Help Reading and Writing Yiddish
You don’t need to be able to read or write Yiddish letters to get started with YiddishPOP! The audio-visual interface enables learners to understand and interact with the lessons without any prior knowledge. However, reading Yiddish is an integral part of the program. Whatever your knowledge of the Yiddish (Hebrew) letters – from nothing to fluent Hebrew reader – this page will help you understand how YiddishPOP materials can help you learn the Yiddish alphabet and phonetic spelling system.
Table of Contents
How Yiddish Reading is Taught in YiddishPOP
The Yiddish letters are taught four at a time over the course of several lessons. Each letter has two forms, one used in printed texts and the other for handwriting. YiddishPOP teaches the forms of the printed letters in the לײען (Read) feature and the forms of the handwritten letters in the שרײַב (Write) feature.
The לײען feature includes the following elements:
| Section | What is there | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Letter and example words containing the letter | Click on the letter to hear its name and sound. Click on the example words to hear their pronunciation. The words in section 1 may contain letters that have not yet been taught. |
| 2 | Words and phrases to read | These words contain only letters taught up to the current lesson. Students can practice reading each word and click on it to check pronunciation. |
| 3 | Sentences to read | These sentences provide more reading practice, again using only letters taught up to the current lesson. Students can practice reading and click on the sentence to check pronunciation. The inclusion of a third section begins in lesson 1.4 when students know enough letters to be able to read several sentences. |
| 1, 2, and 3 | Only vocabulary words that have been taught in YiddishPOP up to the current lesson are included in the לײען feature. If students have worked consistently through the lessons, they should be able to understand the words, phrases, and sentences presented for reading practice. | |
| 4 | Letter recognition game | Hear the name of a letter and identify it. Only letters taught up to the lesson in which you click on the button are included in the game. To play the game with all the letters, click here. |
The alphabet index below shows where each letter is taught and includes a link to each לײען (Read) feature.
In lessons where new letters are taught, the שרײַב (Write) feature shows the handwritten forms of the letters and provides a worksheet that can be downloaded and/or printed for writing practice.
When no new letters are taught, the לײען feature contains a story written especially for learners using vocabulary and structures they know from YiddishPOP. The שרײַב feature contains a range of open-ended writing exercises.
Can I Use YiddishPOP Without Learning to Read Yiddish Letters?
You can interact with a large portion of the materials in each YiddishPOP lesson using the audio and the visuals only. However, the program assumes that students learn to read at the pace at which the Yiddish letters are introduced in the first few lessons. In these early lessons, the interactive features (minigames–געניטונגען and quizzes–דו קענסט אױך) contain a small number of questions that require reading; later lessons include more questions that require reading, and more complex sentences to read. The לײען (Read) feature in later lessons offers stories that that review and reinforce the new grammar and vocabulary in the lesson. In short, to benefit fully from all that YiddishPOP offers, it is well worth taking the time to learn the letters!
Except in the שרײַב (Write) feature, almost all text in YiddishPOP is in the printed letters. You can certainly start by learning the printed form of the letters and add the handwriting letters later.
Captions: Additional Reading Support
You can turn on captions for the movie in order to see the text as you listen to the audio. In the vocabulary and grammar movies, captions are always shown. If you are new to reading Yiddish letters, you can use the captions to help you match the audio with the written word.
Letter Index
Here’s a listing of where we teach each letter in YiddishPOP:
 1.1 |
מ ם אָ ב י |
|---|---|
 1.2 |
ד ס ע ר |
 1.3 |
אַ ג ל נ ן |
 1.4 |
ה ו וּ װ ט |
 1.5 |
ײ ײַ ױ א |
 2.1 |
ז פּ פֿ ף צ ץ |
 2.2 |
כ ך ק ש ח |
 2.4 |
בֿ כּ ת יִ |
 3.5 |
שׂ תּ טש זש דזש |
Quick Guide to Reading Yiddish For Hebrew Readers
If you know the Hebrew letters, you can quickly begin to read Yiddish by learning the Yiddish vowels and diphthongs, and a small number of consonants represented in Yiddish by letter combinations. The remaining consonants are the same as in Hebrew.
