Unit 10

The Definite Article

Unit Description:
How does Hebrew mark the difference between "a boy" and "the boy"? This is the question that will we try to answer in unit 10. We will return to reading and discussing verses from the story of the creation (Genesis 1) and the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11).

New Words in this Unit Total New Words

15 150

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Vocabulary
Category Hebrew Transliteration hokmh kkb lb / lbb npe l h peh yhwh lmh ahr thr tm ypeh yr yrad l h f. = feminine Pronunciation hokhma kokhav lev / levav nfesh ola pe adonay* shlomo aher tahor tame yafe yashar yarad ala s. = singular English wisdom (f.s.) star (m.s.) heart (mind, will, emotions) (m.s.) soul, person, living being (f.s.) whole burnt offering (f.s.) mouth (m.s.) LORD* (name of Israels God) Solomon another clean, pure unclean fair, beautiful straight, right he came down he went up

/
Nouns

Proper Nouns

Adjectives

Verbs

m. = masculine

* This name is usually written and read as LORD. But in some cases, particularly when this name appears next to the name , it is written GOD. and read as

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Slides from the Unit

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Grammatical Remarks
The Indefinite Article
Hebrew has no indefinite article (a). A Hebrew word that does not have the definite article can be translated with or without a, depending on the context. For example, = horse or a horse.

The Definite Article

Meaning: The definite article (the) is used in Hebrew in generally the same way as it is in English. The definite article marks something or somebody specific.

Regular Form: The definite article in Hebrew is not a separate word as it is in English. Instead, the Hebrew definite article attaches to the beginning of the word it marks. The regular definite article is composed of three elements: 1. The letter , 2. The short [a] vowel patah, 3. A strong dagesh doubling the first consonant of the word. For example, = the horse.

Exception: In some words in which the first consonant is followed by a shewa, that first consonant is not geminated (i.e. doubled by a dagesh) when the definite article is added. For example, = the children, even though there is no dagesh in the letter . (This phenomenon only occurs in some words; in other words that begin with a shewa, the dagesh still appears.)

Noun-Adjective Agreement
Nouns and the adjectives that describe them must agree with each other in definiteness. In other words, if a noun has the definite article, so will the adjective that describes it. (Remember that the adjective must also agree with the noun in number and gender.) English convention does not require us to translate the definite article twice. For example, = the good horse.

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Notes from the Text

is the personal name of Israels God, but its original vowels were not preserved, so
nobody knows exactly how it was pronounced. In Hebrew tradition, out of a desire to not accidentally break the third commandment by misusing the divine name, this name was read LORD. The first and last vowels of were added to the consonants of the name ( the hataf-patah changed to a shewa under the )to remind the reader that this name was to be pronounced [dny]. Many English translations render this as LORD, with all capital letters. Sometimes it appears as ( with the vowels of God), in which case we pronounce [lhm] and translate as GOD. Some reading traditions choose to read the Name whenever they see the letters with either set of vowels. The Conjunction: The regular conjunction and appears as the long [] vowel when it is attached to a word that begins with one of the following: 1. A consonant pointed with a shewa Hebrew cannot begin a word with two shewas, so the form of the conjunction changes, e.g. . 2. A bilabial consonant (// )The original pronunciation of the was probably [w], which is very close to these three bilabials (consonants that are pronounced with the lips), so it very naturally morphed into the bilabial* vowel [] before one of these consonants, as in .

* According to the International Phonetic Alphabet, this is a close back rounded vowel.

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Homework
1. Match the Hebrew phrase on the left to the correct translation on the right.

blameless and upright the unclean place Solomon went up the small mouth great wisdom and a burnt offering the LORD went down

2. Translate the following phrases from Hebrew into English.

(Ezek. 11:19) ( Exod. 25:11) (Prov. 11:22) (Gen. 15:5) (1 Kings 20:37) ( Lev. 7:18) (Lev. 5:2)

one heart

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3. Add the definite article to each of the following words.

4. Circle the adjective that agrees with the preceding noun in number, gender, and definiteness.

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Homework Answers
1. Match the Hebrew phrase on the left to the correct translation on the right.

Solomon went up blameless and upright great wisdom the unclean place and a burnt offering the LORD went down the small mouth

2. Translate the following phrases from Hebrew into English.

(Ezek. 11:19) ( Exod. 25:11) (Prov. 11:22) (Gen. 15:5) (1 Kings 20:37) ( Lev. 7:18) (Lev. 5:2)

one heart pure gold a beautiful woman the stars another man and the person an unclean animal

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3. Add the definite article to each of the following words.

4. Circle the adjective that agrees with the preceding noun in number, gender, and definiteness.

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Recommended Bibliography
1. Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, As Edited and Enlarged by the Late E. Kautzsch, Second English Ed. Revised in accordance with the Twenty-eighth German Ed. by A. E. Cowley, Oxford, 1910. (35 = pp. 110-12) 2. Joon, P., Muraoka, T., A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew, Rome, 1996. (35 = pp. 112-14) 3. Lambdin, T.O., Introduction to Biblical Hebrew, Norwich, 1976. (14, 18, 21 = pp. 5, 8, 12)

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