Alphabet

Question 1

א

Answer 1

Alef:The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Alef is silent. Look to the vowel below, next to, or over and verbalize the vowel sound instead. We remember it as “X Marks the Spot” because the letter looks like an X when printed.

Question 2

ב

Answer 2

Vet:The letter Vet is the letter Bet’s twin, but it doesn’t have a dot in the middle of it. The bellybutton vanished and the letter is now vacant. Vet makes a “v” sound like violin.

Question 3

ג

Answer 3

ג

Gimel: If you spin a dreidel on Hanukkah, you hope it lands on the letter Gimel. That’s because you Get All the Gelt in the pile if it does. Gimel makes a “g” sound like girl. The letter looks like it is casually standing with its leg out so we can also remember it by the phrase Gimme a Leg Gimel

Question 4

בּ

Answer 4

בּ

Bet:The second letter, Bet, makes a “b” sound like boy. We remember it as Bellybutton Bet because there is a dot or bellybutton in the center of this letter

Question 5

ד

Answer 5

ד

Dalet:The letterDaletmakes a “d” sound like dog. The top is long and straight and protrudes out slightly at the angle.Daletlooks exactly like a diving board which is why we refer to this letter asDiving Board Dalet

Question 6

ה

Answer 6

ה

Hey:The letter Heymakes an “h” sound like happy. But, there is an exception. If there is aHeyat the end of the word and theHeyhas no vowel under it, then it is silent. We remember it because the letterHey Has a Holeon the left hand side between the bottom vertical line and the top horizontal line

Question 7

ו

Answer 7

ו

Vav: The Hebrew letter Vav has very straight lines which is why we named this letter Very Straight Vav. Vav makes a “v” sound like violin

Question 8

ז

Answer 8

ז

Zayin: We refer to the letter Zayin as Zig Zag Zayin because even though the top line is technically on a diagonal and not a zig zag, it’s not easy to come up with good alliteration for a letter starting with “z”. The letter Zayin makes a “z” sound like zebra

Question 9

ח

Answer 9

ח

Chet:The letter Chet looks like a square, but without the bottom line. Chet has a sound that combines two English letters to make a “ch” sound like Chanukah or challah. The “ch” is a sound you would make if you are clearing your throat and hocking a loogie

Question 10

ט

Answer 10

ט

Tet: The letter Tet makes a “t” sound like television. We remember the letter as Tugboat Tet. It’s a bit of a stretch to say that this letter looks like a tugboat, but we keep it as is because for some reason, Tugboat Tet is catchy and seems to stick with people

Question 11

י

Answer 11

י

Yud:The letter Yud is a baby-sized letter – it’s half the size of the others. That is why we call itYoungYud.The letteralso looks identical to an apostrophe.Yudmakes a “y” sound like yo-yo

Question 12

כּ

Answer 12

כּ

Kaf: The letter Kaf looks like a backwards uppercase “C.” Kaf has a dot in the middle of the letter, so we remember Kaf’s dot as a cough drop caught in Kaf’s throat. Kaf makes a “k” sound like kangaroo

Question 13

כ

Answer 13

כ

Chaf: The letter Chaf looks like the same backwards uppercase “C” shape as Kaf but without the dot. Like Kaf, Chaf isn’t feeling well but it doesn’t have a cough drop so it is coughing up a lot of phlegm and mucus. In order for Chaf to clear the phlegm from its throat, it makes a “ch” sound to do so. This “ch” sound is the same exact sound as the letter Chanukkah Chet

Question 14

ל

Answer 14

ל

Lamed: The letter Lamed looks like a lightning bolt, like the one on Harry Potter’s forehead. Lamed makes an “l” sound like lion

Question 15

מ

Answer 15

מ

Mem: The letter Mem has a small hump that is probably more a hill than a mountain, but we can still remember it as Mountain Mem. The letter Mem makes a “m” sound like mom

Question 16

נ

Answer 16

נ

Nun: If you spin the dreidel and it lands on the Hebrew letter Nun, then you get nothing from the pile. That is why we call this letter, Nothing Nun. Nun makes a “n” sound like nail.

