Shalom, everyone.
It has been brought to my attention that many here have access to study helps that give us the basic vocabulary of Greek and Hebrew, but none of the study helps adequately explain how Hebrew works or give us enough grammatical help. Indeed, Hebrew grammar is a MAJOR hinderance to many who study prophecy. Oh, we can discover what a word means and we can even see how it might be used in a sentence, but there seems to be a mystery to Hebrew that isn't easily overcome, even if one is an avid student of Greek.
Firstly, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the Hebrew language is an Oriental language. As such, it does not adhere to the left-to-right construction of Western languages. It is read from right to left, instead. Furthermore, all of the letters in the Hebrew alefbet are CONSONANTS! There are no true vowels although "vowel POINTING" was added later to accommodate Westerners attempting to learn Hebrew.
Also, Hebrew book letters (which are really Aramaic letters) are foreign to Westerners as they little resemble their Western transliterations.
Speaking of transliteration, which means to change each letter of one language into the letter of the target language that has the same phonetic sound, I will almost exclusively use such transliteration because (a) it makes the letters more readable to Westerners, (b) it puts the Hebrew language into a left-to-right structure, and (c) it negates the need to find a font that everyone can use. On point (c), not everyone has access to the same Hebrew fonts as do others. Various programs that make use of actual Hebrew text will often give the reader a chance to download a font they might suggest and encourage, but not all programs (apps) will use the same font! They had attempted to standardize the various fonts of the world by the Unicode system, but not all companies and their products will use Unicode.
A major problem is that transliteration schemes are also not standardized. I use a transliteration scheme that is based on that of PC Study Bible 5, which seems to use the least special symbols to convey the same information, although it does use slightly more symbols. Furthermore, not everyone is consistent in their transliteration schemes since it is so arbitrary.
Regarding the Hebrew letters in the alefbet (or alphabet), many listings of these letters can be found on the Internet. Obviously, I cannot recommend the theology of such a site, but Judaism 101 is an ideal source for background Hebrew. The link to it is http://www.jewfaq.org/alephbet.htm.
Here's a quick listing of the Hebrew letters and how I transliterate them:
alef = nothing at the beginning of a word, ' (a generic apostrophe) in the middle or at the end of a word
beit = b
veit (an undotted bet within a word) = V (I'm not always consistent with this and will frequently write a lowercase v.)
gimel = g (ALWAYS pronounced as a hard g as in "girl," never a soft g as in "gel.")
dalet = d
hei = h
vav = v (although also often pronounced as a w.)
zayin = z
cheit = ch (as in the Scottish word "loch," like "Loch Ness.")
teit = T
yod = y
kaf = k
khaf (an undotted kaf within a word) = kh (as the hard, guttural ch of the German word "reich.")
lamed = l
mem = m
nun = n
samekh = c (always a soft c as in "cedar.")
`ayin = ` (the back apostrophe, usually found to the left of the number 1 on a keyboard.)
pei = p
fei (an undotted pei in the middle or at the end of a word) = f
tsadday = ts
quf = q
reish = r (this is like the Spanish, rolled rr.)
shin (has a dot over the right side of the letter) = sh
sin (has a dot over the left side of the letter) = s
tav = t
I transliterate the vowel pointing also as does the PC Study Bible:
Farther down on the Judaism 101 page on the Hebrew Alphabet, one will find a table of little dots and lines that are added below or above the alef in red.
The first symbol, a line drawn under the alef, is a "patach." It sounds like the a in "father," and I transliterate it as "a."
The second symbol, a "T" drawn under the alef, is a "qamets." It sounds like the "aw" in "saw." I transliterate it as "aa."
The third symbol, two dots below the alef, is a "tsere." It sound like "ay" as in "hay," and I transliterate it as "ee."
(Notice that sometimes the tsere is followed by a yod. This changes the pronunciation little, but I transliterate it as "eey.")
The fourth symbol, three dots in a triangle, is a "segol." It sounds like "eh" in "bed," and I transliterate it as "e."
The fifth symbol, a single dot under the alef, is a "chireq." It sounds like "ee" in "bee," and I transliterate it as "i."
The sixth symbol, a dot above and to the left (after) the alef is a "cholem." It sounds like "o" in "row." I transliterate it as "o."
(Notice that sometimes the vav is added with the dot above it. This is also a cholem with vav. It still sounds like the "o" in "row, and I will transliterate it as "ow.")
The seventh symbol, three dots like a backslash under the alef is a "qibbuts." "oo" as in "moon." Transliterated "u."
(The companion symbol, a vav with a dot in the middle of the letter, is a "shureq." It also sound like "oo" in "moon," and I transliterate it as "uw.")
The eighth symbol, two dots like a colon under the alef is a "sheva," and sounds like a schwa if it's pronounced at all. I usually leave the sheva represented as nothing, but if it is in the middle of a syllable, I might use a dash "-". Very sparsely, I might use an "e" if the pronunciation of the word warrants it.
The other three symbols in the table are combinations of sheva and a patach, a qamets, or a segol. And, I will represent them as the symbol with which the sheva is paired (a, aa, e).
