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This article is about the grammar of Modern Hebrew. For information on the various historical forms of Hebrew, see Hebrew language. Hebrew grammar is partly analytical, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than morphological cases. However, inflection does play an important role in the formation of the verbs, some prepositions, and the genitive construct of nouns. Note on the representation of Hebrew examples Since this article is intended to be useful to non-Hebrew speakers, all examples of Hebrew are represented using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), a system of phonetic notation that provides a standardized, accurate and unique way of representing the sounds of any spoken language. This presents the complication that not all Hebrew speakers pronounce Hebrew the same; for example, many speakers (primarily Sephardi Jews) distinguish between the letters ח and כ , pronouncing the former as and the latter as , while many other speakers pronounce them both as . For each such variation, this article uses the first transcription given at Hebrew phonology, which strives to represent the pronunciation used by a majority of Israeli Hebrew-speakers today. That being said, the IPA transcriptions have been slightly modified to incorporate some punctuation — hyphens, commas, and so on — indicating the structure of an example. Further, since the Hebrew writing system (its alphabet and niqqud) reflects not only phonology but also some grammar (for example, the sounds and are represented by a single letter, פ , since Hebrew grammatical rules generally determine which of the two sounds is to be used), Hebrew text is provided alongside IPA transcriptions in those cases where it has been deemed illustrative. (The Hebrew text may be presented with or without niqqud, as the example requires.) Sentence structure Sentence structure in Hebrew is somewhat similar to that in English, but there are a number of differences; notably, the verb to be is not used in the present tense, resulting in a number of special present-tense structures. Sentences with verbs As in English, most sentences have a subject, a verb, and possibly other arguments and complements. In this case, the word order is usually Subject-Verb-Object (SVO); however, this is somewhat flexible. A number of variations exist: Generally, Hebrew marks every noun in a sentence with some sort of preposition, with the exception of subjects and semantically indefinite direct objects; unlike English, there is no prepositionless indirect object (as in "He gave me the ball"), and very much unlike English, semantically definite direct objects are introduced by the preposition . Sentences without verbs While the verb to be does have present-tense forms, they are only used in exceptional circumstances. Instead, there are a number of special structures that are used: Verbs The Hebrew verb (פועל ) serves essentially the same functions as the English verb, but is constructed very differently: Hebrew verbs have much more internal structure. Every Hebrew verb is formed by casting a three- or sometimes four-consonant root (שורש ) into one of seven (בניינים, meaning buildings or constructions; the singular is , written henceforth as binyan). Most roots can be cast into more than one binyan; that is, more than one verb can be formed from the typical root. When this is the case, the different verbs are usually related in meaning, typically differing in voice, in valency, in semantic intensity, in aspect, or in more than one of these. Conjugation Each binyan has a certain pattern of conjugation; verbs in the same binyan are conjugated similarly. Nonetheless, there are some irregular verbs, and there are some patterns of exceptions; for example, most three-letter roots (triliterals) whose second letter is ו or י are so-called hollow roots, losing their second letter in binyan , in , and in much of . Every verb has a past tense, a present tense, a future tense, and a conditional mood, with the present tense doubling as a present participle. Other forms also exist for certain verbs: verbs in five of the binyanim have an imperative mood and an infinitive; verbs in four of the binyanim have gerunds; and verbs in one of the binyanim have a past participle. Finally, a very small number of fixed expressions include verbs in the jussive mood, which is essentially an extension of the imperative into the third person. Except for the infinitive and gerund, these forms are conjugated to reflect the number of their subject (singular or plural), as well as, depending on the form, its person (first, second, or third) or gender (masculine or feminine) or both. Verbs in Hebrew are identified, in dictionaries and elsewhere, by their third-person masculine singular past tense form; this differs from English verbs, which are identified by their infinitives. (Nonetheless, the Hebrew term for infinitive is shem po'al, which means verb name.) Further, each of the seven binyanim is identified by the third-person masculine singular past tense form of the root פ-ע-ל (P/F-'-L, meaning doing, action, etc.) cast into that binyan: , , , , , , and . Binyan paal Binyan pa'al, also called binyan (easy), is the most common binyan. Pa'al verbs are in the active voice, and can be either transitive or intransitive; that is, they may or may not take direct objects. Pa'al verbs are never formed from four-letter roots. Binyan pa'al is the only binyan whose verbs have past participles; for example, (desirable) is the past participle of (to want). Binyan nifal Verbs in binyan nif'al are always intransitive, but beyond