Shalom. For those who want to know the historical basis for the ancient pronunciations of the letters, this article is for you. If you are only interested in learning how to pronounce the letters according to the modern pronunciation, you may want to skip to the next article.
א Alef אָלֶף
The א is silent and only takes the vowel that is attached to it, either under it or to the upper left of it. Or if there is a ו after the א that looks like this אוֹ, this makes the o as in go sound. If it has a ו that looks like this it makes the אוּoo as in too. Sound. We will not be exploring all the vowels in this article. The place of articulation (the bottom of the throat) is the same for the aleph in modern and ancient times, but the sound of the vowels are a bit different. We will be discussing the vowels in a subsequent article.
בּBeth בֵּית
The Beth is the first letter that has two distinct pronunciations. It is pronounced as a V when it has no dot. And when it does it looks like this בּ and is pronounced like a B. This dot is called a dagesh.
In modern Hebrew this letter is often pronounced like “beit” and “bet” or even “beis” among Ashkenazi Jews. In ancient times, and still today among Hebrew speakers who preserve the ancient pronunciation, it is pronounced “beth”. The י is never pronounced when in the middle of a word with no vowel attached to it, and the ת without a dagesh makes the Th as in “thistle” sound.
When this letter has no dagesh (dot) , it is called רפויה בֵּית Beth Refuya. Refuya means “weak” or “relaxed.” We will see that all the letters that are “refuya” are really less forceful versions of the letter with a dagesh. In modern grammatical terms, the refuya letters are friccatives, and the dageshed letters are stops. The only exception to this is the Rר) ).
The Beth is a letter that has a difference in pronunciation in different Jewish communities. Many Sephardi Jews have the custom to pronounce this letter always as a B, regardless of whether there is a dot or not. So while most Hebrew speakers say “Avraham,” the Sephardim say “Abraham”. How are we to know whether the correct sound of the ב is B or V?
In the Septuagint this letter is a beta regardless of whether or not there is a dot, so we have names like “Jacob” and “Reuben,” even though these names have בs and notבּ s. This argument looking at the Septuagint for the proper pronunciation of the בalways making the B sound is actually given by Simeon ben Zemah Duran, a respected 14-15th century commentator known by Jews as the Rashbatz (מגן אבות ח"ג דף נד). This would, at first glance, seem to lend validity to the Sephardic pronunciation of pronouncing the letter as a B, and so would the fact that in Arabic the letter is always a B. But further research will show that the letter indeed was pronounced as a V when it does not have a dagesh. Greek did not have one letter for B and one letter for V, so they would have been unable to distinguish between these two sounds unless they made a new letter, which they did not do. Though some Greek speakers have pronounced the Beta as a V, at the time of the translation of the Septuagint, the letter was pronounced as a B. The Latin Vulgate also has a B for the ב regardless of whether there is a dagesh. While Latin does have the letter V, the classical pronunciation of this letter is a W sound, and there was no V as in “victory” in classical Latin. So one cannot make an argument from Greek or Latin that B is the correct sound for the beth refuya.
According to The Book of Formation (סֵפֶר יְצִירָה) there are seven Hebrew letters that are “doubled.” Saadia Gaon explained that this means that they have two separate pronunciations. These letters are בגדכפרת. It is not only this one text that writes this, but multiple Jewish grammarians (rishonim). Also the Hidyat al-Qari (a Karaite text on proper Hebrew pronunciation) agrees that these seven letters have two distinct pronunciations. The Karaites were (and still are) opposed to the Orthodox Jewish tradition, but on this they agree with the tradition.
Dunash ibn Tamim, a tenth century commentator who was fluent in Hebrew and Arabic, wrote a commentary on The Book of Formation ((סֵפֶר יְצִירָה which debunks this previous argument. He wrote that when you the add the seven doubled forms to the twenty-two letters, you have a total of twenty-nine letters, and that none of the letters are like the other. This also implies thatב and בּdo not make the same sound, for if they are both pronounced B, then they really do make the same sound. But the crystal clear proof that ב makes the V sound is this: Dunash ibn Tamim wrote in his aforementioned commentary that Arabic has three letters that Hebrew does not have, and Hebrew has three letters that Arabic does not have. The letters that Arabic has that Hebrew does not have are: Jim (J), Thaa (and intensified Th sound) and Dad (and intensified D sound). The three letters that Hebrew has that Arabic does not have are these: בגּפּ (V, G, P). Arabic does indeed have the B sound, but it does not have the V sound. If בmade the B sound, Dunash ibn Tamim would not have written this. This is a clear proof that בthe does indeed make the V sound. Also Saadiya Gaon in his commentary to The Book of Formation wrote that in his day, the Jews, both men and women still made a difference in pronunciation between the Beth with a dagesh and without a dagesh.
