Hebrew is spoken as a daily language in Israel and is used as a religious language by Jews worldwide.

Hebrew is written with a different alphabet than most European languages, and is written from right to left.

Pronunciation guide

The Hebrew alphabet consists entirely of consonants, though some can function as vowels. Vowels are indicated with a system of dots and dashes next to the letters, but these are usually omitted except in Bibles and children's books. It is common for words, especially foreign words, to be spelled in more than one way; the Abu'l`afia Synagogue has five different spellings of its name on its signs.

The accent is usually on the last syllable; most of the exceptions are segolates (words in which segol, the e-sound, was inserted after the accent), such as elef "thousand". Some words have a diphthong "ua" or "ia" which is one syllable but sounds like two, like English "oil". This is called pattach gnubah "stolen a-sound" and occurs in shavua "week", which is accented on the "u".

Five letters (מנצפכ) have a different form at the end of a word (םןץףך, respectively). These are named by adding סופית (so-FEET) "final" to the name of the letter, e.g. נון סופית.

א aleph 

glottal stop or silent ('sometimes used as the letter a when rendering English in Hebrew')

ב beth 

like bear or maven

ג gimel 

like gone

ד daleth 

like dude

ה he 

like harp; silent at the end of a word, unless it has a dot in it

ו vav 

like violin; also or or tune when used as a vowel

ז zayin 

like zany

ח cheth 

voiceless gargle, i.e. like the scotish loch

ט teth 

like tuck

י yod 

like yet; also say or honey when used as a vowel

כ ך kaph 

like keep, or halfway between keep and heap

ל lamedh 

like leave

מ ם mem 

like mother

נ ן nun 

like never

ס samekh 

like some

ע `ayin 

constriction of the throat, but you can just say ', though there are some minimal pairs

פ ף pe 

like upon or loofa

צ ץ tsadi 

like boots

ק qoph 

like coo, but further back in the throat

ר resh 

voiced gargle as in French

ש sin, shin 

like shoot or seem

ת tav 

like teeth; in some dialects sometimes like juice or teeth

Phrase list

Somewhat unusually, Hebrew verbs conjugate according to the gender of the sentence's object: different verb forms must thus be used when speaking to men and women. These have been noted below when appropriate.

Basics

Hello. 

שלום. (shah-LOHM)
The Hebrew greeting, though the English "Hi" is also used.

Bye. 

שלום. (shah-LOHM)
Yes, the greeting is the same for the start and end of conversation. See also "See you later".

See you later. 

להתראות. (leh-hit-rah-'OHT)
The most common farewell greeting, besides the English "Bye".

Good morning. 

בוקר טוב (BOH-ker TOHV)

Good afternoon. 

צהריים טובים (tsoh-hoh-RAH-yeem toh-VEEM)

Good evening. 

ערב טוב (EH-rev TOHV)

Good night. 

לילה טוב (LIGH-lah TOHV)

How are you? (addressing to a man). 

‫מה שלומך?‬ (mah shlom-KHAH)

How are you? (addressing to a woman). 

‫מה שלומך?‬ (mah shloh-MEKH)

How are you? (What's new?). 

‫מה נשמע?‬ (mah nish-MAH)

Thank you. 

תודה (toh-DAH)

Please. 

בבקשה (be-vah-kuh-SHAH)

Excuse me. 

סליחה (slee-KHAH)

I don't understand. (a man). 

אני לא מבין (ahni loh meh-VEEN)

I don't understand. (a woman). 

אני לא מבינה (ahni loh meh-VEENA)

Pronouns

I 

אני (ah-NEE)

You (singular, masc.) 

אתה (ah-TAH)

You (singular, fem.) 

את (aht)

He 

הוא (hoo)

She 

היא (hee)

We 

אנחנו (ah-NAKH-noo)

You (plural, masc.) 

אתם (ah-TEM)

You (plural, fem.) 

אתן (ah-TEN)

They (plural, masc.) 

הם (hem)

They (plural, fem.) 

הן (hen)

Asking Questions

Who? 

‫מי?‬ (mee)

What? 

‫מה?‬ (mah)

Where is ...? 

‫איפה?‬ (ey-FOH)

Where to? 

‫לאן?‬ (leh-AH-n)

Where from? 

‫מאיפה\מאין?‬ (mee-ey-FOH/meh-Ah-een)

When? 

‫מתי?‬ (mah-TIGH)

Why? 

‫למה?‬ (lah-MAH), ‫מדוע?‬ (mah-DOOah)

How much? 

‫כמה?‬ (kah-MAH)

Where are you from? 

When speaking to a male: ‫מאין אתה?‬ (meh-'IGHN ah-TAH)

When speaking to a female: ‫מאין את?‬ (meh-'IGHN aht)

Do you speak English? 

