Pronunciation and language concepts

Question 1

vowels and lengths

Answer 1

Long
   וֹ      cholem-vav
   י ִ      chireq-yod
   וּ      shureq
 Medium
   ָ      qamets
   ֵ      tsere
    ֹ      cholem
 Short
   ַ      patach
   ִ      chireq
   ֻ      qibbuts
    ֶ      segol
   ָ      qamets-chatuf
 Very Short
   ֲ      chatef-patach
   ֱ      chatef-segol
   ֳ      chatef-qamets

Mark David Futato, Beginning Biblical Hebrew (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 8.

Question 2

vowels and sounds

Answer 2

1. qamets ָ a as in father אָ
   2. patach ַ a as in father אַ
   3. chatef-patach ֲ a as in father אֲ
   4. tsere ֵ ey as in hey אֵ
   5. segol ֶ e as in yet אֶ
   6. chatef-segol ֱ e as in yet אֱ
   7. chireq ִ e as in she אִ
   8. chireq-yod י ִ e as in she אִי
   9. cholem ֹ o as in snow אֹ
   10. cholem-vav וֹ o as in snow אוֹ
   11. qibbuts ֻ u as in rule אֻ
   12. shureq וּ u as in rule אוּ
   13. qamets-chatuf ָ o as in odd אָ
   14. chatef-qamets ֳ o as in odd אֳ

Question 3

vowels and groupings

Answer 3

“a” - cholem-vav, qamets, patach, chatef-patach

“e” - chireq-yod, tsere, chireq, segol, chatef-segol

“u” - shureq, cholem, qibbuts, qamets-chatuf, chatef-qamets

Question 4

weak dagesh

Answer 4

begadkefat
bet, gimel, dalet, kaf, pe, tov

Make a hard sound (V to B, KH to K, F to P)

If a begadkefat dagesh is after a consonant, it is weak
If a begadkefat dagesh is at the beginning of a word, it is weak.

Question 5

open syllables

Answer 5

consonant + vowel

Question 6

closed syllables

Answer 6

consonant + vowel + consonant

Question 7

silent sheva

Answer 7

if a short vowel comes before the consonant with the sheva, it is silent

Question 8

vocal sheva

Answer 8

if a sheva is under the first consonant of a word, it is vocal

If a sheva is not behind a short vowel it is vocal

if two shevas are in a row and the first is silent then the second is vocal

Question 9

strong dagesh

Answer 9

if a dagesh in a consonant other than a begadkefat, it is strong dagesh

if a dagesh in a consonant is in a begadkefat and the sound before is a consonant, it is weak dagesh

if the sound before the begadkefat is a vowel, the dagesh is strong

Question 10

how to use personal pronouns in a sentence

“I am a father”

Answer 10

They are always the subject of the sentence
The predicate tells something about the subject

For example: אֲנִי אָב (I am a father)

Question 11

indefinite article (a or an)

Answer 11

does not exist in Hebrew

Question 12

definite article (the)

Answer 12

Regular words:
הַ (he with a patach under it) and a strong dagesh under the first letter of the word

Words with a he or a khet
הַ with no strong dagesh but the guttural is doubled as if it had a dagesh

Words with an alef, ayin, or resh
הָ - the short vowel is lengthened to a medium vowel

On nouns beginning with הָ חָ and עָ the article is usually הֶ

Question 13

gutturals

Answer 13

א ה ח ע and ר

Never will have a dagesh

Question 14

feminine singular (fs)

Answer 14

In general, words that end in ה ָ

Note that there are exceptions to the rule

Parts of the body that come in pairs look masculine but are feminine

Question 15

feminine plural (fp)

Answer 15

וֹת ending (holem vav tav) - ot

Question 16

masculine plural (mp)

Answer 16

יִם (yod hireq mem) - eem

Question 17

dual form (md, fd)

Two days

Answer 17

Used for things that come in natural pairs

Nouns in the dual are marked by the יִם ַ (patach yod hireq mem) ending (ayeem)

יוֹמַיִם (two days)

Question 18

root

Answer 18

the basic building block of the Hebrew word. Usually three consonants minus the vowels.

for example, the root of מֶלֶךְ (“king”) and מַלְכוּת (“kingdom”) is מלך.

Question 19

pattern, qal, niphal

Answer 19

pattern is the root plus the characteristic added elements

qal - “light / simple” is the simple active pattern - always third person masculine

niphal - passive - prefixing a nun to the root

Question 20

All possible conjugations for Hebrew verbs

Answer 20

finite - conjugated for person, gender, and number
perfect, imperfect, and imperative

FPII - Finite perfection - imperfect and imperative.

non-finite = conjugated either for gender and number or not at all
participle, infinitive absolute, and infinitive construct

NF-PA-IA-IC - Non finite part. Infinite atoms. Infinite constructs.

Changing from one conjugation to another changes the use, that is, the time of or the kind of situation expressed by the verb; for example, in the perfect, סָפַר could be translated “he counted,” but translated “he will count” in the imperfect.

Mark David Futato, Beginning Biblical Hebrew (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 30.

Question 21

parsing

Answer 21

identifying the elements of a verb

the order for parsing is (1) verb (2) pattern (3) conjugation (4) person (5) gender (6) number (7) root

VPC-PGNR
Vines pulpit commentary. Page number.

For example:
pattern conjugation conjugation person gender number root
הָלַךְ qal perfect 3 m s הלך

Mark David Futato, Beginning Biblical Hebrew (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 31.

Question 22

Two types of perfect verbs

Answer 22

There are two types of perfect verbs in the Qal: “action” and “stative.” Whether a given verb is action or stative will often be indicated by the vowel under the second consonant, called the “theme vowel.” The theme vowel of action verbs is patach ( ַ ). The theme vowel of stative verbs is most often tsere ( ֵ ), but sometimes cholem ( ֹ ). Tsere ( ֵ ) as a theme vowel will usually occur only in the 3ms form; in the other forms patach ( ַ ) will occur; for example: כָּבֵד, but כָּבַדְנוּ.

The perfect conjugation is used in a variety of ways. Only two uses are introduced at this point: “definite perfect” and “stative perfect.”
➤ The definite perfect, a use of action verbs, expresses complete action in the past and is best translated into English with a simple past tense.

➤ The stative perfect, a use of stative verbs, expresses a “state of being”; for example, “he is old,” and “she is young,” and is best translated into English with a present tense.

The use of the perfect will be the same in all the patterns, with the exception of the stative perfect, which is a use found only in the qal.

Mark David Futato, Beginning Biblical Hebrew (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 32.