This is important to know because later rabbinic commentators have considered the Sephardic pronunciation to be the correct pronunciation, such as Simeon ben Zemah Duran, Yoseph Ometz, Chaim of Volozhin (the Vilna Gaon) and others. Even Ashkenazi teachers such as Baruch Epstein, Isser Yehuda Unterman and others have considered the Sephardic pronunciation to be correct. But these commentators contradict the earlier teachings. Perhaps they did not have these texts. All of the early commentators (rishonim) wrote that the בגדכפתletters indeed have two distinct sounds.
ג Gimel גִּימֶל
According to the modern pronunciation, the ג makes the hard G (as in “goat”) regardless of whether there is a dot in it or not.
The ancient pronunciation of גּ is indeed was this hard G sound, but the ancient pronunciation of גwithout a dot was not so. The true sound has been preserved by the Sefardim and the Jews of the middle east. The Ashkenazim had this sound too until around four hundred years ago. The Sefardim of Israel have mostly lost this sound due to the Ashkenazi influence on the language.
The true sound of the ג is like the French R, but don’t get confused thinking it is an R. To pronounce the ג without the dagesh, simply pronounce a soft g. It may sound like you are gurgling. It is a g sound that you can prolong. This is the sound that most Israelis now make for the letter ר. Keep in mind that such a pronunciation will seem archaic or even foreign to native speakers of modern Hebrew. The one hearing you will likely think you are pronouncing the letter ר. Usually people do not make any difference in pronunciation between the ג with a dagesh and without a dagesh, they always pronounce it as a hard G.
Saadia Gaon, commenting on The Book of Formation ((סֵפֶר יְצִירָה , wrote that the two forms of the בגדכפתletters were still being used in conversation by Jews. He cited an example of a woman who was calling for her son Gad ((גָּד. She called out, "גָּד גָּד", and when he did not respond she said " יָא גָד" meaning “Hey, Gad!”
The first time she said his name she said it with a dot in it, and the second time it does not have a dot, because a word following the letters אהוי will not start with a letter with a dot (except in certain cases, discussed in a subsequent article). This is proof that the ג had two sounds, or else Saadia would not have cited this as an example. He’s making the point that there is a clear distinction between the pronunciation of גָּד and גָד.
In all the books that were translated from Arabic, when the writer wished to represent the Arabic letter “gayn,” a ג without a dot is used. This gurgly French R sound is the same sound of this letter in Arabic. There is no hard G in Arabic. Simeon ben Zemah Duran (Rashbatz) in his book Magen Avoth wrote that the gimel refuya (that is, the gimel without the dot) is indeed the same sound as the Arabic gayn.
The Yemenites have a practice of pronouncing the גּ with the dot like the letter “jim” of Arabic. This letter is like the letter J (but perhaps more accurately: dj, like djim). That the Yemenites pronounce the letter differently with and without the dot supports the idea that the ג indeed had two pronunciations in ancient times. Whereas the Yemenites are often more accurate in their pronunciation of ancient Hebrew sounds, this is an example where they are not, and there are a number of ways to verify this. For one, it goes against the general pattern of every other בגדכפת letter, all of which go from a hard sound to a soft sound from the same part of the mouth/throat. P and F are at the same place in the mouth. The B and V are both similar. A J and a G are not similar. Also, nowhere do we find the ג being transliterated from Greek to Hebrew as J, always a g. Since Greek has no distinction between a soft G and a hard G, both forms of the letter became a gamma (and in the Latin vulgate it is always a G).
Dunash ibn Tamim in his commentary to The Book of Formation ((סֵפֶר יְצִירָה wrote clearly that Arabic had three letters that Hebrew did not have. One of these is the letter “jim” which is the J sound. The גּ therefore cannot be the J sound. And the dageshed form can be nothing other than a G, for it is listed as a letter that Arabic does not have. Arabic does have the sound of the ג without a dagesh, but not the hard G of the dageshed form.
In The Book of Formation ((סֵפֶר יְצִירָה, Zohar, the book of purity, and all the earlier Jewish linguists agree that the letters גיכק comes from the חך (palate), which means they are a bit further forward in the mouth than the guttural letters, but not at the front of the mouth. We would then expect the ג with and without the dot to come from the exact same place in the mouth, and in the ancient pronunciation it does. However, the Yemenites picked up this pronounciation of the “jim” from being surrounded by Arabic speakers. While being surrounded by Arabic speakers usually had a preserving effect on the Hebrew language, in this instance it did not.
Shmuel Arukh Levi Vitali (שמואל ארקיוולטי 1530-1611) wrote that all the letters of Hebrew are pure sounds, meaning that there is no letter that is two sounds combined like “ts” or “ch.” The way that the Yemenites pronounce it is as if one is pronouncing D and J. And remember, Dunash ibn Tamim said that the Jim was one letter that Arabic had that Hebrew did not have. We can be confident that this letter does not make the J sound.