that there is little restriction on their range of meanings. First of all, nif'al is the passive-voice counterpart of pa'al; in principle, any transitive pa'al verb can be rendered passive by taking its root and casting it into nif'al. Nonetheless, this is not nif'al& More commonly, it is pa'al& Other relationships between a pa'al verb and its nif'al counterpart can exist as well. One example is and : both mean to remember, but the latter implies that one had previously forgotten, rather like English to suddenly remember. Another is and : both mean to meet, but the latter implies an intentional meeting, while the former often means to run into (in the non-literal sense). Finally, sometimes a nif'al verb has no pa'al counterpart, or at least is much more common than its pa'al counterpart; (to stick, intransitive) is a fairly common verb, but (to cling) is all but non-existent by comparison. (Indeed, 's transitive counterpart is , of binyan hif'il; see below.) Like pa'al verbs, nif'al verbs are never formed from four-letter roots. Nif'al verbs, like verbs in the other passive binyanim (pu'al and huf'al, described below), do not have gerunds; however, they do have infinitives and imperatives. Binyan piel Binyan pi'el, like binyan pa'al, consists of transitive and intransitive verbs in the active voice, though there is perhaps a greater tendency for pi'el verbs to be transitive. Most roots with a pa'al verb do not have a pi'el verb, and vice versa, but even so, there are many roots that do have both. Sometimes the pi'el verb is a more intense version of the pa'al verb; for example, (to spring) is a more intense version of (to jump), and (to smash, to shatter, transitive) is a more intense version of (to break, transitive). In other cases, a pi'el verb acts as a causative counterpart to the pa'al verb with the same root; for example, (to teach) is essentially the causative of (to learn). And in yet other cases, the nature of the relationship is less obvious; for example, means to count, while means to narrate (or to cut (hair)), and means to open (transitive), while means to develop (transitive). Binyan pual Binyan pu'al is the passive-voice counterpart of binyan pi'el. Unlike binyan nif'al, it is only used for the passive voice. It is therefore not very commonly used in ordinary speech, except that the present participles of a number of pu'al verbs are used as ordinary adjectives: means mixed-up (from , the passive of , to confuse), means interested (from , the passive of , to interest), means famous (from , the passive of , to publicize), and so on. (Indeed, the same is true of many pi'el verbs, including the pi'el counterparts of two of the above examples: , confusing, and , interesting. The difference is that pi'el verbs are also frequently used as verbs, whereas pu'al is much less common.) Pu'al verbs do not have gerunds, imperatives, or infinitives. Binyan hifil Binyan hif'il is another active binyan. Hif'il verbs are often causative counterparts of verbs in other binyanim; examples include (to dictate; the causative of , to write), (to turn on (a light), transitive; the causative of , (for a light) to turn on, intransitive), and (to impress; the causative of , to be impressed). Nonetheless, not all are causatives of other verbs; for example, (to promise). Further, some are even ergative; for example, (to start) can be transitive, as in (he has started his speech), or intransitive and unaccusative, as in (his speech has started). Binyan hufal Binyan huf'al is much like binyan pu'al, except that it corresponds to hif'il instead of to pi'el. Like pu'al, it is not commonly used in ordinary speech, except in present participles that have become adjectives, such as (familiar, from , the passive of , to know (a person)) and (excessive, from , the passive of , to exaggerate). Like pu'al verbs, huf'al verbs do not have gerunds, imperatives, or infinitives. Binyan hitpael Binyan hitpa'el is rather like binyan nif'al, in that all hitpa'el verbs are intransitive, and most have a reflexive sense. Indeed, many hitpa'el verbs are reflexive counterparts to other verbs with the same root; for example, (to wash oneself, i.e. usually to shower) is the reflexive of (to wash, transitive), and (to shave oneself, i.e. to shave, intransitive) is the reflexive of (to shave, transitive). Some hitpa'el verbs are a combination of causative and reflexive; for example, (to get one's hair cut) is the causative reflexive of (to cut (hair)), and (to get one's picture taken) is the causative reflexive of (to take a picture (of someone or something)). Hitpa'el verbs can also be reciprocal; for example, (to write to each other, i.e. to correspond) is the reciprocal of (to write). In all of the above uses, the hitpa'el verb contrasts with a pu'al or huf'al verb in two ways: firstly, the subject of the hitpa'el verb is generally either performing the action, or at least complicit in it, whereas the subject of the pu'al or huf'al verb is generally not; and secondly, pu'al and huf'al verbs often convey a sense of completeness, which hitpa'el verbs generally do not. So whereas the sentence (I am photographed, using pu'al) means something like there exists a photo of me, implying that the photo already exists, and not specifying whether the speaker caused the photo to be taken, the sentence (I am photographed, using hitpa'el) means something like I'm having my picture taken, implying that the picture does not exist yet, and that the speaker is causing the picture to be taken. In other cases, hitpa'el verbs are ordinary intransitive verbs; for example, (to behave), while structurally the reciprocal of (to drive), is