LC Hebrew Studies flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Final letter forms

Five Hebrew letters change shape at the end of a word: kaf (ך), mem (ם), nun (ן), pe (ף), tsadi (ץ). They keep the same sound as their regular forms.

Definite article ha-

The prefix הַ- (ha-) marks a noun as definite. Attributive adjectives modifying a definite noun also take the prefix: ha-sefer ha-gadol, 'the big book'.

Direct object marker et

The particle אֶת (et) precedes a definite direct object but never an indefinite one. Et ha-sefer means 'the book' as object; sefer alone needs no marker.

Hebrew number agreement

Numbers 3-10 take plural nouns (shlosha yeladim, 'three children'). Numbers 11 and above take singular nouns (ahad asar yeled, 'eleven children').

Binyan system

Hebrew verbs are formed by placing a root in one of seven patterns (binyanim): pa'al, nif'al, pi'el, pu'al, hitpa'el, hif'il, huf'al. The binyan determines voice and nuance.

Active and passive binyanim

Pa'al, pi'el, and hif'il are active. Nif'al, pu'al, and huf'al are passive. Hitpa'el is typically reflexive or reciprocal, as in hitlabesh, 'to get dressed'.

Hebrew present tense (benoni)

Hebrew has no true present tense; the benoni participle functions as present and inflects for gender and number: kotev (m sg), kotevet (f sg), kotvim (m pl), kotvot (f pl).

Construct state

A noun before another noun takes the construct form, often shortening: bayit becomes beit in beit ha-sefer, 'the school'. The second noun carries definiteness.

Pronominal preposition suffixes

Prepositions take pronoun suffixes instead of separate pronouns: li ('to me'), lekha ('to you, m'), lakh ('to you, f'), lo ('to him'), la ('to her'), lanu ('to us').

Bialik's Kishinev poem

Hayim Nahman Bialik's 'Be-Ir ha-Harega' ('In the City of Slaughter') responds to the 1903 Kishinev pogrom and became a landmark of modern Hebrew poetry.

S.Y. Agnon

Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888-1970) won the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature. His novels include 'Tmol Shilshom' ('Only Yesterday') and 'Ore'ah Nata Lalun'.

Tanakh divisions

The Hebrew Bible has three sections: Torah (Pentateuch), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). The acronym TaNaKh derives from these three names.

Yehuda Amichai

Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) is a leading modern Israeli poet known for colloquial Hebrew, biblical allusion, and ironic, personal treatments of war, love, and Jerusalem.

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922) led the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language and compiled a major historical dictionary of the language.

Shalosh regalim

The three pilgrimage festivals are Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Weeks), and Sukkot (Booths). In Temple times Israelites traveled to Jerusalem for each.

High Holy Days

Rosh Hashanah (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) are the High Holy Days. The ten days between them are the Ten Days of Repentance.

Shabbat boundaries

Shabbat runs from Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall. It ends with havdalah, a ceremony separating sacred time from the ordinary week.

Kashrut rules

Kosher mammals chew cud and have split hooves; kosher fish have fins and scales. Meat and dairy are not cooked or eaten together.

Mishnah and Gemara

The Talmud has two layers: the Mishnah, edited around 200 CE by Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi, and the Gemara, the later commentary in Palestinian and Babylonian versions.

Maimonides (Rambam)

Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), known as Rambam, wrote the legal code 'Mishneh Torah' and the philosophical work 'Guide of the Perplexed'.

Vav-consecutive

In biblical narrative, vav prefixed to an imperfect verb converts it to past meaning, and to a perfect verb converts it to future meaning. This is the vav ha-hipukh.

Construct chain translation

Hebrew construct chains reverse in English: shir ha-shirim is literally 'song of the songs', translated 'Song of Songs'. The last noun is usually the head in English.

Parsing an unknown verb

Identify the three-consonant root, then the binyan, then person, gender, and number. These four steps usually resolve an unfamiliar verb form.

Ma nishma

Ma nishma is an idiom meaning 'how are you?' or 'what's up?'. Literally it is 'what is heard', so a literal translation misleads.

Poetic parallelism

Biblical poetry often pairs two lines of similar meaning (parallelism). Comparing parallel terms clarifies the semantic range of an ambiguous word.

Stress shifts meaning

Hebrew stress can distinguish words: 'SHava' (equal, feminine) versus 'shaVA' (returned, feminine). Mark stress in oral transcription to avoid ambiguity.

Vav conjunction allomorphs

The conjunction vav is ve- normally but u- before labials and shva: u-va-bayit ('and to the house'), ve-ha-bayit ('and the house').

Guttural consonants

Het (ח) and khaf (כ/ך) are pronounced as voiceless uvular or velar fricatives. Learners often substitute a plain h or k, which changes the word.

Resh pronunciation

Modern Israeli resh (ר) is usually a voiced uvular or velar fricative, not the alveolar trill of many other languages. Mispronunciation marks a foreign accent.

Hebrew registers

Three registers matter: lashon ha-Mikra (biblical), lashon Hakhamim (rabbinic), and ivrit meduberet (modern spoken). Quotations may mix them within one text.

Nominal sentences

Hebrew often omits the present tense of 'to be': ani student means 'I am a student'. No copula is needed between subject and predicate.

Hebrew vowel phonemes

Modern Hebrew has about five vowel phonemes, though niqqud marks more distinctions in vocalized text. Everyday writing omits vowel points entirely.