Jill Suzanne Jacobs - Hebrew For Dummies

You can easily spot a definite object by the placement of a definite article הַ ( hah; the) in front of it. If that definite object is also a direct object, אֶת ( eht ) also precedes it. In the following sentence, when you understand that הוּא רוֹצֶה( hoo roh -tzeh ) means he wants , you can figure out the meaning of the entire sentence: הוּא רוֹצֶה אֶת הַכּוֹבַע (hoo roh- tzeh eht hah- koh -vah ; He wants the hat.). Notice the אֶת is in front of the הַכּוֹבַע. ( Note: אֶתis placed only before a definite direct object.) אֶתis kind of like a road sign that says “D.D.O.A: Definite Direct Object Ahead.”

Unfortunately, Hebrew doesn’t have indefinite articles ( a or an ). But Hebrew sentences certainly have indirect objects! Instead, you can tell that an object is nonspecific ( a hat as opposed to the hat ) by the omission of אֶת ( eht ) or any other preposition. So, if you want to say “He wants a hat” in Hebrew, the sentence looks like this: הוּא רוֹצֶה כּוֹבַע (hoo roh- tzeh koh -vah).

When you don’t want to name nouns, you can always call in their pinch-hitters: the pronouns (words that stand in for nouns).

Hebrew has a set of pronouns for “this” or “that” that are specialized according to masculine singular (MS), feminine singular (FS), and masculine plural for both masculine and feminine (NB). Although nonbinary pronouns are in their nascence in Hebrew, I’m including them here along with binary gendered pronouns:

זֶה (zeh; this [is]) (MS)

זֹאת (zoht; this [is]) (FS)

זאֶת (zeht. This is) (NB)

אֶלָּא (ay- leh ; these [are]) (MP/FP)

These words can function as the subject of an “is” sentence or as adjectives:

זֶה מַפְתֵּחַ ( zeh mahf- tay-ah): This is a key.

הַמַּפְתֵּחַ הַזֶּה (hah -mahf-tay-ah hah- zeh )-: this key

Personal pronouns are nouns that apply to particular people — or, um, persons . In English, the personal pronouns are “I”, “you,” “he,” “she,” “we,” and “they.” In Hebrew, there are four forms for the personal pronoun “you”: masculine singular (MS), feminine singular (FS), masculine plural (MP), and feminine plural (FP). The personal pronoun “they” has two forms: masculine and feminine (MP and FP). Table 2-2shows subjective case (when the pronoun serves as the subject of the sentence) personal pronouns in Hebrew.

TABLE 2-2Personal Pronouns Used as Subjects

Nonbinary Hebrew pronouns are emerging and gaining in acceptance. Suggestions from the Nonbinary Hebrew Project are as follows:

Hebrew also has what English calls objective case pronouns, personal pronouns used as the direct object of a verb (“she saw me”). I’m talking about the English words “me,” “you,” “him,” “her,” “us,” and “them.” Like other Hebrew pronouns, there are four forms of “you” in the objective case: masculine singular (MS), feminine singular (FS), masculine plural (MP), and feminine plural (FP). Table 2-3lists the objective case pronouns.

TABLE 2-3Personal Pronouns Used as Objects

Hebrew, like English, has stand-alone possessive pronouns, such as “mine,” “yours,” “his,” “ours,” and “theirs.” You’ll notice a few differences, however. First, the stand-alone possessive pronoun comes after the noun and not before, as in English. In addition, if an object has possession, it has to be a definite object, so you must add the prefix הַכּוֹבַע שֶׁלִּי (hah- koh -vah sheh- lee ; literally: the hat mine).

In addition, Hebrew differentiates between the singular and plural “your” in both the masculine and feminine forms. Check out Table 2-4to see the differences.

TABLE 2-4Stand-Alone Possessive Pronouns

Hebrew doesn’t have different words for “my” and “mine.” Both concepts are expressed in the Hebrew word שֶׁלִּי (sheh -lee; my, mine). Also, “your” and “yours” are expressed with the same word.

In English, you sometimes pair a pronoun with another noun to show possession, as in “my teacher,” “your hat,” “his paper,” and so on. In Hebrew, you can show that a noun belongs to someone by attaching a suffix to the noun. The suffix changes according to the personal pronoun it represents and is called a pronomial suffix. The Nonbinary Hebrew Project has created nonbinary pronomial suffixes. The forms for male/female and nonbinary pronomial suffixes in both singular and plural form are shown in Table 2-5and Table 2-6.