Worksheet #2 – Pronouncing the First Half of the Alphabet

1. ‫א‬ ba' ~yhi_l{a

is a silent letter.

2. ‫בּ‬ and ‫ ב‬are the same letter. ba' !Be

3. The letters ‫ ב‬and ‫ ו‬are pronounced the same way. ba' !Beh;w>
4. When ‫ ה‬comes at the end of a word and is not followed by a vowel, it is silent. hr"f'
5. There are only a few cases in which the dot changes a letter’s pronunciation.
‫ב בּ‬, % ‫כ כּ‬, ‫שׁ שׂ‬
hr"f' ~veî
6. ‫ כּ‬and ‫ כ‬are the same letter, although ‫ כּ‬is pronounced K as in Kitty and ‫ כ‬is
pronounced CH as in BaCH. !heKo %l,m,.

7. The letters ‫ ח‬and ‫ כ‬are both pronounced with a gutteral sound as in the German
pronunciation of BaCH.

Three vowels but two vowel sounds

1. Vowels are shown by adding dots and dashes below or beside consonants.
2. Two vowels are pronounced the same, and both are added below
consonants.
a as in yacht ‫בּ‬ ‫בּ‬ %WrïB' tB;
Another vowel sound is pronounced ee and can be written in two ways.
One is a dot under a consonant: ‫בּ‬.
The other is a dot under a consonant followed by ‫ י‬as in ‫ בּי‬.
Both ‫ בּ‬and ‫ בּי‬have the same pronunciation like the English word “bee”.
‫! רבּי רב‬ymiy"n>Bi (the name of Benjamin)
Both ‫ ב‬and ‫ בי‬have the same pronunciation like the English letter “V”.

‫~ אבי אב‬h'r'b.a;
Look-Alike Letters

‫הח‬ ‫בּכּ‬ ‫בך‬ ‫וזי‬

xa' !heKo bh'(Z"h; !Be