Hebrew course 4.1

Learn Hebrew Adjectives, etc. ~ Lesson 1
Adjectives
By Jeff A. Benner

An adjective is a word that provides description to a noun. For instance, the Hebrew word טוֹב is a common adjective such as in the phrase יוֹם טוֹב (a good day, 1 Samuel 25:8). Notice that in Hebrew the adjective follows the noun it is describing. If the noun is preceeded by the article ה (as a prefix) then, the adjective will as well, such as in הָהָר הַטוֹב (the good mountain, Deuteronomy 3:25).
The adjective will also match the gender of the noun. In the last two examples, the word יוֹם and הַר are masculine nouns therefore, the masculine form טוֹב is used. The word אֶרֶץ (land) is a feminine word so the feminine טוֹבָה is used in the phrase אֶרֶץ טוֹבָה (a good land, Exodus 3:8). The adjective will also match the number (masculine or singular) of the noun. In each of our previous examples the singular form of the word טוֹב is being used because the noun it is describing is also singular. In the phrase בָּתִּים טוֹבִים (good houses, Deuteronomy 8:12) the word בֵית (house) is used in the plural form therefore, the adjective is as well.
In the phrase הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב the word מֶלֶךְ (king) is prefixed by the article ה (the) but, the word טוֹב is not. In this case the word טוֹב is not being used as an adjective but as a noun and should therefore be translated as “the king is good” or “the king is pleased” (Nehemiah 2:5).
It should be kept in mind that Biblical Hebrew does not really like adjectives but instead prefers to provide description by using verbs since the Ancient Hebrew mind describes things by their function and purpose rather than there appearance.
Some common Biblical adjectives are as follows.

Fem.
Masc.
Meaning

טוֹבה
טוֹב
good

רָעָה
רָע
bad, evil

גְּדוֹלָה
גָּדוֹל
great, large

קְטַנָּה
קָטַן
small, little

זֹאת
זֶה
This

הַהִיא
הַהוּא
That

אֶל / אֵלֶּא
אֶל / אֵלֶּא
These, Those

Hebrew Course 3.5

Learn Hebrew Nouns ~ Lesson 5
Biblical Application
By Jeff A. Benner

At this point we have a basic understanding of verbs and nouns so let’s put some of this to practice with some Biblical passages.

Genesis 1:5
וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד ׃

וַיִּקְרָא

This is the verb root קרא meaning "to call." The prefix י identifies the subject of the verb as masculine singular (he) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (he will call). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and he called).

אֱלֹהִים

This is the noun meaning "God" and is the subject of the previous verb (and God called).

לָאוֹר

The prefix לָ is a combination of the prefix לְ (le) and the prefix הָ (ha). So, לָ means "to the." This prefix is attached to the noun אוֹר meaning "light" (to the light).

יוֹם

This is the noun meaning "day."

וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ

The noun is חֹשֶׁךְ. The prefix לַ means "to the." The prefix וְ means "and" (and to the night).

קָרָא

This is again the verb root קרא meaning "to call." Because of the lack of any prefixes or suffixes to the root the subject is being identified as masculine singular and the tense of the verb is perfect (he called).

לָיְלָה

This is the noun meaning "night."

וַיְהִי

This is the verb root היה meaning "to exist" or "to be." Also notice that when a verb ending with the letter ה is conjugated with a prefix (or suffix) the ה is dropped. The prefix י identifies the subject of the verb as masculine singular (he) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (he will exist/be). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and he existed/was).

עֶרֶב

This is the noun meaning "evening" and is the subject of the previous verb (and evening existed/was).

וַיְהִי

This is same verb as above meaning "and he existed/was."

בֹקֶר

This is the noun meaning "morning" and is the subject of the previous verb (and morning existed/was).

יוֹם

This is the noun meaning "day."

אֶחָד

This is the noun meaning "one."

וַתֹּאמֶר

This is the verb root אמר meaning "to say." The prefix ת identifies the subject of the verb as feminine singular (she) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (she will say). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and she said).

הָאִשָּׁה

This is the noun אִשָּׁה meaning "woman" with the prefix ה meaning "the" (the woman). This is the subject of the previous verb (and the woman said).

אֶל

This is a word meaning "to."

הַנָּחָשׁ

This is the noun נָּחָשׁ meaning "serpent" with the prefix ה meaning "the" (the serpent).

מִפְּרִי

This is the noun פְּרִי meaning "fruit" with the prefix מ meaning "from" (from the fruit).