The following tables show the vowels, diphthongs, and letter combinations used in standard Yiddish spelling.
You can hear the name of each letter or letter combination and the sound it makes by clicking on the name/letter in the right column. You can also hear them in the לײען feature where the letter is taught, linked in the left column, together with example words to read and hear.
The pronunciation guide is based on standard American English. To hear the sounds, visit the YiddishPOP website (yiddishpop.com) and navigate to yiddishpop.com/en/reading-yiddish or the לײען features in the lessons indicated in the table.
*An exact equivalent of this vowel is not present in standard American English. Please listen to the pronunciation of this sound on the YiddishPOP website (link above table).
*An exact equivalent of this vowel is not present in standard American English. Please listen to the pronunciation of this sound on the YiddishPOP website (see link above).
With the information above you will be able to sound out almost any word in Yiddish. Below you will find more details of pronunciation and some spelling rules that aid pronunciation. You can also read about the Hebrew/Aramaic component of Yiddish—the major exception to the phonetic spelling system—and learn the Yiddish names of the letters.
Yiddish Spelling Rules: The Fine Print
Silent Alef שטומער אַלף
A silent alef is written before a vowel or diphthong including a vov or yud at the beginning of a word to avoid confusion with the consonants tsvey vovn and yud (see 1.5 לײען).
Final Letters
The five final letters are used when the letter occurs at the end of a word. Since words can have various endings (e.g. plural forms of nouns or conjugated forms of verbs) words with the same stem will sometimes be written with the regular form of the letter and sometimes with the final form.
Note that פּ has no corresponding final form; the final form ף corresponds to פֿ only.
Vov ו, Tsvey vovn וו and Melupm vov וּ
The vowel ו is sometimes written וּ. This occurs in the following cases:
- Whenever there might be confusion between the consonant וו (v) and the vowel ו (u), the vowel is distinguished with a dot (וּ).
- When the vowel ו (u) occurs twice in a row, the first ו is distinguished with a dot (וּ).
Yud י and Khirek yud יִ
The vowel י (i) is sometimes written ִי. It is written with a dot to distinguish it from the consonant י (y) or to show that it is a separate syllable and does not combine with the adjacent vowel. The consonant י (y) is never written with a dot.
Syllabic ל and נ
When a ל or a נ is preceded by a consonant and not followed by a vowel, it forms a separate syllable.
Words derived from Hebrew and Aramaic (loshn-koydesh)
Words that have entered Yiddish from Hebrew and Aramaic are written in their original Hebrew/Aramaic spelling. The pronunciation of each word must be learned separately (dictionaries and vocabulary lists usually give a pronunciation guide). These words are known in Yiddish as the loshn-koydesh (לשון־קודש, holy tongue) component of Yiddish since they are derived from the traditional language of prayer and study.
Six letters of the alef-beys appear only in loshn-koydesh words.
*In the pronunciation guide, the syllable in capital letters is stressed. The lesson number given is where the word first appears in YiddishPOP; visit that lesson to hear the word in the vocabulary movie.
Use of Diacritical Marks to Distinguish Between Two Sounds Associated with One Letter
The table below shows the dots and dashes used in standard Yiddish spelling to distinguish between two sounds represented by the same letter. Note that the convention for some letters is the absence of diacritical marks.
Yiddish Names of the Letters
Here are the letters of the alef-beys together with their variations and combinations used in standard Yiddish spelling. They are presented in the order of the alef-beys. Click on each letter or letter combination to hear its name in Yiddish.
Here are the letters of the alef-beys together with their variations and combinations used in standard Yiddish spelling. They are presented in the order of the alef-beys.
A Yiddish dictionary or glossary that lists words in the order of the alef-beys is usually divided into sections headed by each of the following letters:
א ב בֿ ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כּ כ ל מ נ ס ע פּ פֿ צ ק ר ש שׂ תּ ת