Hebrew For Dummies. Jill Suzanne Jacobs

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СКАЧАТЬ דָּבְקָה dahv-kah ironically, spitefully הֵיהֵב heh-tehv well לְאַה luh-aht slowly מָהִיר mah-hehr quickly מְאֻחָר meh-oo-ḥar late מֻקְדָּם mook-dahm early יָפֶה yah-feh nicely

      Spotting prepositions

Prepositions are words that show relations among words (such as “in,” “by,” and “with,” to name a few common English prepositions). In Hebrew, prepositions sometimes stand alone; at other times, they’re attached to another word as a prefix. Table 2-10 breaks down prepositions for you.

TABLE 2-10 Hebrew Prepositions

Hebrew Preposition	Pronunciation	Translation	Presentation
עַל	ahl	on	stands alone
בְּ	buh	with/in	prefix
אֵל	ehl	to	stands alone
עִם	eem	with	stands alone
לְ	luh	to	prefix
מִן	meen	from	stands alone
מ	mee	from	prefix

In English, you combine prepositions with nouns to make prepositional phrases, such as “in the box,” “by the river,” or “with a friend.” In Hebrew, if you want to add the word “the” — to form a prepositional phrase — you have to change the vowel sound of the preposition. The uh vowel sound becomes an ah sound.

      So, if a definite direct object is preceded by a preposition, the preposition will include the definite article. “He helped a girl” is הוּא עָזַר לְיַלְדָּה (hoo ah-zahr luh-yahl-dah; literally: He helped to girl.). The preposition in this case is לְ. But if you want to say “He gave assistance to the girl,” you say הוּא עָזַר לַיַּלְדָּה (hoo ah-zahr lah-yahl-dah; Literally: he helped to the girl.). The preposition אֵל is combined with the definite article in this case and becomes לַ (lah; to the).

Understanding Gender and Number

      In Hebrew, all nouns, adjectives and verbs have gender; they’re classified as either masculine or feminine. Like many world languages, Hebrew has begun to grapple with nonbinary gender identities, and the Hebrew Nonbinary Project has created a third, nonbinary gender category. In addition, all nouns, adjectives, and verbs have number; they’re classified as either singular or plural.

      Nouns are classified as either masculine or feminine. Their classification as “masculine” or “feminine” doesn’t have anything to do with the masculine or feminine nature of the objects. The classification is somewhat random. Usually, you can spot a feminine noun by its ending. A feminine noun often has an ending of ה (ah) or ית (eet). But you can find exceptions to this rule. A good Hebrew–English dictionary classifies masculine nouns with a Hebrew letter ז (zah-yeen) for זָכָר (zah-ḥahr; masculine) and with a Hebrew letter נ (noon) for נְקֵבָה (nuh-keh-vah; feminine). Both the masculine and the feminine forms of the nouns have plural forms.

      In Hebrew, adjectives come in four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural. Look back to the section “Applying adjectives,” where I discuss adjectives in greater detail.

      

Nouns and adjectives must match in terms of both gender and number. But when you have a group of people or things that are both masculine and feminine, you use the adjective’s masculine plural form to describe the group. Thus, the masculine plural is for male-only groups and for male-female groups. The feminine plural is for female-only groups — only.

      FUN&GAMES

      Turn the following statements into questions:

СКАЧАТЬ

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1.	Statement:	הוּא רוֹצֶה אֶת הַמְּכוֹנִית
		He wants the car.
	Question:	_________________________________________
		Does he want the car?
2.	Statement:	יֵשׁ מַגֶּבֶת
		There is a towel.
	Question:	_________________________________________