עֵץ

This is the noun meaning "tree."

הַגָּן

This is the noun גָּן meaning "garden" with the prefix ה meaning "the" (the garden).

נֹאכֵל

This is the verb root אכל meaning "to eat." The prefix נ identifies the subject of the verb as plural (we) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (we will/may eat).

Hebrew course 3.4

Learn Hebrew Nouns ~ Lesson 4
Pronouns
By Jeff A. Benner

The following is a list of Hebrew pronouns.

אֲנִי and אָנֹכִי
I

אֲ נוּ and אֲנָחְנוּ
We

אַתָּה
You (masc, sing)

אַתְּ
You (fem, sing)

אַתֶּם
You (masc, plural)

אַתֶּן
You (fem, plural)

הוּא
He

הִיא
She

הֵם
They (masc)

הֵן
They (fem)

Possessive pronouns are written as suffixes to a noun. For instance, the word יָדוֹ is the word יָד (hand) with the possessive pronoun וֹ (of him). So, יָדוֹ means “hand of him” or, in proper English grammar, “his hand.” Below is a list of the possessive pronoun suffixes.

׏׏ִי
of me

׏׏נוּ
of us

׏׏ךָ
of you (masc, sing)

׏׏ךְ
of you (fem, sing)

׏׏כֶם
of you (masc, plural)

׏׏כֶן
of you (fem, plural)

׏׏וֹ
of him

׏׏ָה
of her

׏׏ֶם
of them (masc)

׏׏ֶן
of them (fem)

These pronoun suffixes can also be used in conjunction with the prefixes previously discussed. The word בּוֹ is a combination of the prefix בּ meaning “in” and the pronoun suffix וֹ meaning “him” - “in him.” Another common Biblical example is לְךָ meaning “to you.”
When a plural noun is suffixed by a possessive pronoun some changes occur within the word. Let’s start with the noun בֵּן meaning “son.” When the suffix וֹ is added this noun becomes בֵּנוֹ meaning “son of him” or “his son.” Now let’s make the noun בֵּן plural by adding the suffix ים and we have בֵּנִים meaning “sons.” If we wanted to say “his sons” we would add the possessive pronoun ו (of him) but we drop the ם and we have the word בֵּנָיו (bey-nav) meaning "his sons."

Hebrew course 3.3

Learn Hebrew Nouns ~ Lesson 3
Plurals
By Jeff A. Benner

Masculine nouns are made plural by adding the suffix ים (iym) to the noun. Feminine nouns are made plural by adding the suffix וֹת (ot) to the noun. As an example, the masculine noun עץ (eyts) means “tree” while עץים (eytsiym) means “trees.” The feminine noun רוּח (ru’ahh) means “wind” while רוּחוֹת (ruhhot) means “winds.”
There are a few exceptions to these gender specific suffixes. For example, אב (av - father) and אוֹר (or - light) are both masculine nouns yet are written in the plural as אב וֹת and אוֹר וֹת. While they use the feminine suffix, they still remain masculine.
There is one other type of plural called a “dual plural.” This plural form also uses the ים suffix but instead of being pronounced as iym it is pronounced yim. Generally, dual plurals are used for things that come in pairs such as יָדַיִם (hands) and עַינַיִם (eyes).
Some nouns are always written in the plural form. The three most common are פָּנִים (face), שָׁמַיִם (sky, interestingly a dual plural) and אֱלֹהִים (God).
If the first word in a construct is a masculine plural word the letter ם is dropped. A Biblical example of this would be the construct "sons of Jacob." The Hebrew word for "sons" is בֵּנִים but, when used in the construct it becomes בְּנֵי יַעֲקֹב (sons of Jacob).

Hebrew course 3.2

Learn Hebrew Nouns ~ Lesson 2
Prefixes
By Jeff A. Benner

Certain letters are used for the article, conjunction and prepositions. These letters can then be prefixed to a noun. For example, when the letter ה (hey) is prefixed to the noun it means “the.” So, while עץ (eyts) means "tree," העץ (ha’eyts) means “the tree.” Below is a list of all of the prefixes used in the Biblical text and their meanings.

