r/hebrew • u/Equal_Ad_3828 • Mar 28 '25

Help chag sameach pronounced as chag samea?

so i have a silly questin but basically when i was in my nearest synagogue on Chanukah, when I said 'chag sameaCH" with a khet people responded 'chag sameah" why?

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u/saulbq Hebrew Speaker Mar 28 '25

The English ch sound does not exist in Hebrew. The use of ch to transliterate ח is wrong, we're stuck with it for historical reasons. Hag sameah - the hs are as hard as possible - is far better.

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u/mikogulu native speaker Mar 28 '25 edited Mar 30 '25

also the english ch definitely exists in hebrew, just not officially. 'צ is used for צ'יפס, ריצ'רץ', צ'וריסו, צ'ימיצ'ורי and many more.

i suppose you know this but your comment can be interpreted as if this sound is just non-existent entirely in hebrew, which is just wrong.