how to say “a letter” (as opposed to “a tweet”) in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/מכתב-1.m4a” /]מִכְתָּב

A letter such as that belonging to the first word you’re reading now (n), in Hebrew, is אות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/מכתב-2.m4a” /].

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/מכתב-3.m4a” /]כמה אותיות יש באלפבית העברי?

How many letters are there in the Hebrew alphabet?

(The answer is 22 plus 5 ending letters.)

Then there’s a letter that used to be handwritten and sent via post, but today finds expression almost entirely in emails, to the point that we tend not to call such a communication a letter but rather an email. The word in Hebrew for such a letter is מכתב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/מכתב-1.m4a” /], deriving from the root כ.ת.ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/מכתב-4.m4a” /] meaning write.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/מכתב-5.m4a” /]אני צריך לכתוב מכתב תודה לכל מי שהגיע לאירוע.

I (a male) need to write a thank-you letter to everyone who came to the event.

מכתב has the same structure as other words such as משקל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/מכתב-6.m4a” /] – weight, מדרס[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/מכתב-7.m4a” /] – pedal, and מנזר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/מכתב-8.m4a” /] – monastery. Listen to them to hear the pattern.

The modern usage of מכתב as a letter builds on the usage in Biblical Hebrew, where it means something written.