ה
The

ו
And

ל
To, For

ב
In, With

מ
From

כ
Like

שׁ
Which

The prefix כ is not used very often and the שׁ is used only rarely.
Sometimes these prefixes can be used together. For instance, the first word in Genesis 1:2 is וְהָאָרֶץ (veha’arets) meaning “and the land.” In other cases they are combined such as in the following example. The word בְּאֶרֶץ (be’eretz) means “in a land” and you would expect “in the land” to be written as בְּהָאָרֶץ (beha’arets) but, The sh’va vowel (under the beyt) and the letter hey are dropped (בּ ָאָרֶץ) then the qamats vowel is shifted under the letter beyt forming the word בָּאָרֶץ (ba’arets) meaning "in the land."

Hebrew course 3.1

Learn Hebrew Nouns ~ Lesson 1
Introduction to Hebrew Nouns
By Jeff A. Benner

The Hebrew script used in these lessons are the internet Hebrew Unicodes and are best viewed with the David.ttf font uploaded to your fonts folder.
A Noun is defined as a person, place or thing and is the most common type of word in the Biblical text. Some common examples of nouns in the Biblical text are בן (ben - son), מלך (melek - king), ארץ (erets - land), יד (yad - hand), חי (hhai - life) and עץ (eyts - tree). Proper nouns are names of specific persons and places such as יעקב (Ya’aqov - Jacob) and מצרים (Mitsrayim - Egypt).
Every noun is either masculine or feminine. An obvious masculine noun is אישׁ (iysh - man) and an obvious feminine noun would be אשׁה (iyshah - woman). As can be seen in this example the suffix ה (ah) can be added to a masculine noun to make it feminine. Another example is the word מלך (melek - king), a masculine noun whereas מלכה (mal’khah - queen) is the feminine form. However, some nouns cannot be identified as masculine or feminine by any suffix, or lack of it. The word עץ (eyts - tree) is a masculine while רוּח (ru’ahh - wind) is feminine. The gender of a noun is important as will become evident in later lessons.
A simple noun is composed of the two or three letters of its root such as מלך (melek - king) which comes from the root מ-ל-ך (M-L-K). Also coming from the root מ-ל-ך is the verb מלך (malak - to reign). Other nouns are derived from this root by placing specific letters as fixes (prefixes, infixes or suffixes) to the root such as we saw with the word מלכה (mal’khah - Queen). Other nouns derived from מ-ל-ך are מלכוּת (mal’khut - Kingdom), ממלכוּת (mam’lekhut - Reign) and מלוּכה (melukhah - Royal).
Below is a list of the most common “fixes” added to a root for developing additional nouns. By recognizing these "fixes", one can easily uncover the original root word assisting the reader with identifying the meaning of the word.

—מ
וֹת—
ה—

—ת
וּת—
-י–

מ—
ית—
-וֹ–

ת—
וֹן—
-וּ–

A construct is where two nouns are put together to form one idea. A common Biblical example of this is the construct “messenger of God.” In Hebrew this is written as מַלְאַךְ אֱלֹהִים (the “of” is implied in the Hebrew). If the first word in this construct is a feminine word ending with the letter ה, the ה is changed to a ת. For instance, when the word תוֹרָה (teachings) is used in the construct with the word אֱלֹהִים it becomes תוֹרָת אֱלֹהִים (teachings of God).
This PDF file is a list of the 100 most frequent Biblical Hebrew nouns. I recommend making flash cards for each of these. Write the Hebrew on one side and the English on the other. Take them with you everywhere and when you have time pull them out and go through them to build your Hebrew vocabulary.

Hebrew course 2.5

Learn Hebrew Verbs ~ Lesson 5
Biblical Application
By Jeff A. Benner

Genesis 1:3
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי־אוֹר ׃
And Elohiym said, light will exist and light existed.

וַיֹּאמֶר

This is the verb root אמר meaning "to say." The prefix י identifies the subject of the verb as third person, masculine, singular (he) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (he will say). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and he said). The subject of the verb is the word אֱלֹהִים (Elohiym) which follows this verb so, this would be translated as "and Elohiym said."

יְהִי

This is the verb root היה meaning "to exist" or "to be." The prefix י identifies the subject of the verb as third person, masculine, singular (he) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (he will exist/be). The subject of the verb is the word אוֹר (or) which follows this verb so, this would be translated as "light will exist/be." Also notice that when a verb ending with the letter ה is conjugated, it is dropped from the verb.

וַיְהִי

This is the verb root היה meaning "to exist" or "to be." The prefix י identifies the subject of the verb as third person, masculine, singular (he) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (he will exist/be). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and he existed/was). The subject of the verb is the word אוֹר (or) which follows this verb so, this would be translated as "and light existed/was."

