Bagrut Hebrew Language & Expression cheat sheet

Identify the text type first: informational texts present facts and explanations; argumentative texts present a claim (ta'ana) supported by reasons and evidence.

Main idea (ra'ayon markazi) is the sentence the rest of the paragraph serves; test each candidate by asking whether the other sentences support or explain it.

Distinguish claim (ta'ana) from evidence (hokhacha): a claim can be disputed, evidence is offered to settle the dispute.

Text structure markers in Hebrew: 'le-khen' (therefore) signals conclusion, 'mi-khan she-' (hence/from which) signals inference, 'be-gin' / 'mipnei she-' signal cause, 'af al pi she-' signals concession.

Concession pattern: 'af al pi she-X, Y' - the author's own position is Y, not X; X is the view being set aside.

Author's stance (amad) is carried by evaluative adjectives and modality words such as 'ראוי', 'חייב', 'יש להניח', 'אין ספק' - not by neutral verbs like 'מתאר'.

A distractor that is true in the world but not stated in the text is wrong; the answer must be anchored in a specific line.

When asked 'what does the writer imply', prefer the option that follows necessarily from the stated evidence over the option that merely sounds reasonable.

Narrative elements to locate: setting (makom/zman), characters, conflict, turning point (nekudat mahpekh), and resolution - the turning point is where the protagonist's understanding or situation changes.

Speaker (dover) is not the author (mechaber): in lyric poetry the speaking voice may be a persona; questions about 'the speaker's feelings' refer to the voice in the text.

Figurative language: metaphor (hashvaa beli kaf ha-memad) states identity; simile (hashvaa im kaf ha-memad) uses 'ke-', 'kmo', 'dome le-'.

Personification (hachnasha) attributes human action or feeling to an object or abstraction; identify it by a human verb attached to a non-human subject.

Sound devices in Hebrew poetry: rhyme (charuz), rhythm/meter (mishkal), alliteration (hiyzacharut otiyot) - name the device and then state its effect on meaning, not only its presence.

Tone words in Hebrew: 'ironi', 'nostalgi', 'me'uvad', 'kodef', 'rachum'; support the tone label with a quoted word or image from the text.

The title (koteret) often carries the central motif; check whether the title is ironic (opposite of the ending) or symbolic (an object standing for an idea).

In drama, stage directions (hora'ot bama) carry information about mood and power relations that dialogue alone does not state.

Hebrew roots (shoresh) are normally three consonants; the pattern (mishkal for nouns, binyan for verbs) combines with the root to produce meaning - e.g. root k-t-v in binyan hitpa'el gives hitkatvut (correspondence).

Seven binyanim and their typical force: pa'al (simple active), nif'al (passive/reflexive of pa'al), pi'el (intensive/transitive), pu'al (passive of pi'el), hitpa'el (reflexive/reciprocal), hif'il (causative), huf'al (passive of hif'il).

Definite direct object takes the particle 'et'; indefinite direct object takes none - 'ani kore et ha-sefer' vs 'ani kore sefer'.

Smichut (construct state) marks possession by juxtaposition: 'beyt ha-sefer' (the school) vs 'beyt sefer' (a school); the second noun is definite only if it has the definite article.

A sentence needs a subject and a predicate; 'yesh' / 'ein' existential sentences have no overt subject and are complete as written.

Relative clause marker is '-she-' (asher in formal register); 'ha-ish she-ba' = 'the man who came'.

Agreement rules: adjective agrees with noun in gender, number, and definiteness; verb agrees with subject in gender and number, and in person for past and future.

Number words 3–10 take the plural noun; 11 and above take a singular noun - 'shlosha sfarim' but 'achad asar sefer'.

Prepositions attached to pronouns fuse into one word: 'li', 'lekha', 'bah', 'aleinu' - do not split them into preposition + pronoun in writing.

Register levels in Hebrew: literary/formal (leshon ha-sefer), standard written, colloquial spoken (meduberet), and slang (sleng) - a word's register must match the text type.

Synonyms differ in register and connotation: 'lashon' vs 'safa', 'rechev' vs 'oto', 'achila' vs 'ochel' - choose by context, not by dictionary equivalence.

Collocations are fixed pairs: 'le-kabel hachlata' (make a decision), 'la'asot cheshbon' (reckon), 'le-hafik lekach' (draw a lesson); substituting a synonym breaks the idiom.