essentially a separate verb; in talking about a car that drove itself, one would say (a car that drives itself, using nahag), not (a car that behaves, using hitnaheg). Nouns The Hebrew noun (שם עצם is inflected for number and state, but not for case. Nouns are generally related to verbs (by shared roots), but their formation is not as systematic, often due to loanwords from foreign languages. Gender: masculine and feminine Every noun in Hebrew has a gender, either masculine or feminine; for example, ספר (book) is masculine, while דלת (door) is feminine. There is not a strict system of formal gender, but there is a tendency for nouns ending in ת () or ה (usually ) to be feminine and for nouns ending in other letters to be masculine. There is a very strong tendency toward natural gender for nouns referring to people and some animals. Such nouns generally come in pairs, one masculine and one feminine; for example, איש means man and אישה means woman. (When discussing mixed-sex groups, the plural of the masculine noun is used.) Number: singular, plural, and dual Hebrew nouns are inflected for grammatical number; as in English, count nouns have a singular form for referring to one object and a plural form for referring to more than one. Unlike in English, some count nouns also have separate dual forms, for referring to two objects; see below. Masculine nouns generally form their plural by adding the suffix ים : The addition of the extra syllable often causes the vowel in the first syllable to shorten: Many common two-syllable masculine nouns, called segolates because most (but not all) of them have the vowel () in both syllables, undergo more drastic characteristic vowel changes in the plural: Feminine nouns ending in or generally drop this ending and add , usually without any vowel changes: Nouns ending in also replace this ending with , with an in the preceding syllable usually changing to : Nouns ending in and replace these endings with and , respectively: Plural exceptions A large number of masculine nouns take the usually-feminine ending in the plural: A small number of feminine nouns take the usually-masculine ending : Many plurals are completely irregular: Dual Hebrew also has a dual number, expressed in the ending , but even in ancient times its use was very restricted. In modern times, it is usually used in expressions of time and number. These nouns have plurals as well, which are used for numbers higher than two, for example: The dual is also used for some body parts, for instance: In this case, even if there are more than two, the dual is still used, for instance ("a dog has four legs"). The dual is also used for certain objects that are "inherently" dual. These words have no singular, for instance משקפיים (eyeglasses) and מספריים (scissors). As in the English "two pairs of pants", the plural of these words uses the word זוג (pair), e.g. ("two pairs-of scissors-DUAL"). The name of the city גבעתיים Givataim (Тwo Peaks, or Twin Peaks) is an atypical use of the dual number. Noun construct Hebrew's genitive case is achieved by placing two nouns next to each other. This is called a noun construct (סמיכות ). The second noun can be viewed as an adjective modifying the first noun. The first noun in a noun construct must be in its construct form. For most nouns, the construct form is derived fairly easily from the normal (indefinite) form: There are many words (usually ancient ones) that have changes in vocalization in the construct form. For example, the construct form of (house) is . In addition, the definite article is never placed on the first noun (the one in the construct form). Possession Possession is generally indicated using the preposition (של, of or belonging to): In literary style, nouns are inflected to show possession through noun declension; a personal suffix is added to the construct form of the noun (discussed above). So, (books of) can be inflected to form (my books), (your books), (our books), and so forth, while (apartment of) gives (my apartment), (your apartment), (our apartment), etc. While the use of these forms is mostly restricted to formal and literary speech, they are in regular use in some colloquial phrases, such as (literally "what peace-of-you?", i.e. "what is your peace?", i.e. "how are you?") or (in my opinion). In addition, the inflected possessive is commonly used for terms of kinship; for instance, (my son), (their daughter), and (his wife) are preferred to , , and . Noun derivation In the same way that Hebrew verbs are conjugated by applying various prefixes, suffixes and internal vowel combinations, Hebrew nouns can be formed by applying various "meters" (Hebrew ) to the same roots. Gerunds are one example (see above). Many abstract nouns are derived from another noun, or from a verb (usually one in binyan hitpa'el, using the suffix : The meter, applied to a verb, indicates "someone who does this": The suffix denotes a smaller version of something: Repeating the last two letters of a noun or adjective can also denote a smaller or lesser version: The mishkal can have a variety of meanings: New nouns are also often formed by the combination of two existing stems: A combination of methods (the example has the kat'lan meter plus the ending ): Adjectives In Hebrew, an adjective (שם תואר ) comes after the noun and agrees with it in gender and number: Adjectives ending in -i have slightly different forms: Masculine nouns that take the "feminine" plural ending still take masculine plural adjectives, e.g. מקומות יפים (beautiful places). The reverse goes for feminine plural nouns ending in , e.g. מילים ארוכות (long words). Note also that many adjectives, like