# Pronunciation of להיות



## Macnas

I was just wondering if the ה is actually pronounced in להיות. I've heard the word, and I still can't quite tell if it's more like _lihyot_ or _liyot_.

Same question with the first ה in the future tense forms אהיה, תהיה, etc. (I know the second ה isn't)

תודה רבה לכולם


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## Nirshamay

Personally, I think that the most adequate and correct form to pronounce it is "lihyot" and hence I would pronounce אהיה, תהיה in the same way.


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## -Epic-

The correct form is lihyot but on the street both are common


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## Gadyc

In "street spoken hebrew" few letters disappear or are misprononced. 

But I think I never heard this happen to ה . 

Gadyc


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## pachyderm

Normally [liot]. Occasionally you can hear the more careful pronounciations [liiot] or [lihiot]. The "standard" pronunciation [lihyot] is extremely rare and would be an abnormality in Modern Hebrew phonology.


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## yotg

Macnas said:


> I was just wondering if the ה is actually pronounced in להיות. I've heard the word, and I still can't quite tell if it's more like _lihyot_ or _liyot_.
> 
> Same question with the first ה in the future tense forms אהיה, תהיה, etc. (I know the second ה isn't)
> 
> תודה רבה לכולם


 
The proper pronunciation is "lihiyot", "eheye" and "tihiye".
De facto, most of us say "liyot", "e'eye" and "tiye".


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## david314

In my opinion, the proper pronounciation is indeed: *lee,hee-ote *_(as there is a chirik under both the ל & ה_ )


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## Macnas

david314 said:


> In my opinion, the proper pronounciation is indeed: *lee,hee-ote *_(as there is a chirik under both the ל & ה_ )





Is there? The books I have here use a shva under the ה, so they show it as לִהְיוֹת

Is that a mistake then, or a variant, or what?


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## david314

Macnas said:


> Is there? The books I have here use a shva under the ה, so they show it as לִהְיוֹת
> 
> Is that a mistake then, or a variant, or what?


   I apologize as I must have been mistaken.  Thank you for showing me the error of my ways.  בהצלחה רבה


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