Advanced information (beginners can skip this): There’s another issue with the Yemenite pronunciation. A dagesh hazaq occurs when you have a dageshed letter after a vowel, and it makes it so that two letters are squished into one, and it affects the pronunciation of the letter in that it extends the sound as if you are pronouncing two letters. But one cannot do that easily with the DJ sound. Try pronouncing Adjdj. The Yemenites, who preserve do pronounce the dagesh hazaq accurately with other letters, do not pronounce it with this letter. It does not make sense that this letter would be different than all the other letters in that its two forms comes from two parts of the mouth, and one is not able to pronounce a dagesh hazaq with it. Rather, according to logic, and Hebrew is a very logical language, the two sounds of the gimel are: G for גּ and the gurgly G for ג. And there is much support for this.
ד Daleth דָּלֶת
The ד is pronounced D with a dagesh. Without a dagesh it is pronounced "Th" as in "This, Then and Thine, The." Be careful not to mix this sound up with "Th" as in "Thistle" and "Thick." That sound is the Taw without a dagesh.
It is written in the Talmud:
תַּנְיָא סוֹמְכוֹס אוֹמֵר: כָּל הַמַּאֲרִיךְ בְּ"אֶחָד", מַאֲרִיכִין לוֹ יָמָיו וּשְׁנוֹתָיו. אָמַר רַב אַחָא בַּר יַעֲקֹב: וּבַדָּלֵית. אָמַר רַב אָשֵׁי: וּבִלְבַד שֶׁלֹּא יַחֲטוֹף בַּחֵית.
Somchos taught, saying: Whoever lengthens “ehad” lengthens his days and years for himself. Rav Aha son of Ya’aqov said, “And in the ד.” Rav Ashe said, “And as long as he does not rush over the ח.”
So here in the Talmud it is taught by Aha son of Ya’aqov that one should lengthen the sound of the ד. But if the ד were pronounced like D, how does one lengthen it? The D is a stop, and any stop is difficult to lengthen. But since the ד without a dot is actually Th as in “the” it is very easy to lengthen it. One can easily lengthen this sound as long as one has breath. But when one tries to lengthen the D sound like that, it ends up sounding like a difficult to pronounce sputtering dddd.
By losing the true sound of this letter, it causes people to mispronounce in more than one way. For instance, the word for “You stole” is שָדַדְתָּ
When pronouncing it in ancient Hebrew, it sounds like “Shathathta.” It is easy to go from the second to the last letter to the final letter while keeping the shwa silent, for it is indeed a silent shwa. But with the modern pronunciation of this letter being a D, the speaker naturally will pronounce the shwa as a vocal shwa and say “Shadadeta”. So the speaker makes two mispronunciations in the same milisecond (and a third mispronunciation if they pronounce the final A with an open mouth, rather than with rounded lips).
The ד is not a morpheme letter in Hebrew, but it is a prefix in Aramaic meaning “of” and can also indicate possession. For instance in the Kaddish (or Qaddish) prayer, it is written:
יִתְבָּרַךְ וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח וְיִתְפָּאַר וְיִתְרוֹמַם וְיִתְנַשֵּׂא וְיִתְהַדָּר וְיִתְעַלֶּה וְיִתְהַלָּל שְׁמֵהּ דְקוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא
May blessed, and praised, and glorified, and exalted, and uplifted, and honored, and elevated, and extolled be the name of the Holy One Blessed be He.
ה He הֵא
The ה is a sound that is universally known among Jews to be the H sound. There are no Jewish communites who mispronounce this letter. Where there is a bit of confusion that can easily be cleared up is in regards when a ה is silent. A ה is only silent when there is no vowel attached to it. For instance in the name Sarah there is a ה at the end, but one need not try to make the H sound, as it is silent. The הcan be a prefix or a suffix letter.
Sometimes aה at the end of the word has a dot in it and looks like this הּ. This is called a mappiq (not a dagesh). When a final ה has no dot, it is silent. Most often the mappiq indicates feminine possession and it is attached to a noun meaning “Her ___.” For instance, the name שָׂרָה (meaning princess) is pronounced Sara (with both a’s sounding like the a in “father”). The word שָׂר (sar) means “prince.” So שָׂרָהּ means “her prince” and is pronounced “sarah,” making sure to pronounce the h at the end. The mappiq is an indicator that the 1. the ה is vocalized. 2. the ה is to be pronounced as if it has a silent shwa under it. The name Sarah is written without a mappiq (שָׂרָה), is pronounced Sara. The word שָׂרָהּ sarah, meaning "her prince" is vocalized sarah. Make sure to pronounce the ה at the end.
There are other words that have the mappiq at the end that are not possessive, like the name of God אֱלוֹהָּ. It is pronounced Eloah, pronouncing the h, and not just saying Eloa. Also take note that one does not say “Eloha.” This is an example of a “stolen patah.” Another word with a mappiq at the end is אֲהָהּ(Jeremiah 4:10). This word is an emotional response word, often translated “Ah.”
One modern error in the speech of some Hebrew speakers is to treat other הs as silent. So they pronounce: הִנֵה (behold) as eenay, as if it had an א at the beginning. This is incorrect.
