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- "הוא אוהב ואבא אוהב."
77 Comments
The pronunciation is: Hoo ohev vuh-aba ohev The letter vav can sound like an o if it is written with a dot (form of vowel marking- not used in modern Hebrew). But since duolingo does not include those helpful dots, you just have to figure out which version of the letter it actually is. I hope that helps a little...
815
Learning the Nikud is essential to learning the hebrew alef beit. ? כן https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyRmdT5bWb4
815
@GIV3N the (nikud) point I was making was "it is essential", especially while learning the alef beit. Regarding your reference to the "hebrew bible" you are referring specifically to the Torah. It is the Torah בעברית. כן בידיוק !
It is a year later I am reading your comment and you may have forgotten this but it is beneficial for hebrew learners to know and understand the Nikud... Of course it isn't widely used now, but in order for a hebrew learner to understand the context of what they are learning, it is essential.
815
try this tutorial it is in english and easy to understand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkxvqIxTE3A
1674
Yeah. We English speakers don't remember all the spelling lessons and spelling tests we had to undergo in elementary school. And also, keep in mind how many native-born English speakers are horrible spellers.
In Hebrew, you mostly have to guess or simply remember how the words are read. That's the most difficult part about it, I know. In case of verbs, in time, you'll know the vowel patterns in conjugations and will be and will be able to model new words after the old ones. With more experience, you will probably be able to read new words intuitively, develop a gut feeling about typical phonetic combinations. But there's no easy rule you could learn in the beginning for vowels and dubious consonants and read correctly.
What I've gathered so far is that the "ה" /h/ is almost silent (at least in this recording), and that to make the /o/ sound, you need to write the "ו" next to an "א". (so the first word is /o/).
[I'd really like to know what determines whether you write "או" or "וא", though.]
Then ב seems to be pronounced /v/ when it's at the end of the word. So "או" /o/, "ה" /h/, "ב" /v/ [because it's final] = "ohev"
(But you might want to check this with someone with more than zero basis in this language!! :)
To me it seems more than the silent /h/, it seems that when it is preceded by a consonant, it seems to make the consonant aspirated.
This is difficult to see for most people, since aspiration is usually not considered in most languages, but at least it seems that that is what is going on.... kinda....
Of course, I may be quite wrong.
When vowels aren't written, the vav is used to write the /o/ and /u/ vowels. So when a vav is in the middle of a word, it is almost always a vowel, and the /o/ is more common than /u/. At the beginning, it is always a consonant and pronounced /v/. If vav is a consonant in the middle of a word, it is usually doubled to indicate it, like in the word דווקא, which is pronounced /davka/
537
The ו is the vowel sound /o/, but sometimes /v/. Our job is to find out when it is which (there are probably rules that we'll learn along the way, we'll see!)
So this has been asked already, but Im also lost on pronunciation. Can any native hebrew speakers weigh in on pronunciation rules, or can anybody leave a link to general pronunciation rules? I thought that I was getting it, but this was the firalst thing that made me go "I have no idea what I'm doing".
I am sorry to disappoint but usually there isn't a specific ground rule to lean on in Hebrew, even a native speaker once coming across a new word will have to sort of guess the pronunciation. Regarding the letter vav ו - if it is in the beginning it will usually be read as ve. In some rare cases it will sound like va. There is an explanation for that but it is very advanced, even for some native Hebrew speakers. When the letter vav is coming in the middle of the word it can be either a vowel, making the sound of o or u, or a consonant with the sound of v. At an end of a word, 99% it will be a vowel, but that, too, have exceptions. If you are interested in a long provate lesson email me at inon246@hotmail.com and i'll be happy to help :)
815
That isn't the case for any language offered on DUO is it? Did someone say the DUO Arabic course offers the character reference charts? The alphabet is not explained or offered in the English course. Teach yourself. I did it. It is possible. A person has to want to learn first.
That said, it is essential for one to know the alef bet and have studied the hebrew characters and be in the process of studying the characters before taking on a beginner course like this in hebrew. Duolingo is a computerized "free" course and it's a good thing Hebrew is being offered. That's what I think. DUO volunteers or just other participants who have a greater command of the hebrew language, are essential to this happening at all. Question your own committment. If you want to learn the Alef-Bet then you either have to pay for private lessons or teach yourself or get lucky and have the fortune of knowing an Israeli or fluent hebrew speaker to help you. Good luck.
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It is silent in "הוא" (hoo)"he" and "היא" (hee/hi)"she". I've always wondered if in ancient times the words were ever pronounced "hooah" and "hiah" since that is how "he" and "she" are pronounced in Arabic. A fast course in Hebrew: me is who, who is he, he is she, and dog means fish. ; )
724
The vav makes three different sounds: o, u and v. In this sentence, in the word אוהב vav is "o" -> ohév. But in the word ואבא vav is v -> ve-aba.
724
Correct. That is because ה at the beginning of the word is usually not pronounced colloquially, or it is very faint.
Can someone explain to me why "he loves and dad loves" in incorrect here?