Session 5 — Hebrew Letter Review

BBH 2026.1 · Ch1–3 Review · 20 items · Confusable Pairs Focus

Instructions: For each Hebrew letter shown, identify: (1) Letter Name, (2) Sound. Items are grouped by confusable pairs — study them in contrast.

#	Letter	Name	Sound
1	ה
✓	ה	He	h — guttural; often quiescent at word-end
2	ח
✓	ח	Ḥet	ch as in "Bach" — guttural; stronger throat sound than He
3	ד
✓	ד	Dalet (soft)	d / dh — soft form; no dagesh
4	ר
✓	ר	Resh	r (uvular) — never takes dagesh forte
5	ו
✓	ו	Waw	w — also used as mater lectionis for O and U vowels
6	ז
✓	ז	Zayin	z — one horizontal bar on top; contrast with Waw
7	שׁ
✓	שׁ	Shin	sh as in "ship" — right dot; contrast with Sin
8	שׂ
✓	שׂ	Sin	s as in "sun" — left dot; contrast with Shin
9	ב
✓	ב	Bet (soft)	v as in "vine" — soft form; no dagesh
10	כ
✓	כ	Kaf (soft)	kh as in "Bach" — soft form; no dagesh
11	כּ
✓	כּ	Kaf (hard)	k as in "king" — dagesh lene; hard form
12	ק
✓	ק	Qof	q (uvular k) — never a Begadkephat letter
13	מ
✓	מ	Mem	m — open at bottom
14	ס
✓	ס	Samek	s — fully closed letter; contrast with Mem's open bottom
15	ם
✓	ם	Mem Sofit	m — closed final form; word-final only
16	ן
✓	ן	Nun Sofit	n — descending final form; word-final only
17	ף
✓	ף	Pe Sofit	f — final form of Pe; word-final only
18	ץ
✓	ץ	Tsade Sofit	emphatic ts — final form of Tsade; word-final only
19	ך
✓	ך	Kaf Sofit	kh — final form of Kaf; word-final only
20	א
✓	א	Alef	(silent) — guttural; glottal stop; contrast with Ayin

Reflection Questions

He vs. Ḥet (items 1–2): Both are gutturals. What distinguishes their sounds, and what does "guttural" mean for dagesh forte?
Sofit forms (items 15–19): Five letters have word-final sofit forms. Name all five base letters. Why does the script need separate final forms?
Shin vs. Sin (items 7–8): The dot placement distinguishes these two. Can you find both in the name יִשְׂרָאֵל?