וWaw וָיו
If one were to have someone who spoke neither Hebrew nor Arabic listen to these two languages and ask in what way they sound different, one of the first sounds they might recognize is that Arabic often has the W sound and Hebrew does not. But the truth is, ancient Hebrew does have a W sound and it is extremely common, just like in Arabic, but it has been excised from the language. In modern Hebrew, there are three sounds that the ו makes:
וּ= oo as in “Loop”
וֹ= o as in “Go”
ו(with whatever other vowel, or without a vowel at the end of a word) = V
The first two sounds are accurate to the ancient pronunciation, but the third is not. The actual sound of the letter is W.
Before building a historical case for this sound, it actually makes more sense logically that it would be the W sound. Why? For two reasons. 1. The V sound has already been used for ב
The W sound is similar too OO and O in that the lips are in a similar position. To make the V sound one must put one’s upper teeth to the lower lip. This is quite a difference in sound and the lips are in different positions. All the other letters which make more than one sound have their sounds being very similar, coming from the same part of the mouth. Wouldn’t it make sense that it would be the same with the ו?
This same sort of thing happened in Latin In ancient times the V sound was actually a W, so when Julius Caesar said "Veni vidi vici" it would have probably sounded more like "Waynee weedee weekee."
This also happened in ancient Greek. There was no V in ancient Greek. Though in modern times the sound does appear, like when one says auto (him). Modern Greek speakers pronounce this “avto,” but this is not the ancient pronunciation. In the Septuagint, the ו is either u or o in Greek. This clearly indicates that the letter was not pronounced as a V.
Remember: Dunash ibn Tamim wrote that Arabic adds three letters that Hebrew does not have and that Hebrew has three letters that Arabic does not have. The three letters Hebrew has that Arabic does not have: בגּפּ
Since the בmakes the V sound, then if the ו made the V sound too, he would have included it in the list. Of the three Arabic sounds that he mentions that Hebrew doesn’t have, the W is not one of them. Arabic also has a letter called “waw.” If the Hebrew ו made the V sound, then he would have written that that Hebrew does not have the waw of Arabic. This is crystal clear proof that the וmakes the W sound.
Ibn Ezra in his Torah commentary on Exodus 3:15 wrote that is a connecting letter (when put before a word it means “and”), and to make the sound one connects ones lips. Here’s the quote:
ובעבור היות הוי"ו מוצאו מהתחברות השפתים. על כן שמוהו בראשונה לדבק זה עם זה אברהם ויצחק.
And since the ו is produced by the connecting of the lips, therefore it is placed at the beginning to adhere this to this: Abraham and Isaac.
To make the V sound one does not connect one’s lips, but one puts their upper teeth on one’s lower lips. The lips are not connected. The ו is therefore certainly a W sound. However, it possible to make two types of W sounds. One can make a W where the lips are unconnected, and another type of W where the lips do connect fully. It seems, according to ibn Ezra, that the latter is the correct way to make the ו sound, since he says that they do connect. This actually makes sense how the sound could have been confused for a V, because it sounds more like a V than making the W sound with unconnected lips. But do we have two witnesses that it indeed is the W with connected lips?
We do. Judah ben David Hayyuj, a famous grammarian who died in the year 1000, wrote that sound of the ו is created with the kiss of the lips. This certainly shows that the sound was W, for who has ever heard of anyone putting their lips in the V position for a kiss?
זZayin זַיִּן
The ז makes the Z sound. There have been some who have mispronounced this letter, saying it quietly like the French J, but this is this letter should be pronounced strongly. It is a strong letter. Even the word strength has this letter in it. עֹז
חHeth חֵית
Many have mistakenly thought that the ח makes the same sound as the kaf without the dagesh, but there is a distinction. The chet, with an appearance similar to the heh, is a guttural H sound. It's a slight difference as to where the guttural is coming from. The chet is a deeper almost raspy, throat-clearing sound
ח is pronounced by many Israelis exactly like כ but the sound is different. The ח comes from a place further back and is a guttural. The כ comes from the same place as the K sound is made. Think of the כ like a K that you can extend the sound of. The ח almost sounds like someone clearing their throat. This is like the Arabic letter ح.
According to the The Book of Formation ((סֵפֶר יְצִירָה, the ח is a guttural letter. The guttural letters according to the classical grammarians are: אהחע
These letters are listed in rabbinic writings as an acronym אחהע
Note that they are not given in alphabetical order. The reason they gave this acronym in this way is that it is very difficult to pronounce an ע after a ח, and in Hebrew an ע never comes after a ח. There is one exception this rule, and that is a name given in the book of First Chronicles 2:34-35.
