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Aleph-Bet Lesson 10 — צץ + Numbers
Lessons on the
Hebrew Aleph-Bet
Introduction
1 א בּ ת • E
2 ב ה נן • E
3 מם שׁשׂ • E
4 ל ו • E
5 ד ר י • E
6 ג ז ח • E
7 ט ככּך • E
8 ס ק • E
9 ע פפּף • E
10 צץ • E
Review
Test • Answers
• talk

Welcome to the tenth and last lesson in the Hebrew alphabet! In this lesson we'll learn צ and traditional numbers in Hebrew.

Tsadi צ

צ The eighteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Tsadi. It makes the "ts" sound (IPA: /ʦ/, "zz" as in "pizza", or "ts" as in "Tsar")[1].

When it is at the end of a word, it changes form. This final form is known as Tsadi Sofit (ץ).



That's it, you've learned them all!

Words

מִצְרַיִם mitsrayim Egypt
עֵץ ‘ets tree (masculine, singular)
צָהֹב tsahov yellow (masculine, singular) (FW: צהוב)
צֶבַע tseva‘ color (masculine, singular)
עֶצֶם ‘etsem bone (feminine, singular), object (masculine, singular)
צָרְפַת tsorfat[2] France
בֹּץ bots mud (masculine, singular [no pl.]) (FW: בוץ)
צַיִד tsayid hunt (masculine, singular [no pl.]

Numbers

In traditional Jewish texts (in any Orthodox text, really) a numeric system, based on the letters of the alphabet is used. This system is known as gematria. In everyday secular life, the Arabic numerical system (1, 2, 3) is used.

Numeric value Letter
1 א
2 ב
3 ג
4 ד
5 ה
6 ו
7 ז
8 ח
9 ט
10 י
11 י"א
12 י"ב
13 י"ג
14 י"ד
15 ט"ו‎[3]
16 ט"ז
17 י"ז
18 י"ח
19 י"ט
20 כ
21 כ"א
25 כ"ה
30 ל
35 ל"ו
40 מ
50 נ
60 ס
70 ע
80 פ
90 צ
100 ק
105 ק"ה
150 ק"נ
155 קנ"ה
200 ר
300 ש
400 ת
Rarely used:
500 ך
600 ם
700 ן
800 ף
900 ץ

Summary

In this lesson, you've learned:

  • The forms of the letter Tsadi צ, Tsadi Sofit ץ.
  • The words מִצְרַיִם, עֵץ, צָהֹב, צֶבָע, עֶצֶם, צָרְפַת, בֹץ and צַיִד.
  • The Hebrew nummerical system - gematria.

Practice what you've learned in the exercises.

Review: Aleph-Bet 11 >>>

Notes

  1. ↑ Many times you will see it transliterated as "tz", "z" or even "s". Because the traditional sound of this letter was a pharyngealised s (same as "s" only that the sound is emitted from deeper in the throat) and the current pronunciation is "tz", a neutral transliteration - "ts" - is used in this WikiBook.
  2. ↑ Sometimes Qamats is pronounced as "o". This is known as Qamats Qatan ("little Qamats"). However, many Israelis mispronounce צָרְפַת as tsarfat.
  3. ↑ Because the letter י (which has the numeric value of 10) and ה (which is 5) make together the beginning of the Tetragrammaton, 9 + 6 are used instead.
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