Hebrew language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hebrew
עִבְרִית ʿIvrit
Pronunciation	-
Native to	Israel, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria; used globally as a liturgical language for Judaism
Native speakers	5.3 million  (1998)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Canaanite Hebrew
Writing system	Hebrew alphabet Hebrew Braille
Official status
Official language in	Israel
Regulated by	Academy of the Hebrew Language האקדמיה ללשון העברית (HaAkademia LaLashon HaʿIvrit)
Linguasphere	12-AAB-a

"Israel" written in the Hebrew alphabet.

The Hebrew language is a very old language. It belongs to a group of languages called Semitic languages. Hebrew is mainly spoken by Jewish people around the world. The Academy of the Hebrew Language helps keep the language alive and growing.

Hebrew was first spoken by the Israelites many, many years ago, during the time the Bible was written. For a long time, people mostly used Hebrew for religious studies and prayers. It wasn't used much for everyday talking.

In the 20th century, many Jewish people decided to bring Hebrew back as a spoken language. This was a big part of creating the country of Israel in 1948. People from different countries came to Israel and learned Hebrew. This helped them all communicate using one common language. Today's Hebrew, called Modern Hebrew, is a bit different from the ancient Biblical Hebrew. It has simpler grammar and uses many words borrowed from languages like English.

If you want to read the Bible in its original form, you would need to learn Biblical Hebrew. Hebrew is similar to the Arabic language in some ways. Hebrew words are often made by combining a root with a pattern.

How Hebrew Works

Hebrew words are built in an interesting way. They often start with a "root" of three letters. Then, different patterns are added to this root to create new words. For example, a root might mean "write," and adding different patterns can make it mean "he wrote," "she writes," or "a book."

Modern Hebrew has borrowed words from many European languages. These include English, French, German, and Russian. Also, many old words from the Old Testament were given new meanings in modern Hebrew.

Grammar Basics

Learning Hebrew grammar helps you read correctly, especially since vowels aren't always written. In Modern Hebrew, there's no verb "to be" in the present tense. For example, you wouldn't say "I am a student" with a verb "am." Instead, you'd say "I student." The verb "to be" is only used in the future and past tenses.

Older forms of Hebrew, like Biblical Hebrew, didn't use tenses like "past," "present," or "future." Instead, they used "aspects." These aspects showed if an action was completed or ongoing. For example, one aspect might be like the past tense, showing something finished. Another might be like the present or future, showing something still happening.

Mishnaic Hebrew was spoken around the time of Jesus. It was used until about the 6th century AD.

Hebrew and Yiddish

The Hebrew alphabet is also used to write Yiddish. Yiddish is another Jewish language. However, Yiddish sounds very different from Hebrew. This is because Yiddish comes from the same language family as German.

Alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. These letters are all consonants. Five of these letters change their shape when they appear at the very end of a word. Hebrew is read from right to left, which is the opposite of English.

The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad. This means that usually, only the consonants are written down. The reader has to figure out the vowels themselves. This can be tricky! To help, sometimes small dots and dashes, called niqqud (pronounced "nee-KOOD"), are added above or below the letters to show the vowels. In Modern Hebrew, some letters can also act as vowels. These are called matres lectionis, which means "mothers of the reading," because they help a lot with reading.

Images for kids

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  The word HEBREW written in modern Hebrew language (top) and in Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (bottom)

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  The Shebna Inscription, from the tomb of a royal steward found in Siloam, dates to the 7th century BCE.

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  Rashi script

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  A silver matchbox holder with inscription in Hebrew

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  Aleppo Codex: 10th century Hebrew Bible with Masoretic pointing (Joshua 1:1).

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  Kochangadi Synagogue in Kochi, India dated to 1344.

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  Eliezer Ben-Yehuda

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  Hebrew, Arabic and English multilingual signs on an Israeli highway

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  Dual language Hebrew and English keyboard

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  Academy of the Hebrew Language

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  Hebrew alphabet

See also

In Spanish: Idioma hebreo para niños