וּבְנֵ֥י יֽוֹנָתָ֖ן פֶּ֣לֶת וְזָזָ֑א אֵ֥לֶּה הָי֖וּ בְּנֵֽי־יְרַחְמְאֵֽל: לד וְלֹֽא־הָיָ֧ה לְשֵׁשָׁ֛ן בָּנִ֖ים כִּ֣י אִם־בָּנ֑וֹת וּלְשֵׁשָׁ֛ן עֶ֥בֶד מִצְרִ֖י וּשְׁמ֥וֹ יַרְחָֽע: לה וַיִּתֵּ֨ן שֵׁשָׁ֧ן אֶת־בִּתּ֛וֹ לְיַרְחָ֥ע עַבְדּ֖וֹ לְאִשָּׁ֑ה וַתֵּ֥לֶד ל֖וֹ אֶת־עַתָּֽי:
And Sheshan did not have sons, only daughters, and Sheshan had an Egyptian servant and his name was Yarha. And Seshan gave his daughter to Yarha his servant as a wife and she birthed to him Attai.
This is an Egyptian name, so the rule still stands.
טTeth טֵית
In Modern Hebrew the ט and the תboth make the same T sound. This is not the case in ancient Hebrew. The Teth is a stressed, more forceful, stronger T sound, almost as if you were saying two Ts at once with extra emphasis in the back of the throat. It is made by pressing the tongue to the roof of the mouth directly behind the teeth. It sounds similar to a T and a D, but it is neither letter. This letter in its classical sense originates from the same proto-Semitic letter that the letter Arabic letter Ta ط came from.
The teth is a pharyngealized T. To make the sound, one constricts the pharynx, making a heavier sound than the Tav (ת), which is not produced by pharyngealization. The Teth in its ancient form sounds as if it has an ayin embedded in it.
It's okay if you make a bit of a popping sound with your tongue when you make this sound. It is made by putting the tongue on the roof of the mouth directly behind the teeth and pressing more forcefully than the letter T.
The first time the teth appears in the book of Genesis, in the word טוֹב, when it is written that the light was good.
יYod hיוֹד
The י corresponds to our letter Y. Like the letter Y, it can be a vowel or a consonant. It is most often a consonant. It is a vowel coming after a hirik (אִ) and makes the “ee” sound.
For instance it is a consonant word in the word יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם (Jerusalem). That’s because it makes the Y sound.
But it is a vowel in the following word: בִּירוּשָׁלִָֽם(meaning: in Jerusalem. See Ecclesiastes 1:1, for instance). It makes the “ee” as in “feet” sound. Therefore this word is pronounced “Beerooshalayim.” It is not, as some people pronounce it, “Biyerushalayim.”
כ Kaf כָּף
The כ makes two sounds. With a dot like this כּ it makes the K sound. Without a dot it makes the ch as in “Johann Sebastian Bach.” The sound comes from further forward than the ח. The כ comes from the same place of the mouth where the K sound comes from. It is basically a K sound that can be lenghtened.
If the last letter of a word ends with a כ it looks like this ך. Sometimes, though rarely, a word ends with a hard K sound and it looks like this ךּ. This occurs in the priestly blessing.
יָאֵ֨ר יהוה ׀ פָּנָ֛יו אֵלֶ֖יךָ וִֽיחֻנֶּֽךָּ
May the LORD shine His face to you and be gracious to you.
Numbers 6:25
The last word ends with a “ka” sound.
Advanced info: This hard final K occurs with roots that end with a Dagesh Hazaq. A dagesh hazaq is when two letters are merged into one. In this case, the root of the final word in this verse is חנן, but the final dropsנ out and is absorbed into the כ, so it makes a hard sound.
ל Lamed לָמֵד
The ל corresponds to the letter L, both in modern and ancient Hebrew.
מ Mem מֵם
The Mem makes the M sound. When it comes at the end of a word it looks like this ם. There is one exception in the Masoretic text and that is in Isaiah 9:6, which starts with the word: לְםַרְבֵּ֨ה with a final mem not at the end of the word, but as the second letter. This reading, however is not backed up the Dead Sea Scrolls.
נ Nun נוּן
The letterנ makes the N sound. The final form looks like this: ן.
ס Samech סָמֵך
The ס makes the S sound.
ע Ayin עַיִן
Most speakers of Hebrew today pronounce the א and the ע identically. This is not how it was pronounced in Ancient Hebrew. The א was indeed pronounced silently, in that it only makes the sound of the vowel. The ע is not a sound we have in English, but it is in Arabic (called ayn). It is a guttural, growling sort of sound in the back of the throat. It is similar to the א in that it takes the vowel that is attached to it, but it is more pronounced, emphasized in the back of the throat. The word for the Hebrew language starts with ע:
עִברית It is pronounced Ivrith, but when you pronounce that first I you should feel a sort of rumble in the middle of the back of your throat. One constricts the pharynx, therefore it is pharyngeal.
Take care not to mix up the ע and the א, as it can totally alter the meaning of the word. For instance
וְאַתָּה= “And you. . .” (cf. Exodus 7:20)
וְעַתָּה= “And now. . .” (cf. Deuteronomy 10:12)
רָעָה= wickedness
רָאָה = he saw
There are many more examples of this.
