Cheryl and I have just started learning Hebrew this year at SMBC. To keep things fun we’ve been using a variety of methods. We learned the Hebrew consonants using this song we found online (here’s us singing it):
Then we came to the pointed vowels (they’re similar to pinyin in Chinese, but in dot/dash form). We couldn’t find a memory song that went through all the Hebrew vowels in our Elementary Biblical Hebrew textbook (Athas and Young)… so I played around with the words from Carole Grover’s song and we came up with this:
Sing to the tune of “Arise My Soul Arise.”
LYRICS
A pair of eyes: tsere
A bar below: patakh
A T-shape is qamets
Or called qamets khatuf
Three dots that make a smile: segol
But if three dots swoop down: qibbuts
We’re halfway through the vowel song
–
A dot beneath: khireq
That dot on top: kholem
Inside a waw: shuruq
Two dots below: shewa
One dot and yod makes khireq-yod
Three dots and yod makes segol-yod
Those are the Hebrew vowels in song
Hope it’s useful to other budding Hebrew learners, young and old!
