The Hebrew Writing System – Lesson 9

Normally, when he (ה) ends a word, it is not pronounced. However, its pronunciation can be strengthened by a mappik (הּ) – a dot in the center. This only occurs when it is the last letter of the word.

If pathah occurs under he with a mappik (הּ), heth (ח), or ayin (ע), it is pronounced before the consonant it is under, rather than after the consonant. This is called “pathah furtive”. For example, רוּ†חַ†is pronounced “ruach”, not “rucha”. This does not form a separate syllable – therefore, רוּ†חַ†only has one syllable, since the pathah is pathah furtive.

Heth, he, ayin, and aleph are the four guttural letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Because of their breathy, weak pronunciation, they can cause vowels around them to sometimes change, as in the above paragraph. This will become more of a factor when learning how to conjugate the verb. For now, here are the three important rules of gutturals:

1) The gutturals and resh (ר) cannot be doubled by daghesh forte.

2) The gutturals usually take a compound shewa.

3) The gutturals prefer the a-class vowels (pathah, kamets).

These rules can help identify when the gutturals are triggering changes around them.

יַעֲ†קַבַ†ותִּמָּ†לַאַ†ַַ†וַרוּ†חַ†ַ†מ†ר†חַ†פתַ†ַ†למִּינַָּהַּ†ַַ†אַ†לַה†ַ†בהִּבַָּ†ראַָּםַ

Vocabulary

נַ†פשׁ†–ַ soul

רוּ†חַ†– spirit, breath, wind

מִזְבֵּ†חַ†– altar

קֹ†דשׁ†– holy

גָּדוֹל†– great