SACE Stage 2 Hebrew (continuers) cheat sheet

Register rule: use the informal second person (את/אתה, plural אתם/אתן) with peers and friends, but the honorific plural and titles (אדוני, גברתי) with strangers, officials and elders.

Greeting sequence: שלום or בוקר טוב on meeting, מה נשמע / מה שלומך as the follow-up question, and להתראות / יום טוב on parting; night parting uses לילה טוב.

The verb ענה takes the preposition ל before the person answered (עניתי למורה), whereas שאל takes את (שאלתי את המורה).

Request softening: the imperative sounds blunt, so a request is normally framed with אפשר...? or with the infinitive plus a modal (אפשר בבקשה ל...), and refusal is softened with סליחה or אני מצטער.

Turn-taking markers: נכון, בדיוק, ממש כך signal agreement; אבל, לעומת זאת, מצד שני signal contrast; לכן, בגלל זה signal consequence.

Politeness formula pair: תודה / תודה רבה answered by על לא דבר or בבקשה; סליחה used both to apologise and to attract attention before a question.

Gender agreement is obligatory in direct address and self-reference: a male speaker says אני מוכן and a female says אני מוכנה; mixed groups take the masculine plural.

Formal interaction opener for phone or service calls: שלום, מדבר/ת followed by the speaker's name, then אפשר לדבר עם...? to request another person.

Text-type cue: a heading in the impersonal third person plus dates and statistics signals an informational article, whereas first-person pronouns and direct address signal a personal column or letter.

Root-and-pattern decoding: most Hebrew nouns and verbs are built from a three-letter שורש placed in a משקל or בניין; identifying the root narrows the meaning even when the exact form is unknown.

בניין identification: פָּעַל is the simple active, הִפְעִיל is causative (להכניס = to cause to enter), נִפְעַל and הִתְפַּעֵל are reflexive or passive in sense.

Connector meanings that carry argument structure: לעומת זאת (in contrast), כתוצאה מכך (as a result), למרות ש (although, followed by a verb), בניגוד ל (unlike, followed by a noun).

Pronoun-object suffixes attach to prepositions and change the referent: בו (in it), בה (in her/it), בהם (in them), לי/לך/לו mark the beneficiary; missing the suffix reverses who is affected.

Definite direct object takes the marker את; its absence before a definite noun is a reliable signal that the noun is not the object of that verb.

Construct state (סמיכות) chains two nouns with the first unstressed and the second definite: בית הספר means the school, not a house of the book; translate the pair as one unit.

Numbers 3 to 10 agree in gender opposite to the noun: שלושה ספרים (masculine noun, feminine numeral form) versus שלוש מחברות (feminine noun, masculine form).

Inference questions require textual evidence: locate the sentence that supports the answer, then state the conclusion and cite the wording that licenses it rather than relying on general knowledge.

Text-frame rule: a formal letter opens with שלום רב or לכבוד and closes with בברכה plus the name; an informal message opens with שלום or היי and closes with something like נשתמע or להתראות.

Argument paragraph structure: statement of position, supporting reason introduced by מפני ש or כיוון ש, concrete example, then a concluding sentence with לכן or לסיכום.

Tense selection in narrative: past forms (כתבתי, הלכתי) carry the events, present forms carry description and background, and the infinitive after a modal carries intention (רציתי לספר).

Cohesion devices to deploy deliberately: pronoun substitution for repeated nouns, synonyms to avoid repetition, and discourse markers such as ראשית, שנית, בנוסף, לבסוף to order points.

Word-order default is verb-subject-object in neutral sentences, but fronting a time or place phrase (בשנה שעברה טסנו...) is normal and does not change the meaning.

Agreement checklist before submitting: subject-verb person, number and gender; adjective-noun gender and definiteness (הילד הגדול, not הילד גדול for a definite noun); preposition choice with verbs.

Register consistency: do not mix informal address (אתה/את) into a formal letter or honorific plural into a message to a friend; keep one register throughout the text.

Length and task control: count required content points from the prompt, allocate one paragraph or one message section per point, and check that each required point is explicitly present before finalising.