segolate nouns, change their vowel structure in the feminine and plural. Use of the definite article with adjectives In Hebrew, unlike in English, an attributive adjective takes the definite article if it modifies a definite noun (either a proper noun, or a definite common noun). When a definite common noun is with an attributive adjective, the article may be omitted from the noun; hence, either of the following may be heard: In the case of a proper noun, the adjective can be interpreted as an appositive noun; for example, contrast the following: Adjectives derived from verbs Many adjectives in Hebrew are derived from the present tense of verbs. These adjectives are inflected the same way as the verbs they are derived from: Adverbs The Hebrew term for adverb is תואר הפועל . Hebrew forms adverbs in several different ways. Some adjectives have corresponding one-word adverbs. In many cases, the adverb is simply the adjective's masculine singular form: Most adjectives, however, do not have corresponding one-word adverbs; rather, they have corresponding adverb phrases, formed using one of the following approaches: The use of one of these methods does not necessarily preclude the use of the others; for example, slowly may be either (a one-word adverb), or (literally in slowness; a somewhat more elegant way of expressing the same thing). Finally, like in English, there are various adverbs that do not have corresponding adjectives at all: Prepositions Like English, Hebrew is primarily a prepositional language, with a large number of prepositions. Several of Hebrew's most common prepositions, however, unlike any of English's, are prefixes rather than distinct words; for example, English in the room is Hebrew ba-kheder. The preposition et The preposition et plays an important role in Hebrew grammar. Its most common use is to introduce a direct object; for example, English I see the book is in Hebrew ani ro'e et ha-sefer (literally I see et the-book). However, et is only used with semantically definite direct objects, such as nouns with the, proper nouns, and personal pronouns; with semantically indefinite direct objects, it is simply omitted: ani ro'e sefer (I see a book) does not use et. Et is also used to introduce definite subjects of the verb of existence. For example, in Hayu li et ha-sfarim (literally Were to-me et the-books, i.e. I had the books), ha-sfarim is the subject (hence the plural verb hayu), but is nonetheless introduced with et. Note that this is particular to the syntax of this sentence, and not to its semantics; the sentence Ha-sfarim hayu etzli (literally The-books were at-me, i.e. I had the books) has essentially the same meaning, but does not make use of et. Finally, et has a number of special uses; for example, when the adjective tzarikh (in need (of)) takes a definite noun complement, it uses the preposition et: hayiti tzarikh et ze (literally I-was in-need-of et this, i.e. I needed this). Here as elsewhere, the et is dropped with an indefinite complement: hayu tzrekhim yoter (literally were in-need-of more, i.e. they needed more). This is perhaps related to the verb-like fashion in which the adjective is used. Indirect objects Indirect objects are objects requiring a preposition other than את et. The preposition used depends on the verb, and these can be very different from the one used in English. A good dictionary is required to look these up. In the case of definite indirect objects, the preposition will replace את et. The Hebrew grammar distinguishes between various kinds of indirect objects, according to what they specify. Thus, there is a division between objects for time (te'ur z'man), objects for place (te'ur makom), objects for reason (te'ur siba) and many others. Impersonal sentences A sentence may lack a subject. In this case it is called סתמי s'tami, or indefinite. If several parts of the sentence have the same function and are attached to the same word, they are called kolel, or collective. Two or more sentences that do not share common parts and are separated by comma are called משפט מחובר mishpat m'khubar, or joined sentences. In many cases, the second sentence uses a pronoun that stands for the other's subject; they are generally interconnected. Subordinate clauses Like English, Hebrew allows clauses () to serve as parts of a sentence. A sentence containing a subordinate clause is called a . Subordinate clauses almost always begin with the conjunction ש (usually that), which attaches as a prefix to the word that follows it. For example, in the sentence (Yosi says that he is eating), the subordinate clause (that he is eating) serves as the direct object of the verb (says). Unlike English, Hebrew does not have a large number of subordinating conjunctions; rather, subordinate clauses almost always act as nouns and can be introduced by prepositions in order to serve as adverbs. For example, the English As I said, there's nothing we can do in Hebrew is (literally Like that-I-said, there-isn't what to-do). That said, relative clauses, which act as adjectives, are also formed using . For example, English Yosi sees the man who is eating apples is in Hebrew (literally Yosi sees et the-man that-eats apples). In this use sometimes acts as a relativizer rather than as a relative pronoun; that is, sometimes the pronoun remains behind in the clause: , which translates to She knows the man I talked about, literally means She knows et the-man that-I-talked about him. This is because in Hebrew, a preposition (in this case ) cannot appear without its object, so the him () could not be dropped. | |||||||
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