In the Vulgate, Jerome wrote the word Messiah as “Messiam”. (see John 1:41) The m at the end in latin indicates nasalization. This is not a consonant and is not pronounced like our M, but actually similar to an ע. Jerome (who lived in Israel) therefore shows that the ע was pronounced in his day. And in the Septuagint it was sometimes translated as a G. This is why have the word Gomorrah, which is spelled עֲמֹרָ֖ה. And עַזָּ֑ה became “Gaza”. Also the place name Beth Peor ((בֵּית פְּעֹור in the Septuagint is spelled as if it were Beth Pogor. This clearly indicates that the translators of the Septuagint knew the sound of the ע, but they did not have this letter so they put the G, since the comes from a place in the throat that is close to the G. Something similar happened in Yiddish. The name for Jacob (יַעֲקֹב)in Yiddish is Yankif. The “n” in this name is a sort of fossilized ע, and shows that the Ashkenazi Jews one day even knew how to pronounce the ע, though it was lost to them.
The Ayin comes from a higher point of articulation than the alef. The alef is from the bottom of the throat, and the ayin is from the middle of the throat.
פPeh פֵּא
The פ is one of the eltters which has two forms. Without a dot it makes the F sound. With a dot (פּ) it makes the P sound.
There have been some Jews who have had the custom to pronounce this letter like a B, like the בּ. So for the word פֶּסַחthey would pronounce as בֶּסַח
This comes to them from having been surrounded by Arabic speakers, as Arabic has no P sound, and to them the sound was lost. The P sound, however, was preserved among almost all Jewish communities. Like other letters that have been mixed up, this can have some drastic confusions. For instance, the word פֶּן which means “lest”, according to this pronunciation sounds just like בֶּן which means “son”.It is well established that all the letters of בגדכפרת have two sounds, and each of the letters come from the same place in the mouth. Just as the V and B are similar letters, and the D and Th (as in the) are similar, so too the P and the F are similar. One can easily make this sound fffpfffpfffp, but it is a bit awkward and requires extra lip exertion to make this sound fffbfffbfffb.
צ Sadi צָדִי
The צ is another letter that does not appear in any English word but is in Arabic. The modern pronunciation of this word is ts as in "bats", but there are a number of proofs that show that this is not the historical pronuncation of this word. The sound of this letter was actually changed in 1913 at a committee in Israel called ועד הלשון העברית (Committee of the Hebrew language). The members of the commitee were more concerned with making it how they wanted it to sound, like the German Z, than historical accuracy.
The Arabic letter is called Sad. There are a number of documents that were written, especially around the tenth century, where Arabic was written in Hebrew. Whenever the letter Sad is used, the צ is the letter that is transliterated. The Arabic Sad is an intensified guttural S sound. If the צ were actually a "ts" sound, it really wouldn`t make that much sense that they would use the צ to represent it. It would make more sense that they would use a ס, because the Arabic Sad is closer to a ס than a ts sound.
Furthermore Shmuel Arkiwalti wrote that Hebrew has no combination sounds like what is found in Greek. For instance, Greek has the letter xi which is the ks combination, and the psi which is the ps combo. So we should not expect to find in Hebrew combination sounds like "ch" or "dj" (like the Arabic "jim") or "x" (which comes from Latin and is really the same sound as ks). The Ts sound is really a combination of t and s, so we see it cannot be the original sound. If it was, we would expect one early Hebrew grammarian mention that the צ was an exceptional letter, different than the rest in that it was a combination letter, but there is no such source to be found.
The ancient pronunciation of the צ is an intensified, pharyngeal S. It almost sounds as if the צ has an ע embedded into it, like the teth. It is a heavier S.
It is known within the early Jewish grammar texts (such as The Book of Formation and Ibn Ezra`s Book of Purity) that the following letters are produced from the teeth: צרסשז. If the letter was actually pronounced ts, they would have not listed it with these letters, but they would have instead grouped it with the letters which come from the tongue: דטלנת.
Remember Dunash ibn Tamim, a contemporary of Saadia Gaon, wrote in his commentary to the Book of Formation (page 22), that Hebrew had three letters that Arabic does not have and Arabic has three letters that Hebrew does not have. He does not mention the צ as one of these letters, nor does he mention the Arabic sad. The implication is that these two letters were pronounced exactly the same, for there is no Arabic “ts” letter, and there is an Arabic Sad.
Now to talk about food, and one of my favorite foods: hummus. Hamsa is the Arabic word for chickpeas (green peas are called biazila`i). This S in this word word is the letter Sad, and it is where the word hummus comes from. The Arabic spelling of Hummus is also with the letter Sad, the equivalent of the צ. I've never heard anyone say hummuts, except for me just now! This is further roof that the צ was not ts, but was an S sound.
