Alephbet 101 / Hebrew Reading FAQ

Is it hard to learn to read Hebrew?

The quick answer: it can be super easy and fun! I've seen a lot of boring ways of teaching Hebrew reading, which is why I made this site. The CartoonHebrew method is based on how I've learned lots of cool writing systems (including Russian, Chinese and the three writing systems of Japanese), and how I've taught my friends to read Hebrew in less than an hour!

Learning the Alephbet: The Hebrew Alphabet

Hebrew writing works differently than the English alphabet, so here's a little intro to what you can expect. If you just can't wait, though, click below to skip to the first letter of the Alephbet.

The Alephbet (also spelled Alephbet) is named after the first two letters, Aleph (Aleph) and Bet. It's a lot like how we sometimes call our English alphabet the ABC's.

In Hebrew, the letters are all consonants! What about vowels? Read on...

The Letters (Consonants)

The letters of the Alephbet look like this:

The Vowel Marks

All of the letters are actually consonants. The vowels are marks like dots and dashes that are added to the letters, like this:

The Good News About the Alephbet

Consistent spelling — You don't have to worry about a lot of weird spellings like English tough/plough/through. Once you know how to read, it's pretty easy to know how to pronounce words.
Biblical and Modern Hebrew are really similar to read. Modern Hebrew changed only a few things to make it easier to read without vowels, and to write foreign words.
No capital letters means most of the time, you only have to learn one version of a letter.

Where Hebrew is Special and New

Hebrew is read right to left! Even books open on the opposite side.
Final letters — A few letters do have final versions, which is like a capital but at the end of a word.
Everyday Hebrew doesn't use vowels! Ancient Hebrew didn't either. That is, they aren't usually written. Kids learn with vowels, and both dictionaries and religious texts use them to show correct pronunciation.

We'll be using the vowels to teach you to read.

Let's get started learning to read Hebrew!

We'll start at the beginning, with the letter Aleph.

It's easy to get started: try learning your first letter!

Alephbet: Nerd Notes

Extra info for the kind of student who's always looking for extra credit!

Historical Alephbet Letter Styles

Over the course of history, the Aleph Bet has been written in very different styles!

Comparison of Alephbet styles from Aleph to Hey

Ktav Ivri — Literally it means "Hebrew writing" and it's also called Paleo-Hebrew. It's the one used in the oldest manuscripts, and it's related to the ancient Phoenician writing style.
Ktav Ashuri — Literally Assyrian writing, this is the square style that's used in everything from Torah scrolls to street signs.
Scribal / STaM — This is an Ashuri calligraphic style with a special tradition in using the Ashuri style to write the holiest Jewish scrolls: the Sefer Torah (Torah scroll), Tefillin and Mezuzahs, making the acronym STaM.
Rashi Script — Also called Ktav Rashi, this style is mostly used for the commentary of famous rabbi Rashi, so that it stands out next to the original text. Rashi script is like extreme italics, and it's actually based on a Sephardi style of cursive writing. Funny thing: Rashi never actually used Rashi script!
Modern Hebrew Writing — Israelis use a wide variety of fonts, just like we do in English, but they're all based on a modernized update to the old Ashuri style that's also used for Torah scrolls. This is the main style we use on Cartoon Hebrew.
Modern Cursive — Israelis use a modern cursive style for handwriting, too, which looks rounder and more flowy.

Alefbet, Alephbet, Alphabet... what??

Don't stress too much about how to write the name of the Hebrew alphabet, because there are many correct spellings!

Since it's Hebrew, you'll see people writing it many ways in English: Alefbet, Aleph Bet, Aleph-Bet, Alef Beth, Alef-Beis, Aleph Bet — or just writing Hebrew Alphabet. Of course it's funny because the Alephbet came before the Alphabet, so you could really say the Alphabet is the English Alephbet!

Part of the confusion is because it's named after the first two letters which both have multiple spellings:

א Aleph is pronounced Aleph, but often spelled Aleph because in Hebrew it's written with the letter פ Peh which normally has a P sound, but in this case has an F sound, giving it the name פ Feh in Hebrew. The ph ending reflects this.
ב Bet, not to be outdone, is pronounced three major ways by different regional Hebrew accents.
1. In Israeli and Sephardic Hebrew it's Bet,
2. The Ashkenazim say Beis (sounds like "base"), and
3. The Teimanim or Yemenite Jews say Beth, which is believed to be the majority pronunciation from ancient times.

CartoonHebrew.com focuses on modern Israeli pronunciation.

In actual Hebrew it's written either as one word, אלפבית, or with a hyphen: אָלֶף־בֵּית.

It's really common for Hebrew words to have many spellings in English -- like the infamous word Hannukkah! (Or is it Chanuka?)