[HANASHIR:10202] Re: and speaking of pronounciation

[DMG686 <DMG686...>]

Ellen,
According to a book entitled Biblical Hebrew Grammar by Page Kelley, these 
are the grammatical rules for the Vav conjunction.
1. It is usually written vav with a sheva under it before consonants with a 
full vowel, unless they are the consonants bet, mem, or pay.
2.  It is written as "ooh" or the vowel sureq before a bet, mem, and pay and 
also before all consonants pointed with a simple sheva, except when  this 
consonant is a yod..  Consonants like bet,gimmel, dalet, caf, fay, and tav 
get what is called a dagesh lene when these consonants begin a word or a 
syllable.  If a syllable with an interchangeably long vowel like "ooh" is 
placed before them, they lose the dot and get the softened sound in some 
cases.  Here are some examples from the book.

B'rit   a covenant   becomes  Uv'rit   "and a covenant"  when the vav is 
attached.

B'racha  "a blessing"  becomes  Uv'rachah  "and a blessing" when the vav is  
connected.

Probably the best thing to tell your students is that there are many 
grammatical rules for the Hebrew in the Torah and our prayerbook.  Sometimes 
they may see it as V' , Vee, Vah, and Veh depending on the word that it is 
attached to.

B'shirah uv'shalom,
Donna Gordon 

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