The Jewish commentator known as the Tur (citing his father) wrote of something called חימצא which he wrote are peas in Arabic. This comment appears in a discussion on the Jewish laws of worms and how they affect something from being kosher. Anyone who has tried to make soak chickpeas and has forgotten to wash them can attest to how quickly they can spoil and even become wormy. There is another mention of this food in Aramaic in the Babylonian Talmud (Yevamoth page 63A). Rav would ask his wife for lentils, she would make him him חימצא (chickpeas). If he asked for חימצא, she would make him lentils. Rashi made a comment on this passage that חימצא is a type of legume. Note that he did note write that they are אֲפוּנִים (peas), which implies that they are in fact different than green peas. So we see by the time of the writing of the Talmud, a similar word for chickpeas was in both Arabic and Aramaic and was known in Hebrew, and it was pronounced with a צ, and in Arabic with a sad. Both were S sounds.
In modern Hebrew hummus is spelled with a ס ((חוּמוּס, but it is clear how this could have happened since the the צ and the ס are similar in pronunciation. The point of this little discussion on hummus is that the word originally ended with the צ, but over time had changed to a ס. This shows that the צ is close to an S sound, and perhaps it changed to a ס (a regular S) because most people stopped pronouncing the intensified S, especially at the end of a word. It makes sense that the S in hummus could turn to a ס instead of a צ, for the צ is similar to the ס (while simultaneously being similar to the ע).
קQuf קוּף
In Modern Hebrew this letter is pronounced like a K, just like the kaf. This, however is not the classical pronunciation. Dunash ibn Tamim wrote in his commentary to the Book of Formation that there are three letters that Hebrew has that Arabic does not and three letters that Arabic has that Hebrew does not. He does not mention the Arabic Qaf as one of these letters. This implies that the Hebrew Qaf is pronounced just like the Arabic Qaf, or else he would have written that Arabic has four letters that Hebrew has. And how does one pronounce the Arabic Qaf? It is similar to the K, but coming from further back in the throat, at about the location of the throat that the G comes from. This can be a tricky letter for English speakers and takes some practice to pronounce.
In fact, this letter is one of the most mispronounced letters of all. Where one is in the world determined how one would pronounce the qaf, for people would pronounce it like a letter in the language that was spoken around them, and the true sound was lost in many communities. European and American Jews pronounce it like a K. Many of the Jews of Yemen pronounce it like a G. Some Yemenite, Persian and Georgian Jews pronounced it like the French R (which is actually the sound of the ג without a dot). Some Syrian and Moroccan Jews pronounced it like an א. Jews of India actually pronounce it like the kaf without a dagesh, like ch as in "Bach". All these mispronunciations are similar to the actual sound of the letter. It makes sense that they could lose this letter, for those around them did not make this sound. But most of the Jews in Arabic countries pronounce it the correct way, like the Arabic Qaf. The Arabic Qaf is made by making a K sound, only further back. The back of the tongue presses briefly agains the soft part of the back of the palate.
ר Resh רֵיש
The רcorresponds to the letter R. The letter R, however, is pronounced differently depending on where you are in the world, so which R are we speaking about? French people pronounce the R in the back of the throat. Americans pronounce it in the front of the mouth, and others pronounce it in the middle. Spanish speakers roll their Rs. Hebrew speakers also vary in how they pronounce the ר, depending on where they are in the world and how the people around them pronounce their R. With the ר it is not that there is a “Ashkenazi” way of pronouncing it and a “Sephardic” way like with other letters, but the Ashkenazim pronounce it differently than other Ashkenazim, and Sephardim pronounce it differently than other Sephardim. Israelis pronounce it in the back of the throat like the French R, but this is really the sound of the ג(without the dagesh).
The Resh corresponds to the Arabic Ra. To make the sound of the Ra the tip of the tongue touches to the gums directly above the two front top incisors
The resh is listed as The Book of Formation as a letter that is produced between the teeth, so we know that the French R is not the correct pronunciation.
These sounds are made with the top of the tongue (laminals): דטלנת
These sounds are made between the teeth (apicals): זסשרצ
The ר was not listed as one of the letters in Dunash ibn Tamim’s list of letters that Hebrew had that Arabic did not. This would imply that in his day, the was pronounce just like the R of Arabic. The geonim (such as Saadiyah Gaon) sometimes wrote in Arabic, and when they wanted to represent the letter ר, such as when transliterating a name, they would write the Arabic R letter. This would further imply that the Hebrew ר was pronounced like the Arabic R, which is pronounced further forward in the mouth. It is produced, like in Spanish, with a rolling of the tongue behind the teeth.
One therefore think of the ר as a Spanish, Italian, and Arabic R. The tongue is pressed more forward to the place directly above the teeth. This has caused a great deal of debate among scholars whether it is like the tapped “R” as in the Spanish word “Para” or like the trilled Rr in the word “Corro.” There are a number of Hebrew speakers that still retain the trilled pronunciation. With what has been learned from The Book of Formation, the trilled R actually makes sense, as it comes between the teeth, while the tapped R is similar to the letters D and T. If the Resh was a tapped R, it seems that the writer of the Book of Formation would have said that it was made with the top of the tongue, rather than between the teeth.
