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 Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 3:29 pm
Welcome to the Hebrew General Discussion! This is where we discuss everything related to the Hebrew language, including, but not limited to:
-asking specific questions about Hebrew vocabulary and grammar (people who can speak Hebrew fluently can help answer others'' questions)
-recommendations for Hebrew dictionaries, websites, etc
-and everything else about the beautiful langauge of Israel! 3nodding
Please note that although speaking in Hebrew is allowed here, it is not mandatory.
Let''s start off with a few facts about the Hebrew language:
Spoken in: Israel
Total number of speakers: 7-8 million
Language Family: Semitic (i.e. it is similar to Arabic)
Regulated by: Academy of the Hebrew Language
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 3:33 pm
WEBSITES general information about the Hebrew language - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language http://foundationstone.com.au/OnlineHebrewTutorial.html www.hebrew-verbs.co.il/index.php http://perso.wanadoo.fr/babel-site/ivrit.htm http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~ylcflx/Aleph-Bet/tutorials.html www.milingua.com www.adath-shalom.ca/gk_cont.htm www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/grammar.html www.ivrit.org
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 3:35 pm
DICTIONARIES/GRAMMAR BOOKS ETC
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 3:37 pm
If anyone here has any other reccommendations for websites/dictionaries/grammar books etc, please feel free to tell us about them in this thread.
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 3:50 am
I had to learn Hebrew at my old school for years. That was...5 years ago. I only remember a few words and the alphabet now xp
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 10:41 pm
It's nice to see the Hebrew GD up again. Anyway, I speak Hebrew fluently, so I can help anyone who is interested... sweatdrop
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 6:53 am
There's one difference that you can't miss when it comes to Modern Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew, and that is the past tense. Actually, the past tense in biblical Hebrew is just like the future tense adding the letter ו on the beginning of the verb.
For example, the word "ויאמר" (he said) is similar to "יאמר" (he will say), but with a ו at the beginning of the word, making it a past tense.
However, when it comes to Modern Hebrew, the past tense of this verb would be "אמר".
If you want me to explain a bit more about this issue, just say so.
Of course, there is a difference in vocabulary. Some words are rarely used today, and there are quite a lot of words that are used now. Since it has only become a spoken languages by the beginning of this century, the language has not yet changed that much.
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Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 5:04 am
I thought the 'vav' at the beginning of a verb was a 'vav consecutive' which translated to "and then". I may be way off on this, though, as it's been almost a year since my class and I haven't really been keeping it up stare
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Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 7:47 am
Toastete I thought the 'vav' at the beginning of a verb was a 'vav consecutive' which translated to "and then". I may be way off on this, though, as it's been almost a year since my class and I haven't really been keeping it up stare Yes, well, "vav" is for "and". However, biblical Hebrew used it for past tense. You can read it as "and then" as well... But you wouldn't see the form אמר in the bible, it's always ויאמר.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:15 am
I can't watch the thread dying; however, this situation is to be expected when there is such a small number of Hebrew speakers in the guild. Therefore, I have decided to give some Hebrew lessons on this thread, for anyone who is interested. I'd just post them around here, and hopefully, someone but me would enjoy it too. I'll just start with a short intro, and give some rough explanations regarding the structure and writing of the Hebrew language. Hebrew is a Semitic language, just like Arabic and Aramaic. Just like the other two, it is of the Afro Asiatic language family. It is spoken by 7 million people, 6 of the 7 speak Israeli Hebrew. 3 millions of them are native speakers. Hebrew doesn't have dialects, though one might notice differences in phonetics among different ethnicities (I will clear that out later). It was and still is influenced by many other languages. Today, the languages that influence it the most are English, Arabic and Russian. Languages like Yiddish, Ladino, German and many more have left their mark on the Modern Hebrew as well. Hebrew has only 22 letters and is written from the right to the left. It has two "writing systems", one of them, the more familiar one, is based on the square letter form. The second system is used for handwriting, and has a more circular form. Hebrew vowelization is very different from the English type. Those who are familiar with Arabic and even Quenya* (Tolkienian Elvish) might find it much easier to understand. Usually, the