Hebrew Grammar Outline
Keyed to Basics of Biblical Hebrew, 2nd edition by Gary Pratico & Miles Van Pelt1
Compiled by James M. Branum May 2014 –
www.jmbranum.com
Introductory note: I am a seminary student but previously was a law student (graduated from law
school in 2005). Much of the experience of law school and seminary is dissimilar, but one element is the
same --- the need to comprehend, remember, organize and apply large amounts of information.
A common study technique in law school is the preparation of “outlines,” normally about 20-30 pages
for student-written outlines, or between 200-300 pages for commercial outlines (sold by companies to
help law students prepare for exams), as well as some unusual forms (I often condensed longer outlines
down to 2 pages, and sometimes even 1 page as a method of studying). Since Biblical Hebrew has been
an incredibly difficult subject for me, I decided to use the outline technique to prepare for my Hebrew
final (which fortunately was open book, allowing us to use our textbook and lexicon, which meant the
most important thing to do in preparation was to be able to quickly find relevant information in the
textbook on the fly, which is why this outline is keyed to our textbook.)
As for coverage, I think I did a decent job of outline the first half of the class (all of the grammar besides
verbs) but it is much weaker in the second half of the outline. In the future (for my own learning) I will
probably rewrite this section. But for those interested, I’m sharing the outline anyway incomplete as it
is. Use at your own risk.
I. Writing
A. Consonents
1. Gutturals: אעהח and sometimes 2 ר
2. Begadkephat: letters that can take a dagesh lene3
1 See https://www.teknia.com/basicsofbiblicalhebrew
2 p. 3
3 P. 2-3
B. Vowels
Hebrew Vowels Chart
A E I O U
Long
ב Qamets
ב Tsere
ב
Holem
Short
ב Pathach
ב Seghol
ב Hireq
ב Qamets Hatuf
ב Qibbuts
Reduced
ב Hateph Patach
ב Hateph Seghol
ב Hateph Qamets
C. Vowel Letters: possibilities are י ו ה 4
D. Syllabification
1. Rules of Shewa5
2. Qamets and Qamets hatuf – p. 22-23
3. Furtive Patach – p.23
4. Dipthongs – p.23
II. Grammatical Building Blocks
A. Definite Article
1. Normally consists of Ha + Dagesh lene in first consonant of the
noun6
B. Conjunctive Vav
1. Normally consists of vav added to another word
2. Can be translated as and, but, also or even
3. See chapter 17 for unique use with verbs in perfect verb form – p.
195
4. Disjunctive Vav – p. 282-284
C. Prepositions
1. Three Kinds of propositions: independent, maqqef (with a
hyphen connecting proposition to the word) and inseperable
(prepositions mashed with a word without a hyphen).
2. Independent Prepositions
4 P. 15
5 P. 21-22
6 P. 41-43
Independent preposition chart
Hebrew word Transliteration Translation
ר אח Achar After, behind
ת א Et With, beside or D.D.O.
Marker7
ל א El To, toward
ין ב Beyn Between
ב Ba In, at, with, by, against
תוך ב Batoach In the midst of
כ Cha As, like, according to
לכ Chol All, each, every
י כ chi Because, for, that when, but,
indeed, truly
י נ פ ל Liphaneh Before, in front of
ל La To, toward, for
ן ע מ ל Lamaan On account of, for the sake
of
7 DDO = Definite Direct Object Marker see p.54-55
ן מ Min From, out of, can also be
used for comparative
purposes,8 superlative
purposes,9 or partitive uses10
ל ע מ Maal Above, upward, on top of
ד ע Ad Until, as far as
ל ע Al On, upon, on account of
ר ב ל־ד ע Al-dabar Because of, on account of
ם ע Im With, together with
ת ח ת Tachat Under, below, instead of
3. Maqqef Propositions (with a hyphen)
ל־ ע -al Upon, concerning
ל־ א -el To, toward
ד־ ע -ad As far as, until
ן־ מ -min from
8 Example: Literally: “Wisdom is good from gold” translates as “wisdom is better than gold”
9 Example: Lit: “Clever from every living thing of the field” is “the most clever thing of the field”
10 Example: Lit: “from a fruit” partively: “some of the fruit” OR Lit: “from the men” means “some of the men”
4. Inseperable prepositions
ב Ba In, by, with
ל La To, toward, for
כ Cha As, like, according to
ן מ Min11 from
D. Numbers
1. Cardinal Numbers – used for counting, has gender and
absolute/construct states12
2. Ordinal numbers – express position in a series, has gendered
forms13
11
When min is an inseperable preposition, the nun assimilates into the first consonant of the noun, remaining only as a dagesh forte. – see p. 52-54 12
For numbers 1-10 see chart p. 113, for numbers 11-19 see chart p. 115, for numbers 20-99 and 100+ see chart p. 116 13
1st
-10th
places – see chart p. 117. For 11th
and higher places, use cardinal numbers.
III. Nouns and related items
A. Nouns
1. Endings – p. 29
Noun Form Examples Chart
Masculine Noun
Feminine Noun
Singular ות סוס הר
Plural יםסוס ותרתו
Dual יםסוס יםתור ת
Noun Endings Chart
Masculine Feminine Singular dgelgnidee ת ה/
ת ית / ות / Plural ים ות
Dual ים ים ים/ ת
2. Irregular nouns – see list of common ones on p. 34
B. Pronouns – 4 types
1. Independent personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, etc.)
Independent Personal Pronouns Chart
Singular Plural 1st person common
י כ אנ י נ א
I נו ח נ א
We
2nd person masculine
ה ת ם You א ת Y’all א
2nd person feminine
א ת You ה נ ת Y’all א
3rd person masculine
ם He/it הוא ה ה מ ה
They
3rd person feminine
יא ה וא ה
She/it
ן ה ה נ ה
They
2. Demonstrative Pronouns and Adjectives (this, that, these, those)
a) Can function as pronouns – “this” is the man
b) Can function as adjectives – “this” man
Singular Plural Masculine
ה This ז ה ל These א
Feminine This ז את
ה ל These א
Masculine That הוא
ם ה ה מ ה
Those
Feminine יא That ה
ן ה הה נ
Those
3. Relative Pronoun
שר א
שר ־א
Who, whom, whose, that which
4. Interrogative Pronouns
י ?Who מ ה What?14 מ
14
There are some alternate forms with different vowels.