Ashkenazim of Hungary, Romania and Russia still pronounce the ר similar to the American R, and not in the back of the throat. The resh is like the Italian, Arabic and Spanish R. The English R, however, is not produced in the same part of the mouth. The R of English is made by pressing the tongue backward and up to the roof of the mouth.
According to modern Jewish practice, when one makes a difference between the Resh with a dagesh, and the rare רּ they pronounce it like “corro,” a heavy rolling of the tongue, called a trill. One can hear an example of this in Ezekiel 16:4 in this audio file at thirty seconds into it:
https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1216.htm
However Ibn Ezra in his Book of Purity wrote that the sound of the Resh with a dagesh was not able to be pronounced by children. If you ask a child to do an intensified rolling of the tongue, it should not at all be difficult for them if they have the ability to roll their R’s. It should be just as easy to intensify a rolled R. Also, remember there are only three sounds that Hebrew has that Arabic does not have, and Arabic does not have a rolled R like the one in the audio file. However, Arabic does have a heavy version of the letter Ra. It is made by raising the back of the tongue while keeping the front of the tongue raised to above the teeth, thereby creating a dip in the tongue. It is a heavier, more emphatic pronunciation. This is indeed a difficult sound for children to make, and challenging for probably just about anyone who is not familiar with making this sound.
שׁ/שׂShin/Sin שִׁין/שִׂין
This letter has two pronunciations. When it has a dot on the upper right, it makes the sh as in “shirt” sound. And when the dot is on the upper left, it makes the s as in “pest”.
According to Ben-Siyyon Hakohen, who is seen as a modern authority on Biblical Hebrew, there are three S sounds in Ancient Hebrew. These three S sounds are three separate gradations of intensity, and the ס is the mid-grade S. Here are the gradations:
שׂ= quiet S
ס= normal S
צ= intensified S
According to some, based on studies in other Semitic languages, the sound of the Sin is that of a lateral alveolar fricative. This is a lispy S sound that is made with the tongue raised upward, like where it would be if you were making the sound of the letter L, only instead of making the L, you push air outward creating an S sound. This is not a sound that has been preserved in the Jewish tradition, nor is it a sound in Arabic.
The name for the Shin is similar to the Hebrew word for teeth. To make the sound, one lifts the tongue a bit to let the sound go between the upper teeth. When you raise the tongue, the sound of the S gets a bit quieter. It would make sense then that the tongue was originally raised to make the sin sound, instead of resting at the bottom of the mouth like the Samech. Now the question is, was the sin pronounced like the lispy S (like the Welsh Ll) or was it merely an S pronounced with the tongue slightly raised? This is debated. Ibn Ezra in his commentary to Psalms, however, says that the sound of the Sin is close to that of the Samech. To raise the tongue slightly is a closer sound than that of the lispy S.
I wish I could give a conclusive answer, but as it is today, there are three opinions as to the ancient sound:
A dentalized s produced by s̪, produced by raising the tongue closer to the teeth.
A velarized s or retracted s [sˠ], produced with a slightly raised or retracted tongue toward the velum or hard palate.
A voiceless alveolar lateral fricative [ɬ], a sound with a "hissing" quality and lateral airflow, similar to the Welsh "Ll" in Llanfair.
ת Taw תָּו
The ת is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has two forms. In modern Hebrew, it is always pronounced as a T. In ancient Hebrew it was pronounced as a T when it has a dot, and without a dot it is pronounce Th as in "thistle". This pronunciation has almost been lost among Jewish Hebrew speakers. The ד without a dot is Th as in "thee." And ibn Ezra in his Book of Purity wrote about how the sound of the ד without the dot and the ת without the dot are similar. And indeed they are similar, so similar that in English the two sounds are both spelled "th". It is the Iraqi and Yemenite Jews who have retained the ancient pronunciation.
Ashkenazi Jews understand that there is a difference between the two forms of the ת, for it is well documented in rabbinic literature. However, they pronounce the ת without a dot like an S, just like the ס. This contradicts the Jewish tradition, for the according to the Book of Formation (and others), these are the letters which come from the tongue. And these are the letters which come from the teeth. So the ת, whether it has a dot or not, comes from the tongue. So what the Ashkenazim have done is take a letter which is known to be a tongue letter, and they have switched it to a teeth letter. This is clearly not the ancient pronunciation.
It is entirely logical that the sound would be th, for this sound comes from the same location as the T sound, and as we've seen with all the bgdkprt letters, the two forms of the letter always come from the same location of the mouth.
It is ironic, then, that English speakers sometimes pronounce Hebrew words more accurately than native Hebrew speakers. For instance, the name Ruth by Ashkenazim is pronounced “Roos”, and Sephardim pronounce it “Root”. Rooth is the correct pronnunciation. Among speakers of modern Hebrew and synagogue readings it's rare to hear anyone pronouncing the letter this way, yet many synagogues are called “Beth Shalom” and other “Beth” names.
One should be careful not to pronounce the תּwith the dot too forcefully, for then one would be pronouncing the letter teth.
Thanks for reading! I hope this was entertaining.