Sometimes under a Hebrew word you’ll find what looks like this:
:
Here is an example in a Hebrew word:
This colon-looking thing is called a sheva. While there are a lot of rules for the sheva, we are going to keep it simple.
The only rule of the sheva: if you see it, it means to take a very short pause.
For example, take a look at this word:
If we didn’t see the two sheva symbols, we would probably pronounce this word “YISHMOO”.
Because there are two of these sheva symbols, this Hebrew word is giving us two short pauses. So we would pronounce this word “YISH-MUH-OO”.
Another example:
Without the sheva, we would probably say “OOLADAM”. But this word is pronounced “OOL-ADAM.”
No homework, but make sure you understand this concept.