Introduction to Reading HebrewThere are many reasons why you might want to learn to read and speak Hebrew. For example, as Hebrew is the national language of Israel, it would definitely be an advantage to be able to read and speak the language if you are going to visit the country. Alternatively, many students learn to read the language so that they are able to read the Tanach or the Old Testament of the Bible in the language in which it was originally written. Many students find that this is an essential ability to acquire because if you read the Old Testament in English, what you are actually reading is someone else’s interpretation of the original Hebrew script. As you will discover once you start to acquire a knowledge of reading and speaking Hebrew, there are many situations where the translation of Hebrew might be open to interpretation. In effect therefore, reading the Old Testament in English means that you might not be reading an exact translation of what is written in the Hebrew version. Some online resources suggest that learning Hebrew is easy, whilst others put forward exactly the opposite idea. My own experience indicates that whilst it may not be the easiest language to learn to read but it is not the most difficult either. My belief is that if you use the information in this book for a few minutes every day to polish up your reading skills, you should soon be reading Hebrew with relative ease. Furthermore, as you practice, you will gradually develop your Hebrew vocabulary at the same time, which is as important in Hebrew as it would be in any other language. For this reason, I would recommend that you set yourself a target of learning a small number of new Hebrew words every day as a way of expanding your vocabulary. Fortunately, doing so is remarkably easy nowadays, as there are many websites where you can find new Hebrew words at no cost - search Google for ‘Hebrew phrases’ or ‘Hebrew vocabulary’ and you’ll find everything you need. This means that you will very soon be able to read Hebrew smoothly and without hesitation, thereby opening up a whole new world of literature, study and art. Without any further ado, let’s get started… Introduction to Reading Hebrew The first basics The Hebrew AlephBet The Letters of the AlephBet Aleph Bet (Beyt) Gimmel Dalet Hey Vav Zayin Chet Tet Yod Kaf Lamed Mem Nun Samekh Ayin Pey (Fey) Tsade (Tsadik) Qof Resh Shin Tav The Significance of the Alephbet The Basics of Hebrew Verbs The Hebrew Verb Subject The Hebrew Verb Object Hebrew Verb Tenses Hebrew Verb Voices and Moods Hebrew Verb Participles The Infinite Verb Version Hebrew Nouns Hebrew Noun Constructs Using Prefixes With Nouns Hebrew Pronouns Hebrew Plural Nouns Hebrew Adjectives Identifying Hebrew Questions Adverbs, Prepositions and Conjunctions Hebrew Reading Conclusion |