Genesis 2:21
וַיִּישָׁן וַיִּקַּח אַחַת מִצַּלְעֹתָיו
And he slept and he took one of his ribs

וַיִּישָׁן

This is the verb root ישׁן meaning "to sleep." The prefix י identifies the subject of the verb as third person, masculine, singular (he) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (he will sleep). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and he slept).

וַיִּקַּח

This is the verb root לקח meaning "to take." The prefix י identifies the subject of the verb as third person, masculine, singular (he) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (he will take). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and he took). The objects of this verb and the preceding verb are the two words that follow. Also notice that when the verb לקח is conjugated, the letter ל is dropped. While the letters ה and נ commonly drop from conjugated verbs, this is the only time that a ל is dropped.

Genesis 2:25
וַיִּהְיוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם עֲרוּמִּים
And the two of them existed naked

וַיִּהְיוּ

This is the verb root היה meaning "to exist" or "to be." The prefix י and the suffix ו identify the subject of the verb as third person, masculine, plural (they) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (they will exist/be). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and they existed/were). The subject of the verb is the following word (and the two of them existed/were).

Genesis 3:2
וַתֹּאמֶר הָאִשָּׁה אֶל־הַנָּחָשׁ
And the woman said to the serpent

וַתֹּאמֶר

This is the verb root אמר meaning "to say." The prefix ת identifies the subject of the verb as third person, feminine, singular (she) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (she will say). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and she said). The subject of the verb is the word meaning "the woman" so, this would be translated as "the woman said."

Genesis 3:10
וַיֹּאמֶר אֶת־קֹלְךָ שָׁמַעְתִּי בַּגָּן וָאִירָא
And he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid

וַיֹּאמֶר

This is the verb root אמר meaning "to say." The prefix י identifies the subject of the verb as third person, masculine, singular (he) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (he will say). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and he said).

שָׁמַעְתִּי

This is the verb root שׁמע meaning "to hear." The suffix תי identifies the subject of the verb as first person, singular (I) and the tense of the verb as perfect (I heard).

וָאִירָא

This is the verb root ירא meaning "to fear." The prefix א identifies the subject of the verb as first person, singular (I) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (I will fear/I will be afraid). The prefix ו, meaning "and," also reverses the tense of the verb (and I feared/and I was afraid).

Genesis 3:14
כִּי עָשִׂיתָ זֹּאת
Because you did this

עָשִׂיתָ

This is the verb root עשׂה meaning "to do." The suffix ת identifies the subject of the verb as second person, masculine, singular (you) and the tense of the verb as perfect (you did).

Genesis 3:15
יְשׁוּפְךָ רֹאשׁ וְאַתָּה תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ עָקֵב
He will crush you a head and you will crush us a heel

יְשׁוּפְךָ

This is the verb root שׁוּף meaning "to crush." The prefix י identifies the subject of the verb as third person, masculine, singular (he) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (he will crush). The suffix ך identifies the object of the verb as second person, masculine, singular (you). So, this word would be translated as "he will crush you."

תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ

This is also the verb root שׁוּף meaning "to crush." The prefix ת identifies the subject of the verb as second person, masculine, singular (you) and the tense of the verb as imperfect (you will crush). The suffix נוּ identifies the object of the verb as first person, plural (us). So, this word would be translated as "you will crush us."

Another great resource is the website Learn Hebrew Verbs.

Hebrew course 2.4

Learn Hebrew Verbs ~ Lesson 4
The Object of the Verb
By Jeff A. Benner

The object of the verb can be identified by a noun, proper name or a pronoun. In the sentence "Jacob helped a man" the noun "man" is the object of the verb. In "Jacob helped John" the proper name "John" is the object and in "Jacob helped him" the pronoun "him" is object of the verb. The object of the verb works the same way in Hebrew such as in the sentences עזר יעקב יוחנן (azar Ya’aqov Yohhanan) meaning "Jacob helped John." When the object of the verb is identified by a pronoun it may be written in two different ways. The word אתו (oto) means "him" and can be used for the object of the verb such as in the sentence עזר יעקב אתו (azar Ya’aqov oto) meaning "Jacob helped him." Or the suffix ו (o), also meaning "him," may be attached to the end of the verb such as in the sentence עזרו יעקב (azaro Ya’aqov) also meaning "Jacob helped him."
It is not uncommon for the verb, subject of the verb and the object of the verb to be written as one word in Hebrew. The Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:24) begins with the word יברכך (yevarekhekha) which is the verb ברכ (barak), meaning "to bless" with the prefix י (ye) identifying the subject of the verb as first person, masculine, singular - he and the suffix ך (kha) identifying the object of the verb as second person, masculine, singular - you. Therefore, the one word יברכך means "he will bless you."
Below is a list of the pronoun suffixes attached to a verb for the object of the verb. (These pronouns are also used as suffixes for nouns as well.)

