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 Semitic language. It is the language of the Jews. The Academy of the Hebrew Language is the main institution of the Hebrew language.

The language was spoken by Israelites a long time ago - during the time of the Bible. After Judah was conquered by Babylonia, the Jews were taken captive to Babylon and started speaking Aramaic. Hebrew was no longer used as much in day-to-day life, but it was still known by Jews who studied religious books.

In the 20th century, many Jews decided to make Hebrew into a spoken language again. It became the language of the new country of Israel in 1948. People in Israel came from many places, and decided to learn Hebrew, the language of their common ancestors, so they could all speak one language. However, Modern Hebrew is quite different from Biblical Hebrew, with a lot of simplified grammar and loanwords from other languages, especially English.

In order to read the Bible in its original language, one must learn Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic and Koine Greek.

Hebrew is a lot like the Arabic language. Hebrew words are made by combining a root with a pattern. In Israeli Hebrew, some words are translated from European languages like English, French, German, and Russian. Many words from the Old Testament were given new meanings in Israeli Hebrew. People learning Hebrew need to study the grammar first in order to read correctly without vowels. In Israeli Hebrew, there is no verb "to be" in the present tense, only in the future and the past tenses. In Biblical Hebrew, there are no tenses but only two "aspects": imperfect and perfect. The imperfect is something like the future and the present tenses. The perfect is something like the past tense. Mishnaic Hebrew is the Hebrew spoken as well as Judeo-Aramaic in the time of Jesus and in the time of the Bar-Kokhba revolt (2nd century AD), until the Byzantine Empire of Justinian (6th century AD).

The Hebrew alphabet has been adapted to write Yiddish, another of the Jewish languages. But Yiddish sounds different from Hebrew as it comes from the same family as German.

Alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. Five of these letters change when they are at the end of a word. The Hebrew language is read from right to left. The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad which means that only the consonants are written out and the reader must supply the vowels himself. Since this is pretty difficult, the vowels can be marked as dots called niqqud (plural niqqudim). In Modern Hebrew, some letters can denote vowels. These are called matres lectionis (mothers of the reading) as they help the reading a lot.

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