Shva

Shva

Shva is yet another of those letters that poses a slightly annoying problem. The thing is, those two dots under the Alef, like this - - really don't sound like anything much at all. It's basically somewhere between an "uh" sound and a very short "eh" sound -- a lot like if someone asked you what sound the letter B (or ) makes. You'd probably say "buh" - just enough of a vowel so that the letter makes a sound. That's Shva for you, just enough to barely count as a vowel.

Naturally it was a little weird trying to think up a picture for this one. I could have used a Zen monk, representing the "sound of no sound" but I figured that was a little obscure. Luckily I realized that the "uh" sound that Shva makes is a lot like the U in button, which gives us:

Uh, Eh or ??

The Shva is one of the ways that Modern Israeli Hebrew is a bit different from the traditional pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew — bearing in mind that even in Biblical times, there were also different accents.

The traditional way of pronouncing Shva is either an "uh" sound or barely a whisper--just the sound of pronouncing the consonant itself without a vowel.

However in Israeli Hebrew it's more common for Shva to range from a very short "eh" sound to that same bare whisper.

A good rule of thumb is to pronounce it as a very short "uh" unless it seems awkward, in which case pronounce it like a short "eh." We'll write it as an "e" in the transliteration when that's the case.

Now let's try some reading practice again.

(buh) - In, with. This is a prefix, so it should really be at the beginning of a word.

(b'dag) - With or in a fish. Remember, I never said the examples had to make sense.

(vuh) - And. This is another prefix, so it goes at the beginning of a word.

(hu ba veaba ba) - He's coming and Dad's coming.

Wow, we're getting into real sentences now!

(chet) - sin. Usually translated as "sin" but its real meaning is closer to "mistake" or "miss."

Ok, let's try to keep a lighter tone for the next letter...

Is It Really a Sin?

While chet is usually translated as "sin" it's actually a Jewish concept with a meaning more like "missing the mark" or "not quite reaching the destination." There isn't really any Hebrew word corresponding to the way most English-speakers think of "sin." It might seem like a subtle difference but in fact it's like the difference between "oops, dear me, I missed that, better try again harder" and eternal damnation in the fires of Hell.

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