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Recently, I was talking to someone about how to properly pronounce a yod that follows a patach when it is not at the end of a word. For example, we know that words like חַי are pronounced as chai with the yod making an ie sound like “pie” but what about words like לְהַחַיוֹת , חַיֵינוּ, or וְצָהֳרָיִם? The person I spoke with insisted the the yod would create a sound exactly the same as ַי . Conversely, if we take the word חַיֵינוּ I would pronounce it cha-yeh-nu rather than chai-yeh-nu. For לְהַחַיוֹת I would pronounce it l’ha-cha-yot rather than l’ha-chai-yot. That said, one example he offered was דַיֵנּ. To provide some context, I taught myself Hebrew as an adult which makes me less confident when more experienced people talk to me about the finer details of pronunciation. It was my impression, that while both approaches sound similar in practice, there is a slight difference in that the “ie” sound only occurs when a yod appears next to a patch at the end of a word.

Asher Klein
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  • Is the question "what is the pronunciation of that word? (If yes, please edit it in). – Dani Sep 15 '21 at 02:23
  • That’s my perspective on דַיֵנּ too. – Asher Klein Sep 15 '21 at 02:33
  • I'm not sure I'm getting the question: I pronounce "pie" (the dish) the same as I pronounce "pi" (the Greek letter, or mathematical constant): as 'pa' with a 'y' sound on the end. In the examples you bring, even if that 'y' sound existed at the end of a syllable, I wouldn't pause enough for it to get noticed, and it would get swallowed into the next syllable starting with a Yud, in the flow of my pronunciation (i.e. I'd pronounce chai-yeh-nu effectively as cha-yeh-nu). – Tamir Evan Sep 15 '21 at 05:12
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    @IsraelReader Why are you ignoring the dagesh chazak in the yod of dayenu? – Joel K Sep 15 '21 at 05:34
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    @IsraelReader do you have a source for that? I thought a dagesh chazak is always a sign of gemination. – Joel K Sep 15 '21 at 10:58

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Generally, a syllable is closed by a consonant with a sheva na, a consonant at the end of a word, or a consonant with a dagesh chazak. Otherwise, it is an open syllable and ends in a vowel. Therefore, in your cases (in an Israeli pronunciation):

  1. וְצָהֳרָיִם = vetso-hora-yim
  2. לְהַחֲיוֹת = leha-chayot
  3. חַיֵּינוּ = chay-ye-nu
  4. דַּיֵּינוּ = day-ye-nu

For more information on syllable structure, see "Syllable structure: Biblical Hebrew."

Argon
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  • chayot should be cha-yot, no? It's.ambiguous otherwise. Or perhaps I don't understand your hyphen notation. – magicker72 Sep 15 '21 at 03:47
  • @magic it's like "hora" – Double AA Sep 15 '21 at 03:50
  • @DoubleAA I don't understand what you mean. – magicker72 Sep 15 '21 at 11:13
  • Thank you for the answer! I will read through the article you included. So in your latter examples, the dagesh chazak (which I forgot in דַּיֵּינוּ) closes the syllable and necessitates the “pie” sound? Is so, this is why a word like לְחַיִּים would be l’chai-im rather than l’cha-yim? – Asher Klein Sep 15 '21 at 11:49
  • @AsherKlein I think l’chai-yim. The dagesh indicates a ‘doubling’ of the yod’s sound – Joel K Sep 15 '21 at 12:14
  • @Joel K thank you for that insight! I was just watching a video on YouTube and that seems to be exactly what a dagesh on yods like this indicates. – Asher Klein Sep 15 '21 at 13:26
  • @magicker72 hataf doesn't make for a hyphen-demarcated syllable, like in his example of tsohorayim – Double AA Sep 15 '21 at 14:20
  • @DoubleAA OK, fine. But how does it help the OP to see the transcription "chayot"? Is it "ay" or is it "a"? Or is it something else that hasn't been discussed? – magicker72 Sep 15 '21 at 18:40
  • I suppose the dagesh is not a standard indicator though. For example, to my knowledge הַיּוֹם is pronounced ha-yom not hay-yom. Correct? – Asher Klein Sep 15 '21 at 21:51
  • I’m not sure how credible this YouTube video is, but I found it helpful: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n9RAFZvAILk. Does a dagesh with a yod always indicate a doubling like the video indicates? – Asher Klein Sep 17 '21 at 02:46
  • @AsherKlein A dagesh in a yod indicates a doubling of the consonant in virtually all situations. Ashkenazi Hebrew, and subsequently Israeli Hebrew, do not use the dagesh chazak, and many people are not aware of its usage today. – Argon Sep 19 '21 at 15:32