Aleph

As Aleph is a silent letter, you will sometimes see it suggested that Aleph is the easiest letter of the Hebrew alphabet to use! In order for the Aleph to have any sound, it needs to have 'nikkud' added with different variations creating a different vowel sound. For example, when the Aleph is used in conjunction with Qamats beneath it as seen in the following screenshot:

This creates a combination between the consonant and vowel point that is pronounced as 'a' as it would be used in 'father'. In an identical way, an Aleph used with Patach would also give you an 'a' that sounds as it would in 'father':

When it is combined with the single 'dot' of a Hhirech underneath it, Aleph creates an 'I' that would sound the way it does in 'machine':

A combination of an Aleph and a Tsere produces an 'e' that sounds as it would in 'grey':

Next, when you combine an Aleph with Sh'va, you actually produce a silent vowel which is most commonly used as a syllable break:

Using an Aleph in combination with the three dots of a Segol gives you an 'e' as it would be used as the first syllable in 'elephant':

When you see a combination of the Aleph, plus both the Sh'va and Segol vowels, it is pronounced as the second 'eh' sounds as in 'elephant', but it is pronounced very softly:

When you combine Aleph and a Cholam (the small dot is placed to the top left of the main character), you have an 'o' as it would be used in 'open':

Next, you may see a combination of the Sh'va and Patach. Remembering that the Aleph and Sh'va between them creates a silent vowel, this combination produces a vowel that is pronounced the same as it would be if there was only a Patach (i.e. 'father'):

This however is only effective when placed under the first consonant of the word, and exactly the same happens with a combination of Sh'va and Qamats too:

When it is the Qubbuts being used in combination with an Aleph, you have a vowel sounds like the 'u' in 'tune':

From all of these different combinations, it should be clear that learning how the vowel points convert consonants into vowels is extremely important. This is doubly true when you remember that nikkud are not always written, so you need to learn to recognize which consonants are being used as vowels and which are not.

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