When speaking to a male: ‫אתה מדבר אנגלית?‬ (ah-TAH meh-dah-BEHR ahn-GLEET?)
When speaking to a female: ‫את מדברת אנגלית?‬ (aht meh-dah-BEH-ret ahn-GLEET?)

Numbers (mispaRIM)

0 

אפס (EH-fess)

1 

אחת (ah-KHAT)

2 

שתיים (SHTAH-yeem)

3 

שלש (shah-LOSH)

4 

ארבע (AHR-bah)

5 

חמש (khah-MESH)

6 

שש (shesh)

7 

שבע (SHEH-vah)

8 

שמונה (shmo-NEH)

9 

תשע (TEY-shah)

10 

עשר (EH-sehr)

11 

אחת עשרה (ah-khat es-REH)

12 

שתים עשרה (shtem es-REH)

13 

שלוש עשרה (shlosh es-REH)

14 

ארבע עשרה (ar-bah es-REH)

15 

חמש עשרה (kha-mesh es-REH)

16 

שש עשרה (shesh es-REH)

17 

שבע עשרה (shva es-REH)

18 

שמונה עשרה (shmo-nah es-REH)

19 

תשע עשרה (tshah es-REH)

20 

עשרים (es-REEM)

25 

עשרים וחמש (es-REEM ve-khah-MESH)

30 

שלשים (shlo-SHEEM)

40 

ארבעים (ar-bah-EEM)

50 

חמשים (khah-mee-SHEEM)

60 

ששים (shee-SHEEM)

70 

שבעים (shiv-EEM)

80 

שמונים (shmo-NEEM)

90 

תשעים (tish-EEM)

100 

מאה (MEH-'ah)

200 

מאתיים (m'ah-TAH-yeem)

300 

שלש מאות (sh-LOSH meh-'OHT)

1000 

אלף (EH-lef)

1% 

אחוז (ah-KHOOZ ah-KHAD)

5% 

חמישה אחוזים (kha-misha ah-KHOOZIM)

100% 

מאה אחוז (MEH-'ah ah-KHOOZ)

Half 

חצי (KHE-tsee)

Quarter 

רבע (REH-vah)

More 

יותר (yoh-TEHR)

Less 

פחות (pah-KHOHT)

Time

Today 

היום (hah-YOHM)

Yesterday 

אתמול (et-MOHL)

Tomorrow 

מחר (mah-KHAHR)

The day before yesterday 

שלשום (shil-SHOHM)

The day after tomorrow 

מחרתיים (makh-rah-TAH-yeem)

Days of the week

Except for Shabbat, these are ordinal numbers. But both these and the names of the first 6 letters in the Hebrew Alfa-Beit are used.

Sunday 

יום ראשון (yohm ree-SHOHN)

Monday 

יום שני (yohm shey-NEE)

Tuesday 

יום שלישי (yohm shlee-SHEE)

Wednesday 

יום רביעי (yohm rvee-EE)

Thursday 

יום חמישי (yohm khah-mee-SHEE)

Friday 

יום ששי (yohm shee-SHEE)

Saturday 

שבת (shah-BAHT)

Months

In everyday life, most Israelis use the Gregorian Calendar. The month names pronunciation resembles Central-European (e.g. German) pronunciation.

January 

ינואר ("Yah-no-ar")

February 

פברואר ("Feb-ruh-ar")

March 

מרץ ("Meh-rtz")

April 

אפריל ("Ah-pril")

May 

מאי ("Mah-y")

June 

יוני ("Yuh-nee")

July 

יולי ("Yuh-lee")

August 

אוגוסט ("O-guh-st")

September 

ספטמבר ("September")

October 

אוקטובר ("October")

November 

נובמבר ("November")

December 

דצמבר ("Deh-tsember")

For holidays and events, Israeli Jews and Jews worldwide use a lunisolar calendar, in which the month begins at the new moon and a thirteenth month is added every few years. The months are numbered starting from Nisan or Aviv (March-April), but the year number is incremented in Tishrei; thus Elul 5760 is followed by Tishrei 5761. Besides meaning "spring" and "Nisan", "Aviv" is also the name of a stage that the growth of barley reaches at that time.

