Overview

The Hebrew alphabet consists of 22 basic characters. All of them are consonants. This means that, for example, the word yeled (a boy), which you encountered earlier, is written YLD – without any vowels.

In Hebrew, most vowels are incorporated into the words in the form of points and symbols placed below or above the letters, but this vocalization is used only in certain publications. Therefore, to read Hebrew you'll need to recognize whole words according to their context. As you continue with the lessons, you will start to quickly recognize the words and read them correctly. For example, in a sentence such as "I am a boy - ani YLD" you already identify the three letters - YLD - as yeled (and not yalad, for example).