Free course · Step 1 of 15
Five letters to start: א ב ג ד ה
Hebrew reads from right to left, and its letters are consonants: the vowels come later, as small marks under or inside the letters. In this first step you learn five letters: Alef, Bet, Gimel, Dalet and He. Alef has no sound of its own and carries a vowel. Bet has two faces: with a dot inside it is b, without the dot it is v. Gimel is a hard g, Dalet a d, He a light h.
For each one you get a way to remember it, a table with its name and sound, and then about fifty short exercises: recognise the letter, find it among others, match it to its name, say what sound it makes. Tap a letter to hear its name.
Ten minutes is enough. By the end of the step you can tell Dalet from He, which look alike, and you already have a quarter of the alphabet.
Step 1 of 15 · Explanation
Five letters to start: א ב ג ד ה
Hebrew is read from right to left.
The letters are consonants: b, g, d and so on.
The vowels are small marks written under, above or inside the letters, and you will meet them in part 2.
Until then, every letter here is shown with its name and the sound it makes.
Questions
- Why does Alef have no sound?
- Alef is a silent consonant: it marks the place of a vowel. In the word אָב (av, father) the a sits under the Alef, and the letter is read with that vowel.
- How do I tell Dalet from He?
- Dalet is closed at the top left; He has a gap between the roof and the left leg. Look for the gap.
- When do the vowels come?
- In steps 7, 8 and 9. First you need the 22 letters and the pairs that look alike, so the vowels have something to sit on.
And then?
In a free trial lesson we talk on Google Meet and I set your goals. With a free account the steps you finish follow you to every device.