^ 6.Talmidei Rabbi Yonah maintain that it is proper to recite Shema with cantillation signs and there are those who are accustomed to enhancing the mitzvah in that way (Shulchan Aruch 61:24). Others say that since kavanah is of principal importance, if someone finds that reciting Shema with cantillation signs disrupts his concentration, it is better that he recite Shema without them (Rama; Mishnah Berurah 61:38).
The Mishnah Berurah 61:40 writes that, according to the majority of poskim, a person can fulfill his obligation of Keriat Shema by hearing another person recite it. In the opinion of the Aruch HaShulchan 62:8, one can fulfill his obligation by hearing Shema on condition that a minyan is present. (There is disagreement as to whether the person fulfilling his obligation by hearing the Shema is required to understand the whole paragraph. See Mishnah Berurah and Ishei Yisrael 20:26.)

^ 7.This is problematic, for translations are never precisely like the original and if Chazal say that one who recites Shema in any language fulfilled his obligation, it can then be understood that it is unnecessary for the translation to be perfectly accurate. The Aruch HaShulchan 62:4 explains that, indeed, during the time of the Mishnah and Talmud, they completely understood the Hebrew language. However, today, we have doubts regarding the meaning of some words, and therefore we cannot translate perfectly. The Aruch HaShulchan continues by giving some examples of uncertainties and concludes, "Therefore at this time, it is forbidden to recite the Shema, the prayers, and all the berachot in any language other than the holy tongue. And that is what the prominent learned scholars taught for approximately eighty years." Still, this remains problematic, for were there no doubts regarding language prior to that time? If so, why did they not teach then that one may not fulfill his obligation with a translation? Maybe this question was not very common and therefore it was not written down. Or perhaps it is possible to say that nowadays (especially after the invention of the printing press) we are more meticulous concerning the precise meaning of the words, and as a result doubts have increased. Hence, regarding our translations today, there is no precision, and therefore one may not fulfill his obligation with them. However, when people were not so meticulous in translating the external meaning of the word, but rather focused on the idea that could be understood from the context, the translation was thought to be exact. As a rule , even today, the Makor Chayim 62:2 writes that a ger tzedek (righteous convert) who does not read or understand Hebrew may recite Shema in translation.

^ 8.According to the Shulchan Aruch 63:1, based on the majority of Rishonim, one may l'chatchilah recite Shema while lying on his side. However, according to Talmidei Rabbeinu Yonah, only when a person has already gotten undressed, lies down, and it is difficult for him to sit up, is he permitted to recite Shema on his side, yet, l'chatchilah, Shema should not be recited while lying on one’s side. The Rama rules like them. Regarding the recital of the bedtime Shema, which is not a biblical obligation, it is the opinion of the Magen Avraham that one need not be strict about this. Also see Mishnah Berurah 239:6.
^ 9.The Shulchan Aruch, in 24:5 and 61:25, explains that a person takes the two tzitziyot in front of him. So writes Yam Shel Shlomo and the Gra in Ma’aseh Rav 39. There is an additional reason to do so, for sometimes the search for the two tzitziyot in back can disrupt one’s concentration while saying Birkat Ahavat Olam. However, the Ari says that one should take hold of all four tzitziyot, as is brought by Kaf HaChaim 24:8, and so it is written in the Birkei Yosef and Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 17:7. The Birkei Yosef writes in the name of the Ari that one should hold his tzitziyot in his left hand between his ring finger and his pinky; so writes the Mishnah Berurah 24:4. Also see Kaf HaChaim 24:9.
A few Acharonim write that a person should gather his tzitziyot when he says, "And bring us in peace from the four corners of the earth" in the berachah of Ahavat Olam (Derech HaChaim, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 17:7).
^ 10.The Acharonim are divided. According to the Mahari Ayash, Sha’arei Teshuvah, and many others, because he heard the chazan say "Hashem Elokeichem emet," even though he did not finish saying Shema, those three words are considered part of the 248 words. That is the Ashkenazic minhag and the minhag of a few Sephardim (as is clarified in Sha’arei Tefillah). However, the Kaf HaChaim 16 writes, based on Kavanot HaAri, that the recital of the three words must be in order. Therefore, if he heard the chazan say them before he concluded his recital of Shema, he repeats individually "Hashem Elokeichem emet."
There is also a difference of minhag regarding how the chazan (and according to the Kaf HaChaim also an individual praying) should complete these words, for if he says, "Hashem Elokeichem emet" twice, he will have recited 249 words. Asarah Ma’amarot and the Gra maintain that when the chazan finishes reciting Shema he should only say "Hashem Elokeichem" and afterwards go back and say "Hashem Elokeichem emet." The Shulchan Aruch and the Pri Megadim write that the chazan should also say "emet" the first time so as not to interrupt between "Elokeichem" and "emet" and that one of them is not considered part of the 248 because it belongs to the berachah "Emet V’Yatziv." That is how Ashkenazim practice. It is the custom of the Sephardim that at the conclusion of the Shema the chazan says out loud "Hashem Elokeichem" and the congregation completes the words and says after him "emet." At the same time, the chazan says "emet" quietly. Afterwards the chazan repeats the words "Hashem Elokeichem emet" out loud (Kaf HaChaim 61:12).
According to the Chesed La’alafim, it is the Sephardic custom that the congregation only says "emet" out loud after the chazan when they finish together with the chazan. However, if they finish before him, they say "emet" individually so as not to pause between "Elokeichem" and "emet" and they should not repeat the word "emet" after the chazan recites it. According to the Kaf HaChaim 61:12, when they finish individually, they do not say "emet," but rather wait until the chazan finishes and answer after him "emet."
In Ma’ariv , a person who did not hear the chazan, according to the Kaf HaChaim, should individually complete the words "Hashem Elokeichem emet." The Ashkenazic minhag is either to say "Kel Melech Ne’eman" before the recital of Shema or, while saying "emet," to have in mind that it represents the three names of Hashem (Mishnah Berurah 12). Ma’amar Mordechai writes that it is not necessary to complete 248 words in Ma’ariv, since the ruling in the Gemara is that there is no requirement to say the Vayomer paragraph at night.