HEBREW · STEP 3
Read em and im
The same letters can make different words. Let the vowel marks guide you.
Read before looking
Keep using modern Israeli pronunciation. Start on the right and notice the vowel beneath the first letter.
Read בֵּן and בַּת
ben, son, and bat, daughter. Tsere gives e as in ten; patah gives a as in father. Finish each word with its last consonant.
Mem has a final form too
You already know mem, the m sound. Like nun, it has a different shape at the end of a word.
- מMem
- At the beginning or middle.
- םFinal mem
- At the end. Its outline is closed.
Both forms sound like m. Final mem is also called mem sofit.
Which ends a word: מ or ם?
ם, final mem. The shape changes, not the sound.
Meet alef
Alef
In the words we are learning, alef adds no consonant sound. Read its vowel directly: no b, m or n before it. Alef is not itself an “a” vowel.
e as in ten
Alef with tsere
Move left to final mem and blend:
e + m = em
Mother
One syllable. Final mem has no vowel here; stop at m.
One dot beneath
Hiriq is one dot beneath a letter. Here it gives i, like the vowel in machine. Keep the sound steady.
- אֵTsere
- Two dots beneath: e.
- אִHiriq
- One dot beneath: i.
The dot's position matters. The dot inside בּ helped us identify bet's b sound. Hiriq sits below the letter and gives a vowel.
Read this practice syllable: מִ
mi: m followed by i as in machine.
i + m = im
If
Again, start with the vowel and finish with m. Changing the vowel changes the word's meaning.
Same letters, different words
Read each word aloud before opening the answer. Find its vowel rather than guessing from its shape.
Read אִם
im, if. One dot beneath alef: hiriq, i as in machine.
Read אֵם
em, mother. Two dots side by side beneath alef: tsere, e as in ten.
What changes between the two words?
Only the vowel mark. Both words use alef and final mem. The vowel changes both the sound and the meaning.
Spot a word in Torah
Genesis 3:20 calls Chavah, Eve, the “mother of all living.” The Hebrew word for mother there is אֵם. You can now read that word, one vowel and one final consonant at a time.
Genesis 3:20 · Short English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva.
Make it stick
Close the answers. Read these words from top to bottom, then in reverse order:
- בַּת
- אֵם
- בֵּן
- אִם
Check the four words
Top to bottom: bat, daughter; em, mother; ben, son; im, if.
Return tomorrow and read them before checking. For each word, point to the vowel and say which sound it gives.
Explore the sources
Hebrew letters, Chabad · Modern Hebrew vowels, Academy of the Hebrew Language · Mother in Genesis 3:20 · If in Genesis 18:3