Lesson 3 | Vowels

[3] Learning Through Examples

With your new cheat sheet in hand, let’s walk through pronouncing some words from Psalm 111—the acrostic psalm we examined in Lesson 1. For each, make sure to attempt your pronunciation of the words out loud before listening to the recording. Then, read them again after listening to the recording.

מַעֲשֶׂה235x
work, deed (noun)

      מַעֲשֵׂי יְהוָה
      the works of the Lord
      
      masc plural construct
      
2628x

      עָשָׂה
      do, make (verb)
      
      from the same root
      
As mentioned briefly in Lesson 2, יְהוָה is traditionally pronounced the same as אֲדֹנָי. Jewish tradition has long held it should be pronounced in this fashion to avoid using God’s name in vain. As a result, knowledge of its original pronunciation has been lost since the vowel pointing on this word is based in this Jewish tradition. For lack of a better option, we generally follow the same tradition in our reading.
For the curious, see this article for more detailed information.

יָדָה114x
give thanks, confess (verb)

      אוֹדֶה
      I will give thanks
      
      hiphil imperfect 1st common singular 
      
      הוֹדוּ
      give thanks
      
      hiphil imperative masc plural
      
32x

      תּוֹדָה
      thanksgiving (noun)
      
      from the same root
      
לֵבָב252x
heart (noun)
594x

      לֵב
      heart
      
      a synonym from the same root
      
אֶמֶת127x
faithfulness, truth (noun)

      בֶּאֱמֶת
      with faithfulness
      
      fem singular
      
צְדָקָה157x
righteousness (noun)

      וְצִדְקָתוֹ
      and his righteousness
      
      fem singular construct
      
118x

      צֶדֶק
      justice, righteousness (noun)
      
      from the same root
      
206x

      צַדִּיק
      righteous (adjective)
      
      from the same root
      
דָּרַשׁ164x
seek, demand (verb)

      דְּרוּשִׁים
      sought out
      
      qal passive-participle masc plural
      
פֹּעַל38x
deed, work (noun)

      פָּעֳלוֹ
      his work
      
      masc singular construct
      
56x

      פָּעַל
      work (verb)
      
      from the same root
      
שָׁמַיִם421x
heavens, sky (noun)

נְאֻם376x
utterance (noun)

      נְאֻם־יְהוָה
      thus says the Lord
      
      masc singular
      
An exception
We learned that a vowel sound follows the letter it is placed under, above, or next to. There is one exception to this rule—namely when a ח or ע comes at the end of a word. In this case, the vowel sound precedes the sound of the letter. The example below is called a furtive patach.

כֹּחַ126x
strength, power (noun)

Gutturals love "a"
Finally, note that those two letters (ח and ע), in addition to a few others, called gutturals, tend to prefer the a-class vowels. This will be helpful to know so as to better understand later why certain verbs will not follow the normal rules when they are inflected. (Guttural letters are marked such on your alphabet cheat sheet.)

Guttural letters

        א
        
        ה
        
        ח
        
        ע
        
        ר
        
You have done some hard memorizing work. It is time now for more joyful study! On the next step you will learn your second Hebrew worship song in this course.