Comprehensible input is Hebrew you can mostly follow, whether you read it, listen to it, or watch it. Look for about one new word per sentence, with the meaning still clear.
Hebrew adds one step for readers: most everyday text has no vowel marks. Some easy texts add them, so start there and listen as you read. Courses, audio lessons and tutors are in our full Hebrew app comparison.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Hebrew. You learn from Hebrew you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Choose a moment you know well, like ordering coffee or planning a trip to Tel Aviv, and Poppy, your AI tutor, writes about it in Hebrew at your level. The words you save show up again in later lessons, inside new sentences.
To study a Hebrew article or video you picked yourself, LingQ below can import it.
- Choose a topic and a level, and the Hebrew is written to fit.
- Read Hebrew lessons, stories, and news about things you like.
- Tap a word for its meaning, or ask Poppy what a whole line says.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- Bubblegum teaches Modern Hebrew, so it has no course for Biblical Hebrew.
- You can't turn your own Hebrew books into lessons. However, you can paste a page in the chat, and Poppy will explain it.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
- Teaches the Hebrew Alphabet
Mobile
LingQ
LingQ's Mini Stories are short tales that practice the basic patterns of Hebrew. Read one with its words a tap away.
- 62 Hebrew Mini Stories for beginners.
- More than 4,790 Hebrew lessons, with over 242 hours of audio.
- Import a Hebrew article or video, and tap words to look them up.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Lingopie
Lingopie plays Hebrew series, including Instababe and Judy and the Big City. Watch a short scene twice, the second time with the English subtitles off.
- Watch Hebrew shows with Hebrew and English subtitles together.
- Tap a word in the subtitles to see its meaning and save it.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Other Apps We Looked At (4)
- HebrewPod101Extensive Reading in Hebrew for Absolute Beginners has 40 short lessons built on miniature books, and its dialogue lessons come with a teacher's explanation.
- PimsleurHalf-hour audio lessons where you answer out loud, with reading lessons added for the new alphabet.
- MangoConversation lessons with grammar and culture notes. Ask your library, since many offer it.
- ClozemasterOnce you read Hebrew fairly well, practice by choosing the word that completes each Hebrew sentence.
Chadshon is news in easy Hebrew from Israel's Ministry of Education. Its news items have vowel marks and some have audio. Open חדשות היום (today's news) for the current stories. News in Easy Hebrew is a podcast from Lingopie with a short news report in slow, clear Hebrew each day, about two and a half minutes long. SimplyTalk Hebrew shares good news in easy Hebrew twice a week.
Streetwise Hebrew is a bite-size podcast in English about the Hebrew people use on the street, slang included. Piece of Hebrew teaches Hebrew as real Israelis speak it, in videos aimed at intermediate students.
StoryWeaver has 85 free Hebrew children's storybooks, sorted from Level 1 to Level 5. Some books show the vowel marks. Hop! posts full episodes of children's shows and cartoons in Hebrew.
| What You Can Follow | Try This | You're Ready to Move On When |
|---|---|---|
| A few words at a time | A Level 1 storybook on StoryWeaver | You can read a page and say what happened |
| Short, simple sentences | LingQ Mini Stories or HebrewPod101's reading lessons | You can tell the story again without looking |
| Easy news | Chadshon, then the News in Easy Hebrew podcast | You can say what one story was about |
| Everyday conversations | Streetwise Hebrew, then a children's show on Hop! | You catch the phrases when you hear them |
| Longer videos | Piece of Hebrew, or a show on Lingopie with Hebrew subtitles | You follow most of a scene with the English subtitles off |
| Shows made for Israelis | A show from Kan 11, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation's channel on YouTube | You follow a show without needing subtitles |
| The news | A Hebrew news site, on a story you already know | You can read a report and say what is new in it |
An app you can use in your language may still explain Hebrew only in English, so try one lesson in your language before you pay.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Supported language pairs |
| LingQ | 17 | Full list |
| Lingopie | 6 | Full list |
| HebrewPod101 | 1 | Full list |
| Pimsleur | 3 | Full list |
| Mango | 2 | Full list |
| Clozemaster | 37 | Full list |
Which Hebrew app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Hebrew, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. If you'd rather start with picture books, try the Level 1 books on StoryWeaver. If you'd rather listen first, play an episode of News in Easy Hebrew.
Do I need the alphabet before I start reading?
To read the stories and news on this page, yes. Hebrew has 22 letters, and five of them change shape at the end of a word. Bubblegum's Hebrew Alphabet course teaches them with a picture for each letter, and it also covers the vowel marks that easy texts add, like the marks in שָׁלוֹם (hello).
Can I read real Hebrew news right away?
Real news moves fast and has many words you haven't met. Start with easy news like Chadshon. When its stories come easily, try a report on a story you already know.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Northwestern University, MENA Languages Program: the Hebrew alphabet (22 letters, final forms, written without vowels)
- Bubblegum: Hebrew and the Hebrew Alphabet course
- LingQ: Learn Hebrew online
- LingQ: Hebrew courses (Mini Stories, 62 lessons)
- LingQ: languages (Hebrew lessons and hours of audio)
- LingQ: what's free
- LingQ on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- Lingopie: languages on Lingopie (Hebrew shows)
- Lingopie: pricing
- Lingopie on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- HebrewPod101: Absolute Beginner lesson library (Extensive Reading in Hebrew for Absolute Beginners)
- HebrewPod101: pricing
- Innovative Language (HebrewPod101) on the App Store
- Chadshon: news in easy Hebrew (Israel Ministry of Education)
- News in Easy Hebrew by Lingopie (podcast)
- Streetwise Hebrew (podcast for Hebrew learners)
- Piece of Hebrew on YouTube
- SimplyTalk Hebrew on YouTube (Good News in Easy Hebrew)
- StoryWeaver: Hebrew storybooks
- Hop! on YouTube (full episodes of children's shows)
- Kan 11 on YouTube (Israeli Broadcasting Corporation)
- Pimsleur: Learn Hebrew
- Pimsleur on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
- Mango Languages: Hebrew (Modern)
- Mango Languages on the App Store
- Clozemaster: Hebrew sentence lists
- Clozemaster on the App Store (languages you can use it in)
