Learn about a special Hebrew "vowel": the shva
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| Sherah: Hebrew Pronunciation Season 1, Lesson 4 - When is a Hebrew Vowel Not a |
| Vowel? The Shva Vowels. |
| Amir: Shalom, bruchim habaim. |
| Sherah: Sherah here. Pronunciation Series, Lesson 4 on the shva vowels. Hello and welcome to HebrewPod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Hebrew. |
| Amir: And thanks again for being here with us for this pronunciation lesson. |
| Sherah: So, what is our focus in this lesson, Amir? |
| Amir: In this lesson, we’ll talk about the shva vowels in Hebrew. |
| Sherah: That was one set of vowels that we purposefully left out when we introduced you to the Hebrew vowels. |
| Amir: Yeah, and there was a good reason for that. It’s actually because they are sometimes a vowel and sometimes not a vowel and we didn’t want to confuse you. |
| Sherah: The shva vowels are indicated by two dots under a consonant. |
| Amir: It usually means that there is no vowel there, so you pronounce the next consonant directly after the first. This is called the shva na. |
| Sherah: But there are times when the shva vowel is pronounced like a short -e and then, it’s called a shva na. |
| Amir: We’re here to demystify the shva vowels for you. |
| Sherah: There are a few clear rules to help us out. |
| Amir: So let’s get right into it. |
| Sherah: Okay, Amir, when do we pronounce this vowel as a shva na, a short -e? |
| Amir: Well, the first rule is that any time a word starts with yod, lamed, mem, nun, resh’ or when the second letter is aleph, heh, or ayin, we pronounce the shva as a short -e. |
| Sherah: Right! The reason for this is because these letters are hard to pronounce in direct succession to other letters. So the shva becomes the short -e to make it easier to pronounce. |
| Amir: Here are a couple of examples for this; yeladim and te'unah. |
| Sherah: Those words mean “children” and “accident.” |
| Amir: Correct. Certain prefixes are also pronounced with the shva na like b'. |
| Sherah: This means “in.” |
| Amir: Or ve. |
| Sherah: “and” |
| Amir: ke |
| Sherah: “as” |
| Amir: And the last one is le. |
| Sherah: Meaning “to.” |
| Amir: Last rule is that when you have two shva vowels next to each other, the second becomes a shva na. |
| Sherah: Let’s hear an example of this. |
| Amir: Sure. How about yish'meru? |
| Sherah: That means “they will guard.” |
| Amir: Now, let’s move on to some similar cases where the shva is a shva na. |
| Sherah: Sounds good. |
| Amir: The first word is g'malim. |
| Sherah: “camels” |
| Amir: t'ħum |
| Sherah: “area” |
| Amir: b'reikhah |
| Sherah: “pool” |
| Amir: b'li |
| Sherah: “without” |
| Amir: So now that you’ve been introduced to the shva vowels, let’s move on to some more difficult consonant combinations that involve the shva na. |
| Sherah: Well, this should be fun. Some of this are difficult for me to say even after speaking Hebrew for more than 10 years. |
| Amir: I have to say these consonant combinations that don’t exist in English or any other similar language are pretty difficult. Are you ready? |
| Sherah: Definitely. What’s the first one? |
| Amir: ְּg'dolim |
| Sherah: Oh, that’s a tough one, ְּg'dolim. See, it’s even hard for me. It means “large” in the masculine plural form. |
| Amir: Next stop is k'tanim. |
| Sherah: Another tough one. It means “small” in masculine plural. |
| Amir: k'tovet. |
| Sherah: “address” |
| Amir: b'diħah |
| Sherah: “joke” |
| Amir: b'ħilah |
| Sherah: This is a useful one. It means “nausea.” |
| Amir: And t'ħinah. |
| Sherah: Whoa, one of my favorite foods, “tahini.” |
| Amir: These words are especially important to practice until you get the hang of the new consonant combinations. |
| Sherah: Yes, I can attest to that. Sometimes, it feels like you have a bunch of marbles in your mouth. |
| Amir: I find that many foreign speakers have a hard time with these combinations. Many people put a shva na in these combinations, instead of what they should be putting a shva na. |
| Sherah: Unfortunately, this is not the correct way to pronounce these words, so make sure you practice, practice, and practice some more! And while you’re practicing, don’t forget that you can leave us a comment on this lesson. |
| Amir: So if you have a question or some feedback, don’t forget to leave us a comment. |
| Sherah: It’s very easy to do. Just stop by HebrewPod101.com… |
| Amir: Click on comments… |
| Sherah: Enter your comments and name… |
| Amir: And that’s it! |
| Sherah: No excuses! We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Bye! |
| Amir: Shalom! |
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