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- Topic: Hebrew >
- "הכלב אוכל לחם?"
43 Comments
It's not from the word כלב as in "dog", it's from the name כלב, and the name is pronounced differently than the animal.
Don't you need an interrogative tool for questionning ? I of course want to know if so in the formal written hebrew.
It's also "kalb"/"kaleb" in my language, Arabic, which is a very similar language that is semetic like Hebrew. Whenever I hear somebody saying Caleb in a movie, I directly remember "dog". lol xD
In the bible there was a Caleb but in Hebrew it is pronounced Kalev while dog is Kelev.
Is the male form of a verb the default one for animals (assuming that we don't know its sex yet) or it depends on the certain animal?
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That depends, some animals have both male /female forms and the verb changes accordingly. Some animals have only one of the forms, for some reason, and again the form of the verb would change according to the gender of the word.
What is wrong with my answer "a dog eats bread?" How else would you say in Hebrew "a dog eats bread"?
The ה in הכלב means "the". If you wanted to say "a dog" you'd drop the ה and write "כלב אוכל לחם". Also, because of the question mark, without a ה it would mean "Does a dog eat bread?"
About vav as a consonant: When the vav is at the beginning of a word, it will make a /v/ sound - ורד (rose) is pronounced /vered/. וילון (curtain/drape) is pronounced /vee-lon/. It is also likely to make a /v/ sound when put in the end of a word - סתיו (fall season) is pronounced /stav/. יחדיו (a beautiful word for "together") is pronounced /yakhdav/. Now let's talk about vav as a consonant in the middle of a word. If there is only one vav in the middle of a word - it is probably a vowel. If there are two vavs in the midlle of a word - then it's a /v/ sound. For example - ברווז (duck) is pronounced /barvaz/ - the two vavs stand for the /v/. תקווה (hope) is pronounced /tikva/ - the two vavs stand for the /v/.
Geoot - could you please explain why in the words סתיו and יחדיו from your examples 'yud' is pronounced as 'a'? I thought it only made a 'ee' or 'io' (as in the word 'iota') sounds? Thanks in advance!
Unfortunatly, hebrew doesn't have "real" vowels to guide you while reading. However, there are letters that may, sometimes, be "vowels" - like the letter ו (vav). A vav in the middle of a word may indicate an /o/ or /u/ sound. For instance - גורם (noun - cause, verb - cause/s) is pronounced /gorem/ - the Vav stands for the O. Hanukkah is חנוכה - the Vav stands for the U. The letter י (Yud/Yod) in a middle of a word may indicate an /ee/ sound. For example - אישה (a woman) is pronounced /eesha/ - the Yud/Yod stands for the /ee/.
It's probably too long and complicated, but I thought that it might help you. If you don't understand everything - just remember that a single vav in the middle of a word is most likely to be an /o/ or /u/ vowel. (:
Is it normal for the "ha" in "הכלב" to be almost or completely dropped in conversation?
Not dropped completely, but Hebrew speakers often drop the h (a-kelev rather than ha-kelev), though "ha" is the correct form.
Just for you to know it is very unhealthy for dogs to eat bread or any food that isn't a specially for dogs. Meat is very unhealthy either
How does one know when to use ח (chet) vs כ (kaf) inside a word? They sound the same to me.
Pronouncing כ is different in הכלב and אוכל but כ in אוכל seems same as ח in לחם !!
</pre>Yes. כ can be pronounced either as ק or as ח. As in english the letter C can be pronouned either as S or as K as in the word "accept" The letter פ can be P or F. The letter ב can be B or V.
