"סוסים ודרכים."
Translation:Horses and roads.
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Hey Luke (: If vav appears in the beginning of the word it is always (almost) pronounced as "v".
For example the word ורד (vered - rose) or ורוד (varod - pink).
When it appears in the middle of the sentence, it is pronounced as "o" or "u", and if we want to pronounce the "v" sound, we simple double the letter vav.
For example: יוון (yavan = Greece) , while יון (yon = ion).
Happy learning! (:
Ultra742 you're right, but keep in mind the 2 dots will not appear when: "VAV is pronounced as oo before letters בומ"פ [boomaf), and more specifically (https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/25595316/Pronunciation-of-and-in-Hebrew)
Adding to what MattRosenb2 wrote, the vav (when used as 'and') is pronounced 'u' also before a syllable beginning with a 'schwa' sound (which is like a short é sound): ve + d(é)rakhim => ved(é)rakhim => ud(é)rakhim וְ + דְרכים => וְדְרכים => וּדְרכים
And as Heysoos1 mentions, this distinction is practically not present in nowadays colloquial Hebrew.
Posts similar to the one quoted here are WRONG. "colloquial Hebrew generally sticks to "ve". " It is simply not true.
However, in many -- but not all, cases "colloquial" situations involve people who will accept bad, incorrect pronunciation without correcting.
VAV is pronounced as oo before letters בומ"פ [boomaf), and more specifically (https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/25595316/Pronunciation-of-and-in-Hebrew):
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Before a sound you make with your lips (mnemonically, בומ"פ) or before a consonant (other than "י" (Yod)) with a "shva" (so it has no moving vowel sound), the "ve" becomes "oo". This includes DALET oo-drah'im
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Before a "י" (Yod) with a shva, (famously like in the word for Jerusalem, "ירושלים"), the "ve" becomes "vee" (like an 'i' sound).
Bonus: shalom oo-vrah'a is a common greeting and a response to salutations for "have a good week" include shavuah tov oo-mevorakh [these are used without deviation from the 'rule']
extra bonus: people will even respond: "--- oomevorakh" without repeating shavuah tov .
Actually, the ו in ודרכים does mean "and"; it's just pronounced as "oo" (or the French "ou") rather than the more common "ve". Other variants of the ו pronunciation are "vi" (as in וירושלים, "vi-(ye)-rushalayim" ["and Jerusalem"]; the (ye) is mute) and "va" (as in את ואני, "at va-ani" [you and I]). That being said, colloquial Hebrew generally sticks to "ve". BTW, או ("or") is pronounced as "oh" (that is, something similar to the actual English pronunciation of "or").
This post and all similar posts are WRONG. "colloquial Hebrew generally sticks to "ve". " It is simply not true.
However, in many -- but not all, cases "colloquial" situations involve people who will accept bad, incorrect pronunciation without correcting.
VAV is pronounced as oo before letters בומ"פ [boomaf), and more specifically (https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/25595316/Pronunciation-of-and-in-Hebrew):
-
Before a sound you make with your lips (mnemonically, בומ"פ) or before a consonant (other than "י" (Yod)) with a "shva" (so it has no moving vowel sound), the "ve" becomes "oo".
-
Before a "י" (Yod) with a shva, (famously like in the word for Jerusalem, "ירושלים"), the "ve" becomes "vee" (like an 'i' sound).
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I'm confused. I thought, דרך means also way. So I wrote horses and ways and it was wrong.
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There is a convention in Hebrew, and in many other languages, that the masculine plural includes both males and females, whereas you use the feminine plural if you are talking only about females. In the same way, masculine is the default gender if you are speaking about or to an unknown person or animal. Part of the process of learning another language in any depth is changing the way that you look at the world. Translation is, at best, a clumsy tool.