נ — nun
«nun» is a consonant of the Hebrew script, read as “n”. A plain n. For example, in the word “אני לא מבין” — I don't understand. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters in total. Its final form ן stands on a single leg. Pairs with מ/ם: both change their silhouette at the end of a word. It appears, for example, in the word “אני” — I.
In short
| Character | נ |
| Name | nun |
| Sound | n |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 14th of 22, its neighbours in the course are מ and ס, appears in 693 words of this site.
How to type נ
- On a phone: add the Hebrew keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+05E0 and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 05E0.
- Unicode code point: U+05E0. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A plain n
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- אני לא מביןани ло мэвинI don't understand
The character in the “nine letters that read much as you expect” group
g, d, v, y, l, m, n take their most common English values. ר is the throaty r, and ת is a plain t. Together with the sibilant group these nine letters cover almost every transcribed word from the first lessons.
Words with this character
- אניаниI
- אנחנוанахнуwe
- אנחנו שנינוанахну шнейнуthe two of us
- נעים מאודнаим меодnice to meet you
- אני רוסיани росиI am Russian
- אני לא מביןани ло мэвинI don't understand
- אתם מדברים אנגלית?атем медабрим англит?do you speak English?
- אני רוצהани роцеI want
- שנייםшнаимtwo
- שמונהшмонаeight
- גבינהгвинаcheese
- עגבנייהагванияtomato
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «nun» it is “n”, as in the word “אני לא מבין”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 22 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Hebrew character נ read?
As “n” — it is a consonant of the Hebrew script. A plain n. For example, in the word “אני לא מבין” — I don't understand.
What is the letter נ called?
Nun. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Hebrew script: it is called “nun” and reads as “n”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can נ be confused with?
Its final form ן stands on a single leg. Pairs with מ/ם: both change their silhouette at the end of a word. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.