Learn how to write pei
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| Shalom, ani Yana! Welcome to Hebrewpod101.com’s Alef-Beit be-kalei kalut. |
| The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn the Hebrew alphabet: the alef-beit! |
| In the last lesson we learned the letter ע-'Ayin' and the niqqud 'Tsere'. |
| In this lesson we will continue to the next Hebrew letter 'Pei', with the sound of 'P'. |
| Let’s write it down; |
| פ (handwriting) |
| and in print- |
| פ (print) |
| It is curved from inside to the outside. |
| Pay attention to the dot- it makes the sound 'P'. Without the dot it sounds like 'F'. Even though it’s a different sound, we don’t count "Fei" as a separate letter of the alef-beit, just like "Beit-Veit", and "Kaf-Haf". |
| 'Pil' -is an elephant. |
| פִּיל (handwriting) |
| and in print |
| פִּיל (print) |
| and 'Afuna' is a bean. |
| אָפוּנָה (handwriting) |
| and in print |
| אָפוּנָה (print) |
| Now lets see how the niqqud changes the pronunciation and meaning of the same word; |
| ספר |
| ספר |
| ספר |
| Looks the same, so why are they read differently? Let’s look at the same words with niqqud. |
| סֶפֶר- -'Sefer' - is a book. |
| סִפֶּר- - 'Siper'- is "he told". |
| סַפָּר- - 'Sapar'- is a barber. |
| The only way to guess the right reading is by understanding the context, so practice your Hebrew reading daily! |
| פ-has also final word writing- |
| it is called 'Pei Sofit' and looks like this; |
| ף (handwriting) |
| You start it like 'Lamed' and end with a curve facing down. |
| and in print- |
| ף (print) |
| Please keep the stroke longer than the frame. |
| 'Sof' is an end. |
| סוֹף (handwriting) |
| and in print- |
| סוֹף (print) |
| 'ze ha-sof le-hayom'- |
| זה הסוף להיום (handwriting) |
| It’s the end for today. |
| Can you write it in print? While doing it pronounce each letter and the vowels. |
| Now it's time for Yana's insights. |
| Have you been practicing the alef- beit with flash cards? |
| What about the niqqud? |
| Take the flash cards with you everywhere, and when you got a minute waiting for the bus or in line, take a look and pronounce each letter out loud. |
| It might sound weird to the people around you, but that's the best practice! |
| In the next lesson, we will go through the eighteenth letter -צ-'Tsadik'. |
| Do you know that also 'tsadik' has a meaning by itself? |
| I will see you in the next lesson! |
| Lehitraot!!! |
38 Comments
HideHi Maria,
Thanks for posting this question!
The letter "pe sofit" (ף) appears in Hebrew only as "fe sofit" (F sound) and never as "pe sofit" (P sound). What you say makes sense, and I guess you could say that it's true, but in reality we usually refer to the letter "פ" as "pe" rather than "fe" as a default. so it's more common to hear the phrase "pe sofit"...
It's important to realize that these are not 2 different letters, but one letter with two states.
Yours,
Roi
Team HebrewPod101.com
Hello!
So, if peisofit is never pronounced as "p" (except in some foreign words) and only pronounced as "f," then would the name actually be feisofit and not peisofit?
Thanks!
Thanks Roi,
The "pei sofit" comment makes sense why I couldn't find it anywhere. Haha.
At the time I wrote this, I was confusing vav and yod. I meant yod. 😄
Hi Penni McCormick,
Thanks for posting!
Haha "פיל" looks like an elephant! what a great comment! I never thought of it, but I must admit you have a point 😆😆😆
Very close - your name is spelled "pei-nun-yod" - as "פני". 😄😄
Dagesh in "peh sofit" ("ף") actually doesn't exist in Hebrew words, as the sound "p" in the end of a word never appears in Hebrew. In foreign words that have a "p" at the end (for example: "ketchup") we use a regular "פ" iwth a degesh "קֶטְשׁוֹפּ".
Happy to help!
Best,
Roi
Team HebrewPod101.com
in Pei sofit, where does the dot go?
פני
That make the spelling of my name pei-nun-vav
The word for elephant looks like an elephant.
Hi Assi,
Thank you very much for posting! We hope you enjoy our lessons 😄
These are not apostrophes, the words פִּיל and אני are indeed written with a Yod... the letter "י" conveys simply the vowel "ee" ("yi") . ("Pil" and a-ni).
I hope this helps,
Best,
Roi
Team HebrewPod101.com
Hi!
What is that apostrophe doing in the word פִּיל and אני? This is the second time I see it and I'm really confused - it doesn't seem to be Yod (or even is it is Yod then we didn't cover this usage). We have already covered this usage (so I missed something) or we are to cover it in the next lessons?
Thank you:)
Hi Patrick,
Yes, this is correct. The letter פ is phonetically spelled either פא or פ"א.
👍👍
Yours,
Roi
Team HebrewPod101.com