Lesson 4 - שיור ד

My Name!

י!מש

Now it’s time for some fun as we put what we’ve learnt into practice! The first thing you’re going to do is write your

own name in Hebrew! (Yes, I know you’re excited!)

You have two choices here: 1. Use the alefbet to write the name you already have in Hebrew; or 2. Choose a Hebrew

name for yourself, as is sometimes done by people who decide to learn the language. Whatever your choice, it would

be good to do the first option anyway, if only for practice.

Here are some tips: The “ee” sound would be represented by yud (י), all h rsh ’s nd ’s would be represented by

u ) ק nd ll S’s by s mech (ס) never sin (ש). The exception would be if the harsh 'K' sound is written as 'Ch', then

chaf (כ) would be used. For example: Kristian = קריסטיאן; Christian = כריסטיאן. the irst sound in your n me is not

conson nt in ebrew the n me would st rt with le ). א Names ending in vowel sounds would end with hei (ה

nd lthou h t ) ת m es the s me t’ sound s tet (ט), th’ is represented by ,ת while t’ lw ys is represented by

ט .

Another interesting note is that א is sometimes added to names to clarify that it is the 'a' sound being used in that

location. However, because these are names, these are more guidelines that specific rules.

E.g.:

Anthony אנתוני

Amanda הד נ אמ א\אמנדה

Joy ׳וי ג

Sally ליאס

Shannon שנון

William םאווילי Note: For the n me Joy’ th t second ch r cter is geresh, not a yud. Remember, a geresh makes ג sound li e J’

If you happen to have a name that has its origins in Hebrew, you may want to use the Hebrew form of that name. E.g.

David ידדו

Sarah רה ש

Joel יואל Laila לילה

But, if you want to use the pronunciation that you’ve always used for your name, you can. For example, the Spanish

and Dutch pronunciation of “David” sounds like the Hebrew and so could be written in the standard Hebrew דויד or

With S’s i the n me exists in ebrew e en i the .דיוויד The English way to pronounce it would be written as .דוד

person isn’t Jewish nd they don’t now th t it does it mi ht be th t ש would be the better choice (like in שרה).

This is a fun way to get into the Hebrew language: Someone whose name is Grace may choose the name חנה. Or you

could choose a name that has the same first letter’ as your name. I chose the name קמואל, for example. There are

many sites you can use to find a nice Hebrew name. Here’s one: http://www.learn-hebrew-names.com/

Okay, so you now have your name in Hebrew. And so, we will learn how to introduce ourselves.

?מךמה ש

ך?מ מה ש

There are two ways to s someone’s n me The irst M shme h?’ is used when s in someone em le nd the

second M shim h ?’ is used or m les One be uti ul thin bout not usin ni ud is that it allows it you to write

one thing and it would work either way.

When asked your name, you respond:

י ....... מ ש

Let’s loo t this example:

So, please answer the following question:

מה שמך?

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Excellent work!