The Hebrew Alef-Beit אלפבית עברי (Alef-Beit Ivri) part 1.

So what is the Hebrew Alphabet or Alef-Beit.Lets start with basic simple meaning of the 22 letters.It is read from right to left and (Sofit or final form) letters end words.

Meaning number Latin/English name form

Ox(strong ,leader) 1 silent Alef/ א אלף

house 2 B/V Beit/ב בית

Camel 3 G,Gh,J( most always g like good) Gimeil/ג גימל

door 4 D like dog (th, rare) Dalet/ד דלת

breath(behold,praise) 5 H like hit Hei/ה הא

hook 6 V like victory (w,o,u also) Vav/ו וו

weapon 7 Z like zebra most often (zh,dz,dutch J) Zayin/ז זין

fence 8 Ch/Kh like German or Scottish ch like Loch Cheit/ח חית

snake 9 T as in Tim Teit/ט טית

hand 10 Y like yes(vowel i ) Yod/י יוד

palm 20 Kh,K (usually kh like scottish loch) Khaf/Khaf sofit/כ-ך כף\כף סופית

Walking stick 30 L Lamed/ל למד

water 40 M Mem/Mem sofit/מ-ם מם\ מם סופית

seed 50 N Nun/Nun sofit/נ-ן נון נון סופית

support 60 S sister Samekh/ס סמך

eye 70 abstract ,silent (hint of gh, unique to Hebrew)Ayin/ע עין

mouth 80 P,F Pei/Fei/Fei sofit/פ-ף פא פא סופית

trail 90 Tz like ritz,fitz (rare, ch like cheese) Tzadei/Tazadei sofit/צדי צדי סופית

צ-ץ

monkey 100 K k like kite Kuf/ק קוף head/top 200 R (should be rolled) Reish/ר ריש

sharp(bow & arrow) 300 Sh like ship( s like sister,rare) Shin/ש שין

mark,sign 400 T like take (rare,s,th) Tav/ת תו

I have presented the simple basics and most Hebrew letters have a single pronounciation and convert well to English.But some don’t and in part 2 we will discuss these and hopfully also get to the vowels.