B or V

The Hebrew name of the consonant is Bet.
It is the second character of the Hebrew alphabet.
This consonant has two sounds, depending on its place in the word, or if the consonant is doubled by a "doubling dot" for grammatical reasons.
If the is at the beginning of a word or follows a closed syllable, it's sound is "B" (plosive labial), then in vocalized text there is a dot in it ().
In the Bible the may be fricative at the beginning of a word under influence of the vowel finishing the former word. for example:
If the consonant is doubled for grammatical reasons, it's sound is also "B".
In all the other cases the sound is "V" (fricative labial dental).
At the end of a Hebrew word the is always "V", only in foreign words written in Hebrew transliteration, the may have a "B" sound.
In the word there is a vowel under the this vowel is named "Tzere".

End of explanation of the consonant "Bet".

See the vowel .
Back to lesson two.
Back to lesson three

Het
.
- The Hebrew name of this consonant is "Het".
- The sound is a typical semitic one; to pronounce this consonant you must narrow the throat somewhere in the middle between the glottis and the vocal chords, and let the breath out.
- This consonant is pronounced properly by Jews of oriental origin (Arabic speaking countries), and by the radio and television announcers in Israel.
- In Israel the consonant is mostly pronounced like the German "CH" like in the word "ach", but this sound also exists in Hebrew and is represented by another consonant
  (), thus confusion of the two consonants is common amongst new immigrants from western countries.
- The consonant has always the same sound, and as it is gutteral it can never be doubled.
- The vowel we have already explained in lesson one; if you want to return to it click on the vowel.
End of explanation of the consonant"Het".
Back to lesson two.
Back to lesson three (ayin) .
Back tolesson four (seliha)

R
- The hebrew name of the consonant is Resh.
- The sound is always like a rolled "R", and doesn't change as the "R" in English (compare: "word" "river").
- In some aspects the consonant behaves as guttural, for example in modern Hebrew it can't be doubled, but there is evidence in the Bible that in ancient Hebrew the could be doubled for example (Ezech 15:4 see also Prov. 3:8) and in the Septuagint the name Sara is transliterated with double "ro":
  .
End of explanation of the consonant"Resh.
Back to lesson two.

E

The Hebrew name of this vowel is "Tsere".
The sound is like the "E" in the English word "extra".
The vowel is considered a long vowel, however there is another vowel with almost the same sound, only shorter.

End of explanation of the vowel"Tzere."
Back to lesson two.