Thursday, March 12, 2015

HEBREW CLASS l #27 l "2.7 The Sheva" l John J. Parsons l School of the Bible l VidDevoChurch

Hebrew for Christians
BS''D
2.7  The Sheva
Hebrew Vowels -
Introduction to the Sheva
The sheva is a mark placed under a letter that does not have a vowel. The sheva directly affects how to divide a Hebrew word into syllables.
The Sheva
Notes:
  • The Sheva may be vocal or silent:
    • The vocal sheva (sheva na, or moving sheva) represents the sound of a letter without a vowel. When it opens a syllable it sounds almost as if you were trying to pronounce the letter by itself. Usually we will transliterate a vocal sheva with an "e" (or sometimes with an apostrophe).
    • The silent sheva is used to provide a stop to a syllable. We will not transliterate the silent sheva (sheva nach, or resting sheva) at all.
  • The Hebrew guttural letters cannot take a vocal sheva but use chateph forms instead (the Chateph forms are really a combination of the sheva with one of the other vowel signs). Hebrew gutturals can take a silent Sheva.
  • A sheva at the end of a word is always considered silent.

The Sheva
The Vocal Sheva

There are four cases when the Sheva is vocal:

Vocal Sheva Cases
Note:  When a Sheva is not vocal, it is silent.
Readings
Case 1: At the beginning of a word
Sheva Reading
Case 2: Second of two in a row:
Sheva Reading
Case 3: Under a Dagesh Forte letter:
Sheva Reading
Case 4: When following a long vowel:
Sheva Reading
The Sheva is also vocal when it is the first of two of the same sounding letters, such as in the word "hallelujah" (hal-le-lu-yah).
Exercise 1
Each word below has one or more sheva. For each word, identify the type of sheva (vocal or silent) and provide a transliteration. The first two words are done for you.
Identify the Sheva
Exercise 2
Read the following words aloud until you can do so fluently:
Reading Exercise
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