Hebrew idioms (nivim): 'le-hotsi et ha-ruach min ha-mifrasim' (to take the wind out of someone's sails), 'lo kol yom Purim' (not every day is a holiday).

Hyphenated compounds and acronyms (rashei teivot) are written as one unit: 'tzahal', 'bduch' - expanding the acronym changes the register to formal.

Connotation pair test: 'chashad' (suspicion) vs 'bitchon' (confidence) vs 'emuna' (faith) - same semantic field, different evaluative force.

Loanwords (milim sh'ulot) such as 'telefon', 'universita' are standard; slang loans such as 'sababa' are restricted to colloquial register.

Word-formation patterns signal meaning: mishkal 'katlan' often denotes a profession or habitual agent (e.g. 'safran' librarian, 'ramlan' fraudster).

Hebrew punctuation marks: sof pasuk (full stop), psik (comma), nkudotayim (colon), nkuda u-psik (semicolon), סוגריים (parentheses), מקף (hyphen), קו מפריד (dash).

Comma separates items in a list, marks a subordinate clause opening, and sets off an apposition (shem ha-be'ur) - 'Dan, ha-talmid ha-matztiyan, kibel priz'.

Colon introduces a list, an explanation, or a quotation; do not use a colon after a preposition or after 'kmo'.

Semicolon joins two independent clauses that are closely related but not joined by a conjunction.

Question mark and exclamation mark are placed at the end of the sentence; in Hebrew the question mark is not preceded by a space.

Direct speech in Hebrew uses quotation marks (merkha'ot) with a colon before them and a comma inside at the end of the quoted clause when the reporting clause follows.

Numbers: 1–10 are usually written in words in running prose; 11 and above in digits; at the start of a sentence write the number in words.

Abbreviations take a geresh (') for a single-letter abbreviation (e.g. 'עמ'' for 'amud') and a gershayim (") for multi-letter acronyms (e.g. 'צה"ל').

Hyphen joins words that form one unit (e.g. 'chutz-la-aretz') and is not separated by spaces; the dash (מקף ארוך) marks a break in thought and takes spaces on both sides.

Argumentative essay skeleton: introduction with a thesis (ta'ana), two to three body paragraphs each with one reason plus evidence, a counter-argument paragraph with rebuttal, and a conclusion that restates the thesis in new words.

Paragraph unity rule: one central idea per paragraph, stated in a topic sentence (mishpat nose) at or near the start; every other sentence must support or illustrate it.

Cohesion devices in Hebrew: 'le-fi kakh', 'be-nose ze', 'me-ever le-kakh', 'be-hashvaa le-', 'le-siyum' - each signals a specific logical relation and must match it.

Evidence types ranked for school essays: textual quotation, statistic, documented example, personal experience - a claim without one of these is an assertion, not an argument.

Counter-argument formula: 'yesh ha-tov'im she-X, aval Y' - state the opposing view fairly, then show its limit; omitting the rebuttal weakens the essay.

Introduction must not begin with a dictionary definition or a sweeping generalization ('me-az u-me-olam'); open with the concrete issue.

Conclusion must not introduce new evidence; it synthesizes and may end with an implication or a call, not a fresh claim.

Length and register control: formal written Hebrew avoids colloquialisms ('סבבה', 'יא'), uses full forms, and prefers nominal style (smichut chains) over chains of pronouns.

Summary (taktsir) length rule: aim for roughly one quarter to one third of the source; cut examples, repetitions, and rhetorical flourishes, keep claims and conclusions.

Summary must be in the summarizer's own words; copying a full sentence from the source is quotation, not summary, and is penalized.

Order of a summary: state the source's central claim first, then its main supporting reasons in the source's order, then its conclusion.

When summarizing an argument, preserve the author's stance - do not neutralize 'the author argues' into 'the text deals with'.

Integration across two sources: build a comparison table of (a) shared claim, (b) point of disagreement, (c) different evidence base - the disagreement is usually the exam's target.

Attribute every integrated claim: 'le-fi מקור א'', 'ba-makor ha-sheni nimenet ha-ki'ara she-' - unattributed merging of two sources is a common error.

Distinguish agreement in conclusion from agreement in reasoning: two sources may reach the same conclusion for different reasons, and the question often asks which.

Do not add your own opinion to a summary unless the prompt explicitly asks for evaluation; the summary reports, it does not argue.