א

The consonant א is a glottal stop (marked /'/): a stop of the air flow, much like the initial sound in the word "about". It can only be pronounced when it is followed by a vowel.


אני    (I)
מאוד    (very)

While in spoken Hebrew, א is often silent, the written language reflects the principle that no Hebrew syllable can begin with a vowel. Thus if a word sounds to you like it starts with a vowel, it is likely that its first letter is א (or ע, as you will see later).

אמא    (mom)
אבא    (dad)

This rule also applies to words of foreign origin that start with a vowel. 

For example:

אורגון    (Oregon)

When א is the last letter of a word, it is always silent:

רופא    (physician)

א is used as the vowel /a/, especially in words of foreign origin.
For example:

באלי    (Bali)

continue

א  ב  ג  ד  ה  ו  ז  ח  ט  י  כ  ך  ל  מ  ם  נ  ן  ס  ע  פ  ף  צ  ץ  ק  ר  ש  ת