Hebrew course 2.3

Learn Hebrew Verbs ~ Lesson 3
Verb Tenses
By Jeff A. Benner

Each Hebrew verb also identifies the tense of the verb. In English a verb can have three tenses - past, present or future. Examples of these would be "You cut a tree" (past), "You are cutting a tree" (present) and "You will cut a tree" (future). Biblical Hebrew only has two tenses - perfect and imperfect. While the three verb tenses in English are related to time, Biblical Hebrew verb tenses are related to action. The perfect tense is a completed action while the imperfect tense is an incomplete action.
As we have learned, the verb קצרתי identifies the subject of the verb as first person - "I" but, it also identifies the verb as "perfect tense," a completed action - "I cut." When the verb is written as אקצר the subject of the verb is also first person - "I" but, the tense is now "imperfect tense," an incomplete action and can be translated as "I am cutting a tree" (an action that has begun but not yet completed) or "I will cut a tree" (an action that has not yet begun).

Below is a chart for a few verb conjugations in the perfect and imperfect tense. Notice that when the added letters are at the end of the verb they are in the perfect tense but when they are at the beginning (and maybe at the end as well) they are in the imperfect tense. This can help you easily identify the tense of the verb.

These conjugations are the same for any verb (though there are some exceptions which we will cover in another lesson). The chart below are the same conjugations as the chart above for the verb דבר (dabar) meaning to "speak."

Below is a more detailed chart for all the conjugations for the verb qatsar in the perfect and imperfect tenses. By memorizing the various letters added to the root verb one can easily learn to identify the meaning of a verb. This chart is available in a PDF and Excel Spreadsheet (Hebrew Font required for the excell document). While additional verb forms will be learned in the upcoming lessons, about 90% of the verbs in the Hebrew Bible will use the forms listed in this chart.

The letter "ו (vav) is used as a prefix meaning "and." For instance, the word ועץ (v’ets) means "and a tree." This prefix can also be added to a verb such as in the sentence וקצרתי עץ (uqartsiy ets) which would mean "and I cut a tree." but, because the vav is prefixed to the verb it reverses the tense of the verb so, וקצרתי עץ would actually be "and I will cut a tree" (imperfect tense).
The sentence אקצר עץ (eq’tsar ets) means "I will cut a tree" but ואקצר עץ (ve’e'qatsar ets) means "and I cut a tree."
However, this is not a hard and fast rule. While the letter vav usually reverses the tense of the verb, it is not always the case and only the context of the phrase within the text will determine if the tense is reversed or not.
One other note, the negative particle לֹא (lo) precedes a verb to negate its action such as in the phrase לא קצר יעקב עץ which would be translated as "Jacob did not cut a tree."

Hebrew course 2.2

Learn Hebrew Verbs ~ Lesson 2
The Subject of the Verb
By Jeff A. Benner

The subject of the verb can be identified by a proper name, such as Jacob, or a pronoun such as in the phrase "he cut a tree" where the pronoun "he" is the subject of the verb. Instead of using a pronoun for the subject of the verb, the various conjugations of the Hebrew verb identify the subject of the verb. In the chart below are a few examples of verb conjugations for the verb qatsar.

The phrase קצרתי עץ (qatsarti ets) would mean "I cut a tree," קצרו עץ (qatsru ets) would mean "They cut a tree" and the phrase קצרה עץ (qatsrah ets) would mean "she cut a tree."

The subject of the verb within each conjugation identifies person (first, second or third), gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). The conjugation of the verb in קצרה עץ (qats’rah ets) identifies the subject as third person, feminine, singular - she. In קצרו עץ (qatsru ets) the subject is identified as third person, masculine plural - they (masc).

It is also common in Biblical Hebrew to include a noun or proper noun for the subject of the verb. In the sentence קצרה שרה עץ (qats’rah Sarah ets) the verb qats’rah identifies the subject of the verb as third person, feminine, singular. The proper noun Sarah specifically identifies the subject of the verb. Also note that in Hebrew subject of the verb follows the verb, unlike English where it precedes the verb.

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