Question 17

ס

Answer 17

ס

Samech:The letter Samech makes a “s” sound like snow. It is shaped like an uppercase “U” with a horizontal line across the top. We like to have fun with the way to remember Samech…imagine thatSamechlooks like a salad bowl with saran wrap on it. If you’re putting saran wrap on salad in a salad bowl and eating it the next day, the salad will probably be soggy, so we remember the letter as soggy salad saran-wrapped in a salad bowlSamech

Question 18

ע

Answer 18

ע

Ayin: The letter Ayin is shaped like a lowercase “y” and it also has the letter “y” as the second letter in its name. Ayin is the second of the two silent letters in the Hebrew alphabet

Question 19

פּ

Answer 19

פּ

Pay: The letter Pay look like a backwards, upside down, uppercase “G” with a dot – or as we like to call it – a pimple in the middle of the letter. Therefore, we remember Pay as Pimple Pay. Pay makes a “p” sound like parachute

Question 20

פ

Answer 20

פ

Fay: The letter Fay also looks like a backwards, upside down, uppercase “G” but without a dot. That’s because Fay went to the spa for a facial and now has super clear skin. So, we remember Fay as Facial Fay. Fay makes a “f” sound like flower

Question 21

צ

Answer 21

צ

Tsadi: The letter Tsadi is shaped like a backwards “y” but with much sharper lines compared to Ayin’s more rounded ones. Tsadi makes a “ts” or “tz” sound like the double z in pizza or the sizzling sound of water being dumped onto a flame

Question 22

ק

Answer 22

ק

Koof: The letter Koof makes a “k” sound like kitten. Koof looks like a lowercase “p” which is why we remember it as poof Koof

Question 23

ר

Answer 23

ר

Resh: The letter Resh is rounded at the top, so we remember it by the name Rounded Resh. Resh makes a “r” sound like rainbow

Question 24

שׁ

Answer 24

שׁ

Shin: The letter Shin has 3 arms. The number 3 in Hebrew is Shalosh, so we remember this letter as Shalosh Shin. There is a dot right above the arm furthest to the right. Shin makes a “sh” sound like shake or what you would say if you were telling someone to be quiet

Question 25

שׂ

Answer 25

שׂ Sin: The letter Sin looks exactly like the letter Shin except that its dot is on the far-left arm. We call it sunset Sin because after sunset, the sun has left the sky and the dot is on the left. Sin makes a “s” sound like snake

Question 26

ת

Answer 26

ת Tav: The letter Tav has 3 sides of a square but the bottom of the square is not completed. Instead, the letter Tav has a Toe that sticks out on the bottom left of the letter. Tav makes a “t” sounds like toy

Question 27

ם

Answer 27

Final Mem (ם) The first final letter we are going to take a look at is FINAL MEM. Once again, you will only see a FINAL MEM if it is the last letter in a word. FINAL MEM is probably the most common final letter you will find. Just like in Spanish, Hebrew has masculine and feminine words and masculine plural words end with a FINAL MEM. FINAL MEM most closely resembles a square although the edges are a bit rounded. Make sure you don’t confuse FINAL MEM with SAMECH! This is a common mistake since the two do look quite similar

Question 28

ך

Answer 28

Final Chaf (ך) Final letter number two is FINAL CHAF. It is also a common final letter because the word “Baruch” ends in a FINAL CHAF. So yea, you’ll see it come up quite a few times. People always confuse FINAL CHAF with DALET but there is ZERO reason to make this mistake if you know the few telltale signs to differentiate the two. The most obvious sign is that you will always find either the AH vowel shaped like an uppercase T or the STOP SIGN vowel inside a FINAL CHAF. You will see this every. single. time. FINAL CHAF is longer than DALET. If the vertical line ends level to the vowel line, then it is a FINAL CHAF. If the vertical line stops before the vowel starts or has a vowel underneath it, then it is the letter DALET

Question 29

ן

Answer 29

Final Nun (ן) The third final letter we are going to learn is FINAL NUN. The top line is shorter than FINAL CHAF. You don’t want to confuse FINAL NUN with the letter VAV. The biggest differentiator is the fact that FINAL NUN goes down to the vowel line. Otherwise, the two letters look crazy similar. I can’t tell you how many times I hear people call this Final VAV. But that doesn’t exist

Question 30

ץ

Answer 30

Final Tsadee(ץ) Final Fay (ף) The fourth and fifth final letters FINAL FAY and FINAL TSADEE both have a similar shape to their regular letter counterparts. Draw FAY and TSADEE as you normally would but eliminate the horizontal bottom line פּ and צ. For FINAL FAY, continue the vertical line down to the vowel line and for FINAL TSADI, continue the diagonal line to the vowel line as well. These two final letters are rare; you won’t see them in every prayer like you will FINAL MEM and FINAL CHAF

Question 31

ף

Answer 31

Final Tsadee(ץ) Final Fay (ף) The fourth and fifth final letters FINAL FAY and FINAL TSADEE both have a similar shape to their regular letter counterparts. Draw FAY and TSADEE as you normally would but eliminate the horizontal bottom line פּ and צ.  For FINAL FAY, continue the vertical line down to the vowel line and for FINAL TSADI, continue the diagonal line to the vowel line as well. These two final letters are rare; you won’t see them in every prayer like you will FINAL MEM and FINAL CHAF