🇮🇱 Hebrew Recommended Learning Material

The phrasesets below were recorded by native speaker friends of ours. How to unlock phrase sets and download phrases:

1. Download the Lingophant app from the app store
2. Go to the sharing tab and create an account
3. Unlock the phrases by clicking the unlock button on the page, and download them.
4. Find 30 minutes every day (public transport? toilet?) to memorise phrases from the Practice tab. Tap the number at the top and you will start your practice.

Here are basic phrase sets for beginners. With a teacher you will create your own personalised ones:

https://phrases.lingophant.com/f80bf5f0-199f-4fc2-b90b-ea54057a245f/01-basic-hebrew

v2. https://phrases.lingophant.com/f8624506-138f-4503-b4c6-458fc4a63ed4/01-basic-phrases-hebrew

https://phrases.lingophant.com/f5fefeaa-7029-43c3-9b4a-c0b21ef9dbd6/02-introductions-hebrew

v2. https://phrases.lingophant.com/df127b02-fcf7-4f73-9131-431dd0097f42/02-introductions-talking-about-yourself-hebrew

https://phrases.lingophant.com/4648f66d-4de3-486e-bc37-b91c0ad22a29/03-reactions-hebrew

v2. https://phrases.lingophant.com/b824aa7b-1ff1-40ea-9611-278a4ed1b95f/03-useful-reactions-hebrew

https://phrases.lingophant.com/63f6d81c-be97-4ca6-9539-d521a82c4503/04-clarifications-hebrew

Below, a language introduction by LangFocus (great but nerdy).

In general about the grammar:

Verbs consist 3-4 consonants, and you put letters between them to change their tense and sometimes meaning. But the root is always 3-4 letters.

The language distinguishes between male and female actors, through pronouns and verb endings.

Adjectives and nouns agree with each other, meaning they share the same form. (e.g. Sefer ka’tan = small book. Sfarim kta’nim = small books).

In general a lot of morphing is done through the changing of the vowels, while the consonant roots stay the same.

These were the basics. The rest you’ll get while memorising phrases and listening ;). You can add notes when you notice a pattern in the app.

And now about this exciting language:

For your Hebrew pronunciation, here are four videos that go into all possible details, from spelling, phonetics, consonants, and writing rules. It’s good to know this, but you’ll be practicing with audio anyways so you’ll be fine 🙂 They are the best resource available for nerds that want to do everything right.

After this, you can be sure that you have the full picture, in just one hour of watching time in total. And you can watch them anywhere, just like you can practice phrases and do some listening anywhere.

EasyHebrew has some simple content (it gets a bit boring after some time, but hey). It’s also difficult to start with the Hebrew alphabet from the beginning so we’re working on our own videos. These videos are great for on the road.

So watch videos like this on mobile:

If you’re on a computer, use the channels below with the Language Reactor extension, because you can quickly pause the video and look up words you hear.

Again: Have a note on your computer with a link to this page and starting a listening session is only a few clicks or taps away.

With the Google Chrome extension “LanguageReactor” installed you can add double subtitles to any YouTube videos. And they pause playing and translate words when you hover your mouse over them.

They even have a selection of channels and video inside their app:

Here is a link that works on your computer about sweets and you can practice recognising words for 30 minutes. It is spoken in a slow way.

https://www.languagereactor.com/c/iw/yt/yc_UCduMxl0ur61T8YXIIN913GQ/yt_zD3l3tBjOGo

The lady has a channel where she speaks slowly and understandably: https://www.youtube.com/@hebrewtime

Here’s how to work videos work well on Google Chrome with the Language Reactor extension.

• At first read the transcript so you know what’s coming.
• Then read along in English while listening to Hebrew words. Try to connect what you hear to what you read.
• You can also practice reading along in Hebrew, though it’s more for advanced level, or when you’ve watched the videos 3 times already.

Then there are channels made for native speakers, but very enjoyable:

• The Easy Way (or Hadrach Hakla). Nicely illustrated videos explaining concepts in the middle east: Like this one about the Druze people. Here’s his full channel.
• An calm family traveler vlog (Off Roads Living) about parenting, home projects, and traveling Scandinavia: Off Roads Living
• And here’s a long-form news channel with also some food vlogs:

That should be already enough material here to keep you busy for more than 12 weeks. Pick your 10 videos and rewatch them later. It’s better to review old videos because you already know the meaning and can settle your vocabulary a bit. Especially if you copy vocabulary to you note with links.

Are you more the type of person that watches series?

Well, using Language Reactor in Google Chrome, you can watch and rewatch Netflix episodes with two subtitles. Even if the level seems too high, reading along in Hebrew and sometimes pausing to understand can help you feel the structure of sentences and the rhythm of the language.

Here’s our selection of original Hebrew series:

• Fauda – Fauda means chaos in Arabic and it follows a unite that operates to prevent attacks. Classic series that’s loved by both sides.
• Shtisel – About the life of Orthodox Jews in an orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem and how they deal with their topics in life.
• Hashoter Hatov – Brooklyn 99 but with more nerdy characters. Hashoter is police agent. Tov is good. So it translates as like “the good cop”.

In general you can book lessons with any teacher on iTalki.

Just say you’ll book five lessons so the teacher has an incentive to try out a new app. Then try it out together, using this page to explain how it works:

https://lingophant.com/for-teachers

Let us know if you found a good teacher and we will add them to this page.

We can for example recommend Tomer, a dancer and very kind person. He knows how to use the Lingophant app and has taught people with it. 🙂
https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/19362081/hebrew