That's a start. NOW, for some basics in grammar:
It has been brought to my attention that many here have access to study helps that give us the basic vocabulary of Greek and Hebrew, but none of the study helps adequately explain how Hebrew works or give us enough grammatical help. Indeed, Hebrew grammar is a MAJOR hinderance to many who study prophecy. Oh, we can discover what a word means and we can even see how it might be used in a sentence, but there seems to be a mystery to Hebrew that isn't easily overcome, even if one is an avid student of Greek.
Firstly, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the Hebrew language is an Oriental language. As such, it does not adhere to the left-to-right construction of Western languages. It is read from right to left, instead. Furthermore, all of the letters in the Hebrew alefbet are CONSONANTS! There are no true vowels although "vowel POINTING" was added later to accommodate Westerners attempting to learn Hebrew.
Also, Hebrew book letters (which are really Aramaic letters) are foreign to Westerners as they little resemble their Western transliterations.
Speaking of transliteration, which means to change each letter of one language into the letter of the target language that has the same phonetic sound, I will almost exclusively use such transliteration because (a) it makes the letters more readable to Westerners, (b) it puts the Hebrew language into a left-to-right structure, and (c) it negates the need to find a font that everyone can use. On point (c), not everyone has access to the same Hebrew fonts as do others. Various programs that make use of actual Hebrew text will often give the reader a chance to download a font they might suggest and encourage, but not all programs (apps) will use the same font! They had attempted to standardize the various fonts of the world by the Unicode system, but not all companies and their products will use Unicode.
A major problem is that transliteration schemes are also not standardized. I use a transliteration scheme that is based on that of PC Study Bible 5, which seems to use the least special symbols to convey the same information, although it does use slightly more symbols. Furthermore, not everyone is consistent in their transliteration schemes since it is so arbitrary.
Regarding the Hebrew letters in the alefbet (or alphabet), many listings of these letters can be found on the Internet. Obviously, I cannot recommend the theology of such a site, but Judaism 101 is an ideal source for background Hebrew. The link to it is http://www.jewfaq.org/alephbet.htm.
Here's a quick listing of the Hebrew letters and how I transliterate them:
alef = nothing at the beginning of a word, ' (a generic apostrophe) in the middle or at the end of a word
beit = b
veit (an undotted bet within a word) = V (I'm not always consistent with this and will frequently write a lowercase v.)
gimel = g (ALWAYS pronounced as a hard g as in "girl," never a soft g as in "gel.")
dalet = d
hei = h
vav = v (although also often pronounced as a w.)
zayin = z
cheit = ch (as in the Scottish word "loch," like "Loch Ness.")
teit = T
yod = y
kaf = k
khaf (an undotted kaf within a word) = kh (as the hard, guttural ch of the German word "reich.")
lamed = l
mem = m
nun = n
samekh = c (always a soft c as in "cedar.")
`ayin = ` (the back apostrophe, usually found to the left of the number 1 on a keyboard.)
pei = p
fei (an undotted pei in the middle or at the end of a word) = f
tsadday = ts
quf = q
reish = r (this is like the Spanish, rolled rr.)
shin (has a dot over the right side of the letter) = sh
sin (has a dot over the left side of the letter) = s
tav = t
I transliterate the vowel pointing also as does the PC Study Bible:
Farther down on the Judaism 101 page on the Hebrew Alphabet, one will find a table of little dots and lines that are added below or above the alef in red.
The first symbol, a line drawn under the alef, is a "patach." It sounds like the a in "father," and I transliterate it as "a."
The second symbol, a "T" drawn under the alef, is a "qamets." It sounds like the "aw" in "saw." I transliterate it as "aa."
The third symbol, two dots below the alef, is a "tsere." It sound like "ay" as in "hay," and I transliterate it as "ee."
(Notice that sometimes the tsere is followed by a yod. This changes the pronunciation little, but I transliterate it as "eey.")
The fourth symbol, three dots in a triangle, is a "segol." It sounds like "eh" in "bed," and I transliterate it as "e."
The fifth symbol, a single dot under the alef, is a "chireq." It sounds like "ee" in "bee," and I transliterate it as "i."
The sixth symbol, a dot above and to the left (after) the alef is a "cholem." It sounds like "o" in "row." I transliterate it as "o."
(Notice that sometimes the vav is added with the dot above it. This is also a cholem with vav. It still sounds like the "o" in "row, and I will transliterate it as "ow.")
The seventh symbol, three dots like a backslash under the alef is a "qibbuts." "oo" as in "moon." Transliterated "u."
(The companion symbol, a vav with a dot in the middle of the letter, is a "shureq." It also sound like "oo" in "moon," and I transliterate it as "uw.")
The eighth symbol, two dots like a colon under the alef is a "sheva," and sounds like a schwa if it's pronounced at all. I usually leave the sheva represented as nothing, but if it is in the middle of a syllable, I might use a dash "-". Very sparsely, I might use an "e" if the pronunciation of the word warrants it.
The other three symbols in the table are combinations of sheva and a patach, a qamets, or a segol. And, I will represent them as the symbol with which the sheva is paired (a, aa, e).
That's a start. NOW, for some basics in grammar: