The Consonants, Part 2

Psalm 119:168 closes the twenty-first stanza of the psalm, the stanza of the letter shin. In the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) it reads שָׁמַרְתִּי פִקּוּדֶיךָ וְעֵדֹתֶיךָ (shamarti fiqqudekha ve'edotekha, I have kept your precepts and your testimonies), and then כִּי כָל־דְּרָכַי נֶגְדֶּךָ (ki khol-derakhai negdekha, for all my ways are before you). The little horizontal stroke between כָל and דְּרָכַי is a maqqef, a kind of Hebrew hyphen, which joins two words to be read under one accent. Notice how the verse moves. The psalmist has kept God's word, and the reason he gives is not that he is strong but that he is seen. Everything he does is in front of God, and he wants it to be.

Look at the first word. שָׁמַרְתִּי (shamarti) comes from a root that means to keep, guard or watch: the word is used of a watchman on the wall and of a shepherd with his flock. The BSB renders it 'I obey', which is what keeping a command means. The picture in the Hebrew is of a man guarding something precious. The same root runs through the whole psalm; verse 167, just before, says שָׁמְרָה נַפְשִׁי (shamerah nafshi, my soul has kept), which the BSB gives as 'I obey'. Repetition like this is one of the things a little Hebrew lets you see, and Module 5 will teach you to look for it.

This one verse, as it happens, contains almost everything this lesson teaches. It has letters you have not learned yet: shin, mem, resh, pe, qof, ayin, kaph, lamed, nun and tav. It has a final form, the special shape a letter takes at the end of a word, three times over. And it has five of the six letters that change sound after a vowel, which is why the second word is sounded fiqqudekha and not piqqudekha. By the end of this lesson you will be able to read every letter in it and explain every dot.

Use the same method as last week. For each new letter, write it ten times while saying its name and sound aloud, find it in a real word, and review it the next day before you learn anything new. Begin each session by going through last week's ten flashcards. Twelve letters and five final forms are more than ten, so give yourself the whole week.

כ, kaph, transliterated k or kh. With a dot inside, כּ, it is sounded k as in king; without the dot, כ, it is sounded like the ch in Scottish loch, and this track writes it kh. In 119:168, כִּי (ki, for, because) has the dot and כָל (khol, all) does not. Write kaph as a rounded shape open on the left, like a backward C with flat ends. Warning: kaph looks like ב (bet), which has a square corner and a little foot at the bottom right. Kaph has a final form, ך, a long straight leg that drops well below the line; you can see it at the end of נֶגְדֶּךָ (negdekha, before you), where it carries a vowel mark inside it.

ל, lamed, transliterated l. Sounded like the l in lamp. It is the only letter that rises above the top line, with a tall neck like a shepherd's crook, which makes it the easiest letter on the page to find. It is also one of the commonest, because the little word for to or for is a lamed fixed to the front of the next word: לְרַגְלִי (leragli, to my foot) in Psalm 119:105.

מ, mem, transliterated m. Sounded like the m in mother. Write it with a rounded top left, a flat floor, and a small gap at the bottom left where the stroke does not quite meet the floor. Its final form, ם, is a closed square with no gap at all. You can see the ordinary mem in שָׁמַרְתִּי (shamarti). Warning: the final mem ם looks like ס (samekh), below. Final mem has square corners and comes only at the end of a word; samekh is round and can come anywhere.

נ, nun, transliterated n. Sounded like the n in now. Write it as an upright with a short head at the top and a floor running to the left along the line. Its final form, ן, is a long straight stroke dropping below the line. You met nun at the start of Psalm 119:105, in נֵר (ner, lamp), and you can see it in נֶגְדֶּךָ (negdekha, before you). Warning: nun looks like ג (gimel), whose foot is a short kick rather than a floor. Final nun looks like ו (vav), which stops at the line; final nun goes below it.

ס, samekh, transliterated s. Sounded like the s in sun. It is a closed, rounded shape, almost a circle with a flat top. Samekh is the letter of the Ephraimites' Sibboleth in Judges 12:6, סִבֹּלֶת (sibbolet), against the Gileadites' שִׁבֹּלֶת (shibbolet). The fifteenth stanza of Psalm 119 begins with it, in 119:113: 'The double-minded I despise.' Warning: as above, do not confuse samekh with final mem ם.

ע, ayin, transliterated with a reversed apostrophe ʿ (academic ʿ as well), or simply with an apostrophe, or not shown. Like aleph, it is a letter most modern readers do not sound at all: you say the vowel that goes with it. In ancient Hebrew it was a real consonant made deep in the throat, the sound Arabic still has, and Greek transcriptions show that in some words it sounded more like a rough g. That is why עַזָּה, which begins with ayin, is Gaza in English, and why Gomorrah has a G. Write ayin as two strokes leaning together into a V whose right arm runs down into a tail that curves to the left along the line. Warning: ayin looks like צ (tsade), below. Tsade stands on a flat floor; ayin has no floor, and its tail sweeps away to the left at the bottom.

פ, pe, pronounced pey, transliterated p or f. With a dot inside, פּ, it is p as in pen; without it, פ, it is f as in fish. Write it like kaph with a small tongue curling down inside from the top. Its final form, ף, drops a long leg below the line, and is always sounded f. In 119:168 the second word, פִקּוּדֶיךָ (fiqqudekha, your precepts), begins with a pe that has no dot, so it is f, for a reason section 4 explains.

צ, tsade, transliterated ts (academic ṣ). Sounded like the ts in cats. Write it as a slanting main stroke standing on a flat floor, with a small arm, like a yod, rising on its right. Its final form, ץ, has a long leg that drops below the line, as in אֶרֶץ (erets, earth), the last word of Genesis 1:1. The eighteenth stanza of Psalm 119 begins with it: צַדִּיק אַתָּה יְהוָה (tsaddiq attah YHWH, righteous are you, O LORD), 119:137.

ק, qof, transliterated q. Sounded like the k in king. In ancient Hebrew it was probably made further back in the mouth than kaph, and scholars write it q to keep the two apart, but most speakers today sound them alike. Write it as a roof and right side like he, with a left leg that drops below the line. Warning: qof looks like ה (he), whose left leg stays above the line. You can see qof doubled in פִקּוּדֶיךָ (fiqqudekha).

ר, resh, transliterated r. Sounded like the r in run, or rolled, or made in the throat as many Israelis do; any of these is fine. Write it as a smooth rounded roof coming down on the right, with no corner sticking out. Warning: resh looks like ד (dalet), which has a sharp corner at the top right, and like ך (final kaph), which has a leg that drops below the line. You can see resh in דְּרָכַי (derakhai, my ways), just after a dalet: compare the two corners.

ש, shin and sin, transliterated sh or s. This is one letter with two sounds. It has three upright strokes joined at the bottom, and a dot above. If the dot is over the right-hand stroke, שׁ, it is shin, sh as in shoe. If the dot is over the left-hand stroke, שׂ, it is sin, s as in sun, the same sound as samekh. The original texts had no dots, and readers knew from the word which to say. Psalm 119 treats them as one letter: the stanza you read in the inquiry mixes verses beginning with shin and with sin. Warning: some printings and fonts place the dot close to the middle; look carefully, and when in doubt, check the transliteration in the tool.

ת, tav, transliterated t. Sounded like the t in top, with or without its dot, in the pronunciation most classrooms use today; the ancient sound without the dot was probably like the th in thin, and some older traditions still say s. Write it as a roof with two legs, the left one ending in a small foot turning to the left. Warning: tav looks like ח (het), which has no foot, and ה (he), which has a gap. Tav is the last letter, and the last stanza of Psalm 119, verses 169-176, begins with it: תִּקְרַב רִנָּתִי (tiqrav rinnati, may my cry come near), 119:169.

Five letters take a different shape when they end a word. You have now met them all: ך final kaph, ם final mem, ן final nun, ף final pe, and ץ final tsade. Four of the five simply drop a long leg below the line; final mem closes into a square. They are not different letters. They have the same name and sound as the ordinary forms, and in the alphabet they do not count separately; Psalm 119 still has twenty-two stanzas. Jewish tradition remembers them with a made-up word built from the five letters, which the Talmud spells מנצפך (menatspakh). Write the five pairs in your notebook, ordinary form on the right and final form on the left, and learn them as pairs. In the anchor verse three words end in final kaph: the words for your precepts, your testimonies and before you. Each time the final kaph carries a vowel mark inside it, because the ending -kha, your, ends in a vowel.

Six letters have two sounds, a hard sound when they carry a dot and a soft sound when they do not: ב bet, ג gimel, ד dalet, כ kaph, פ pe and ת tav. Grammars call them by a made-up word from their names, begadkephat. The dot is called dagesh lene, the weak dagesh. In the pronunciation most students learn, only three of the six change sound in a way you can hear: bet is b or v, kaph is k or kh, pe is p or f. The other three, gimel, dalet and tav, are sounded the same either way, though the Masoretes probably sounded all six differently.

The rule is simple. A begadkephat letter takes the dot, and the hard sound, when it begins a syllable that does not follow a vowel: at the start of a word, or after a letter that has no vowel of its own. It goes soft when it follows a vowel. That is why the same root can sound different in different words. One exception you will meet often: at the start of a word, if the word before ends in a vowel and the two are read closely together, the letter usually goes soft, as if the two words were one. Now look at the anchor verse again. שָׁמַרְתִּי (shamarti) ends in a vowel and is joined to the next word, so the next word begins with a soft pe: פִקּוּדֶיךָ, fiqqudekha. כִּי (ki) ends in a vowel and is joined to the next word, so the next word begins with a soft kaph: כָל, khol. Inside shamarti, the tav has its dot because the resh before it has no vowel. Inside דְּרָכַי (derakhai), the kaph follows a vowel and is soft.

