagogues on Shabbath too.

[@amershershara5448]

Hebrew is an old version of Arabic language Both languages came from Yemen or the South of arab peninsula

[@__Man__]

Both have the same ancestors. If you speak Hebrew with a biblical pronounciation, Arab speakers will understand it better than the Moroccan dialect.