Hebrew language

Hebrew
עִבְרִית ʿIvrit
Pronunciation	[(ʔ)ivˈʁit] - [(ʔ)ivˈɾit]
Native to	Israel, Jewish settlements in the West Bank; 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)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	he
ISO 639-2	heb
ISO 639-3	Either: heb – Modern Hebrew hbo – Ancient Hebrew
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 supreme institution 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 so they could all speak one language.

Also everyone who wishes to become a Christian priest must learn Hebrew in order to be able to read the Bible in original language.^[source?]

Hebrew is close to 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).

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.

Aleph	Bet	Gimel	Dalet	He	Waw	Zayin	Het	Tet	Yod	Kaf
א	ב	ג	ד	ה	ו	ז	ח	ט	י	כ
										ך
Lamed	Mem	Nun	Samekh	Ayin	Pe/Fe	Tsadi	Kuf	Resh	Shin/Sin	Tav
ל	מ	נ	ס	ע	פ	צ	ק	ר	ש	ת
	ם	ן			ף	ץ

References

Wikibooks has more about this subject:

Hebrew