One warning. There is a second kind of dagesh, which looks exactly the same and means that the letter is doubled, as the qof is in פִקּוּדֶיךָ (fiqqudekha, with qq). It can sit in almost any letter, not only the six. Lesson 4 explains how to tell the two apart. For now, remember that a dot inside one of the six begadkephat letters at the start of a word is almost always the weak dagesh, telling you to use the hard sound.

You now know every consonant. Read these slowly, from right to left, naming each letter, then check yourself against the transliteration. Ignore the vowel marks for one more week, except for the dots that tell you hard or soft.

שָׁלוֹם: shin (dot on the right), lamed, vav, final mem. Read it shalom. It means peace, wholeness, well-being, as in 'Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your law' (Psalm 119:165), which opens שָׁלוֹם רָב (shalom rav, great peace). The vav here is a vowel letter for o. מֶלֶךְ: mem, lamed, final kaph. Read it melekh. It means king, as in Jeremiah 26:1, 'Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah', where the WLC has מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה (melekh yehudah, king of Judah), a word you learned last week.

אֶרֶץ: aleph, resh, final tsade. Read it erets. It means earth, land, country, and it is the last word of the first verse of the Bible, which you will read in Lesson 5. אֱמֶת: aleph, mem, tav. Read it emet. It means truth, faithfulness, reliability, as in 'Your law is true' (Psalm 119:142), where the WLC has וְתוֹרָתְךָ אֱמֶת (vetoratekha emet, and your law is truth). The word for law there is תּוֹרָה (torah) with a suffix: tav, vav, resh, he. Torah means instruction or teaching as well as law, and it is the name Jews give to the five books of Moses.

Now a whole clause, with a lamp in it. Proverbs 6:23 says, 'For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light,' and the WLC reads כִּי נֵר מִצְוָה (ki ner mitsvah, for a commandment is a lamp), וְתוֹרָה אוֹר (vetorah or, and teaching is a light). Take it letter by letter. כִּי: kaph with its dot, yod: ki. נֵר: nun, resh: ner, the word that begins Psalm 119:105. מִצְוָה: mem, tsade, vav, he: mitsvah, commandment, and the vav here is a consonant. וְתוֹרָה: vav, tav, vav, resh, he: vetorah, and teaching. אוֹר: aleph, vav, resh: or, light. The BSB adds 'this' because Proverbs is pointing back to the parents' teaching in the verses before. You have just read a sentence of Solomon's proverbs, the same lamp and light as Psalm 119:105, in the language it was written in.

Three short words to finish, without help: בֶּן (2 Kings 18:26, 'Eliakim son of Hilkiah'), אַף (the first word of Psalm 119:3 in Hebrew), and עַם (Nehemiah 13:24, the word for people). The answers are ben, son, with a final nun; af, also or indeed, with a final pe, which is always f; and am, people, beginning with ayin, which you do not sound. If you read the first as bev or the last as gam, go back to the entries for final nun and for ayin.

Turn back to The consonants page in your notebook and complete it: add the twelve letters of this lesson under the ten from last week, with name, transliteration and sound, so that the page runs from aleph to tav. Then, at the bottom, write the five final forms beside their ordinary forms, and the six begadkephat letters with and without their dots. Add the new look-alikes to your rows: ם and ס, ן and ו, ק and ה, ע and צ, ך and ר. Make flashcards for every new letter and every final form, and for shin and sin separately. You should now have about thirty cards. Go through all of them every day, and set aside the ones you know so well that you never miss them.

Then practise the alphabet in order, aloud, until you can say all twenty-two names without looking: aleph, bet, gimel, dalet, he, vav, zayin, het, tet, yod, kaph, lamed, mem, nun, samekh, ayin, pe, tsade, qof, resh, shin, tav. Use your phone: record yourself saying them, then play the recording back while you write the letters in order, and check each against your page. Many learners find it helps to sing the names to a simple tune.

Now go back to the first verse of your passage, which you copied onto your My passage page last week and in which you circled the letters from aleph to yod. Open it again in Blue Letter Bible or STEP Bible. This time, under every letter, write its English sound: every consonant, with the dots for hard or soft, from right to left across the whole verse. Then count how many letters you could name without looking at your page, and write the number beside last week's. Mark every final form with a small square, every begadkephat letter with a small triangle, and every maqqef with a short line. Then try to sound out the consonants of each word aloud, without vowels, and check yourself against the transliteration the tool gives. You will find the tool's transliteration has vowels you do not yet know how to read. That is next week's lesson.

Finally, take what you wrote in the last inquiry question, the ways you find easy and hard to bring before God. Copy the Hebrew of Psalm 119:168 into your notebook below it, writing slowly, and say the name of every letter as you write it. Then pray the verse: 'all my ways are before You.' Name the hard one to God, in silence. The psalmist kept God's word because he knew he was seen. That is still the best reason to keep it.