Nisan 

ניסן (nee-SAHN)

Iyar 

אייר (ee-YAHR)

Sivan 

סיון (see-VAHN)

Tammuz 

תמוז (tah-MOOZ)

Av 

אב (ahv)

Elul 

אלול (eh-LOOL)

Tishrei 

תשרי (TISH-rey)

Cheshvan 

חשון (khesh-VAN)

Kislev 

כסלו (KISS-lev)

Tevet 

טבת (tey-VET)

Shevat 

שבט (shuh-VAT)

Adar 

אדר (ah-DAR)

Second Adar (the leap month) 

אדר שני (ah-DAR shey-NEE)

Duration

Day 

יום (yom)

Week 

שבוע (shah-VOOah)

Month 

חודש (KHO-desh)

Year 

שנה (shah-NAH)

Hour 

שעה (shah-AH)

Minute 

דקה (dah-KAH)

Second 

שניה (shnee-YAH)

Time 

זמן (zmahn)

Seasons

Spring 

אביב (ah-VEEV)

Summer 

קיץ (KAH-yits)

Autumn 

סתיו (stahv)

Winter 

חורף (KHO-ref)

What time is it? 

מה השעה? (mah hah-shah-AH?)

Colors (tzva-`IM)

black 

שחור (sha-KHOR)

white 

לבן (la-VAN)

gray 

אפור (a-FOR)

red 

אדום (a-DOM)

blue 

כחול (ka-KHOL)

yellow 

צהוב (tza-HOV)

green 

ירוק (ya-ROK)

orange 

כתום (ka-TOM)

purple 

סגול (sa-GOL)

brown 

חום (khum)

Transportation

Bus and train

How much is a ticket to _____? 

כמה עולה כרטיס ל (KA-ma `oLE karTIS le___?)

One ticket to _____, please. 

כרטיס אחד ל___, בבקשה (karTIS eKHAD le___, bevakaSHA)

Where does this train/bus go? 

לאן הרכבת הזאת נוסעת?/לאן האוטובוס הזה נוסע (leAN haraKEvet haZOT noSA`at?/leAN haOtobus haZE noSEa?)

Where is the train/bus to _____? 

איפה הרכבת ל___?/איפה האוטובוס ל (EIfo haraKEvet le___?/EIfo haOtobus le___?)

Does this train/bus stop in _____? 

הרכבת הזאת עוצרת ב___?/האוטובוס הזה עוצר ב(haraKEvet haZOT oTZEret be___?/haOtobus haZE oTZER be___?)

When does the train/bus for _____ leave? 

מתי יוצאת הרכבת ל___?/מתי יוצא האוטובוס ל (maTAI yoTZET haraKEvet le___?/maTAI yoTZE haOtobus le___?)

When will this train/bus arrive in _____? 

מתי הרכבת הזאת מגיעה ל___?/מתי האוטובוס הזה מגיע ל (maTAI haraKEvet haZOT magi`A le___?/maTAI haOtobus haZE magi`A le___?)

Directions

How do I get to _____ ? 

איך אני מגיע/ה ל (eikh aNI maGI`a/magi`A(f) le___?)

...the train station? 

תחנת הרכבת (takhaNAT haraKEvet)

...the bus station? 

תחנת האוטובוס (takhaNAT haOtobus)

...the airport? 

שדה התעופה (sde hateuFA)

...downtown? 

מרכז העיר (merKAZ ha`IR)

...the youth hostel? 

אכסניית נוער (akhsaniYAT NO`ar)

...the _____ hotel? 

מלון (maLON ___?)

...the Chinese/Indian/Russian/Polish consulate? 

קונסוליה ה סינית/הודית/רוסית/פולנית (conSULia ha SInit/HOdit/ruSIT/polaNIT?)

Where are there a lot of... 

איפה יש הרבה (EIfo yesh harBE...)

...hotels? 

מלונות (meloNOT)

...restaurants? 

מסעדות (mis`aDOT)

...bars? 

ברים (BArim)

...things to see? 

דברים לראות (dvaRIM lirOT)

Can you show me on the map? 

אתה יכול להראות לי במפה (aTA yaKHOL leharOT li bamaPA)

street 

רחוב(reKHOV)

Go left. 

לך שמאלה (lekh SMOla)

GO right. 

לך ימינה (lekh yaMIna)

left 

שמאל(smol)

right 

ימין (yaMIN)

straight ahead 

ישר (yaSHAR)

towards the _____ 

לכיוון (lekiVUN)

past the _____ 

אחרי (akhaREY)

before the _____ 

לפני (lifNEY)

Watch for the _____. 

חפש את ה (khaPES et ha___)

intersection 

צומת (TZOmet)

north 

צפון (tzaFON)

south 

דרום (daROM)

east 

מזרח (mizRAKH)

west 

מערב (ma`aRAV)

uphill 

למעלה(leMA`la)

downhill 

למטה (leMAta)

Taxi

Taxi! 

מונית (moNIT!)

Take me to _____, please. 

קח אותי ל____, בבקשה (kakh oTI le___, bevakaSHA)

How much does it cost to get to _____? 

כמה זה עולה עד ל (KAma ze `oLE `ad le___)

Take me there, please. 

קח אותי לשם בבקשה (kakh oTI leSHAM, bevakaSHA)