vowels are presented as different marks under, inside or above the letters. I will give examples for this matter later, so do not panic just yet! Hebrew verbs and some words are based on "roots" (just like in Arabic, by the way). For example, the words "lamad" (he learned), "limud" (teaching [n]), "melamed" (educator), "lelamed" (to teach), etc. all have to do with learning and share the basic root letters l, m, d. Hebrew's got 4 tenses: Past, present, future and imperative. The root is almost always kept (the other cases should not be discussed at the moment), but the structure of the verb changes according to the tense. Just like many European languages (and again, like Arabic), Hebrew distinguishes between masculine and feminine nouns. Usually, the feminine nouns are similar to the masculine nouns, added "a" or "t" at the end of the word, for example, "ish" (man) and "isha" (woman). If anyone is going to be reading this, well, I'd like to know what you have to say. I can focus on Modern Hebrew or Biblical Hebrew, teach some "slang" or avoid it completely. You are more than welcome to tell me your thoughts, comments and such on this thread or via the Personal Messages system. *I was, of course, referring to the Omatehtar. But notice, Quenya speakers! Unlike Quenya, here the vowels are on the "vowelled" letter and not on the letter that comes before it. Helpful links: My Hebrew Dictionary: http://www.dictionary.co.il/index.php
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 8:12 am
Hebrew WritingIf you can't see it, Unicode it (View, Encoding, More, Unicode). This should work out for you. So here are some instructions for Hebrew writing and pronouncing. smile The next time I update, I'll also write a bit about the Vocalization, hoping it will clear everything out. So here goes. Edit: Damn it! I forgot the final form of פ. It is ף... sweatdrop Final Form: Some letters are written differently when located at the end of a word. Those letters are כ, מ, נ, פ and צ. For example, the word "shamaim", sky, will be written like this: שָׁמַיִם and not שָׁמַיִמ. Modern Hebrew has a few marks added that are used for the writing of foreign words. When it comes to pronouncing the consonants, one might notice changes among different ethnicities. Among native speakers, there are two main different ways of pronouncing the constants: the "Oriental" and "European". As those of European background tend to pronounce כ, ח like a German CH (like Bach), those of an "Oriental" background usually pronounce them throatier (like "Don Juan"), ח generally being throatier than כ. The letters א and ע are like A or E, yet the vowel changes with the vocalization. This issue will be discussed later; however, again, it is throatier when pronounced by "Orientals" (don't be surprised when I say it again, but this, too, is very similar to Arabic sweatdrop ). There is no correct form of speaking. Both are legitimate and you can just do it the way you're more comfortable with. The dot you see on the letters ב, ג, ד, כ, פ, ת is a diacritic dot. In Modern Hebrew, it doesn't make any difference when it comes on ג, ד and ת, but when it comes to the other three, it "hardens" the pronunciation, making v into b, ch into c and f into p. In addition, the dot you can see on the left and on the right of the letter ש is what makes it "sh" or just "s". When the dot is on the right, it's sh. On the left - s. There are very, very few words that are written with שֹ, so that's nothing to worry about anyway. This might be referred to as an intro to vocalization; yet, I will write more about it next time. Notice. If you are having difficulties understanding the table, you can use this one. It's even better. smile http://foundationstone.com.au/HtmlSupport/OnlineHebrewTutorial/LessonImages/01_Lesson.gif
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 4:38 pm
I really would like to learn Hebrew one day (I can't learn it now because I'm learning 5 other languages and wouldn't have much time crying ). Can you tell me how to say some random things though? Like:
I love you
Bananas are yellow
I love France
I speak English
Where are you going?
etc
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 11:01 pm
Proudly_Jewish I really would like to learn Hebrew one day (I can't learn it now because I'm learning 5 other languages and wouldn't have much time crying ). Can you tell me how to say some random things though? Like: I love you Bananas are yellow I love France I speak English Where are you going? etc Alright. smile There are many ways of saying the exact same thing, but bear with me. I love you:Male to female: Ani ohev otach. (.אֲנִי אוֹהֵב אוֹתָךְ) Male to male: Ani ohev otcha. (אֲנִי אוֹהֵב אוֹתְךָ.) Female to male: Ani ohevet otcha. (אֲנִי אוֹהֶבֶת אוֹתְךָ.) Female to female: Ani ohevet otach. (.אֲנִי אוֹהֶבֶת אוֹתָךְ) Bananas are yellow: Bananot hen tzehubot. (בַּנָּנוֹת הֵן צהוּבּוֹת.) I love France: Ani ohev/et et Tzarfat. (.אֲנִי אוֹהֵב / אוֹהֶבֶת אֶת צָרְפַת) I speak English: Ani medaber/et Anglit. (.אֲנִי מְדַבֵּר / מְדַבֶּרֶת אַנְגְלִית.) Where are you going: Le'an at/a holech/et? (?לְאָן אַתְּ / אַתָּה הוֹלֵך / הוֹלֶכתֶ) Have fun, thanks for stopping by. smile
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:04 pm
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Reply
