I've just learnt how to write the word "חווה" in Hebrew, which means farm (khavá), I'm still learning the writing system so sorry if my question is obvious. I get that it starts with a het, so the first part is "kha" and then it has a vav, so it's "va" (I've seen it with the niqqut added), but why is there a second vav and a hei at the end?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Question

I've just learnt how to write the word "חווה" in Hebrew, which means farm (khavá), I'm still learning the writing system so sorry if my question is obvious. I get that it starts with a het, so the first part is "kha" and then it has a vav, so it's "va" (I've seen it with the niqqut added), but why is there a second vav and a hei at the end?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Thanks a lot in advance.

L1arK · Answer

When you write in Hebrew without niqqud, and vav is in the middle of the word and acts as a consonant (v), we double it. At the beginning and end of the word it stays singular, with few exceptions.

Regarding the hei at the end of the word, I don't know how to explain really :)
It's just the way to end the open vowel sound.

Larajanehere1213888 · Answer

Hi there , Hebrew has some difficult grammar.
I didn't know either, just now checked out.
So basically if vav is coming in the middle of the word we double it.
Or the second reason of a double vav is when those letters come in the beginning: מ,ש,ה,כ,ל,ב 
About the hei at the end it used when the word has the "a"(a, ba, ga, da...) syllable at the end of the word like  אתה-you(ata) the last syllable is "ta"
But sometimes you would find words that ending wit alef insted of hei like:
אמא-mom(ima) but it less common
However if it's hard to understand don't focus on that too much just memorize how to write it.
So I would recommend you to finish learning the reading system so you understand it better and just to practice your writing . That's how we all learning to write.
When we learning to write in Hebrew we just memorize and practice we do not really learn everything why it's like that:)

Osuwari · Answer

I agree with everything said above and just wanted to add that Hebrew orthography is almost as bad as English. It's really fragmented and irregular on account of it being a reconstructed language. Take everything with a grain of salt and don't try to find logic, because there isn't any 🙃.

Makobirds · Answer

I was thinking on this, the name “חווה” has two “ו” and a “ה” at the end which competes it. Like the English word “Light” The gh don’t really make a sound, if you take it out it looks like this “Lit” which is a different word that some people say as slang, “Yeah! That’s so Lit!”
So I think the word חווה is probably the same way.

Just some of my thoughts. 
(Hope this makes sense to you)

I agree with everything said above and just wanted to add that Hebrew orthography is almost as bad as English. It's really fragmented and irregular on account of it being a reconstructed language. Take everything with a grain of salt and don't try to find logic, because there isn't any 🙃.

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