5. Interrogorative particle
ה Can be added to the first word of a sentence to indicate a question, instead of using an interog. Pronoun (see above)
C. Pronominal Suffixes15
1. PS’s can either be possessive (his, her, our, etc.) or objective
(him, her us, etc.)
2. PS’s when added to nouns are all possessive. PS’s added to
propositions and the direct object marker are always objective.
3. There are two types of PS’s, type I and type II.
15
Generally see ch. 19
Pronominal Suffixes Chart
Type I Type II Possessive Translation
Objective Translation
1CS י י
My Me
2MS יך ך
Your You
2FS יך ך
Your You
3MS יו ו
His/its Him/it
3FS ה יה
Hers/its Her/it
1CP ינו נו
Our Us
2MP ם ם כ יכ
Your You all
2FP ן ן כ יכ
Your You all
3MP ם ם ה יה
Their Them
3FP ן ן ה יה
Their them
D. Construct Chains
1. CC’s show connection between two or more nouns.
2. Construct nouns are the “owned”part of the chain, while
absolute nouns are the “owners” of the chain.
3. Normally word order determines the parts of the chain, but a
maqqef can also be used.
Chart of Example Construct Chains
Hebrew phrase Construct 2nd Construct
Absolute Translation
יש א ה קול Kol (voice)
n/a Melech (man) Voice of the man
ך ל ץמ אר ה Melech (king)
n/a Haeretz (the land)
King of the land
ד ו ן־ד ב Ben (son) n/a David Son of David
ך ל יהמ ח דא ב ע Eved (servant)
Achi (brother)
Hamelech (the King)
Servant of the brother of The King
E. Adjectives
1. Endings – p.72
a) Adjectives agree in number and gender with nouns.
b) Adjectives have the same basic endings as nouns but undergo
vowel changes when endings are added.
c) Lexical form is masculine singular form
Chart showing how the adjective tov inflects
M F Singular
ה טוב טוב Plural
ים טובות טוב
2. The Use of adjectives
a) Attributive use – when an adjective modifies a noun – i.e. “the
good student”
b) Predictive use – when an adjective asserts something about a
noun – i.e. “the student is good”
c) Substantive use – Adjectives can be used as nouns, such as the
Hebrew word for wise being translated as “wise one”
3. List of common adjectives – p. 65
4. Directional endings
a) In place of a prepositional phrase, you can use a directional
ending to show direction
b) Vowel changes are common – see p. 63-64
Hebrew English Description
רץ אל־האTo (toward) the land Uses prepositional
phrase
רצה א To(toward) the land Uses directional
ending
IV. Verbs
A. Introduction of key elements
a) Roots: Normally 3 consonant word
2. Stems: See charts below
Verbal Stems Chart
Simple Action Intensive Action
Causative Action
Active Voice Qal Piel Hiphil
Passive Voice Niphal Pual Hophal Reflexive Voice
Niphal Hithpael -
Verbal Stems Example Chart
Stem Hebrew example English translation Qal See p. 128 He heard
Niphal He was heard Piel He smashed into
pieces Pual He (it) was smashed
into pieces
Hiphil He made King Hophal He was made King Hithpael He hid himself
3. Person: 1st, 2nd or 3rd – tells who is being talked about
4. Gender: Masculine or feminine
5. Number: Singular or plural
6. Voice:
a) Active
b) Passive
c) Reflexive
7. Action
a) Simple
b) Intensive
c) Causative
B. Verbal Conjugations
1. English conjugations
a) Tense (time): past or perfective, present or imperfective &
future
b) Participles – studying
c) Infinitives - to study
d) Imperatives - study!
2. The 8 Hebrew Conjugations
a) Perfect – completed action or state of being
He studied, he had studied, he will have studied, he knows, he loves
b) Imperfect – Incompleted action, either past, present or future
I study, I will study, I study regularly, I might study, I would study
c) Imperative –2nd person only, direct command
Shut the door!
d) Cohortative (aka 1st person volitional) - 1st person only,
expresses a wish, request or command, expresses purpose (in order to)
or result (resulting in)
Let me honor the Lord!
Let us honor the Lord!
e) Jussive – (aka 3rd person volitional) - 3rd person only, mild
command or strong wish
May the Lord give me
f) Infinitive construct – one of two types of verbal nouns, works
like an English infinititve16
To study, to learn, I want to study, to study is hard work
g) Infinitive – one of two types of verbal nouns, doesn’t translate
easily, emphasizes or intensities verbal action. Can also be used to
substitute for a command. Can also be used with another verb for
contemporaneous action.
h) Participle – a verbal adjective
Studying, learning
Can be used in the same ways that a Hebrew adjective can be used:
(1) Attributively
(2) Predictively
(3) Substantively
C. Strong and Weak Verbs
1. Strong and weak verbs often have different forms.
2. Strong verbs – No weak consonants
3. Weak verbs – has at least one weak consonant: ה ע א
ר ח (gutturals + resh) and sometimes נ י
16
Other uses see chapter 20 of the textbook.
D. Verbal Word Order
1. English: subject-verb-object
Rachel loved Jacob
2. Hebrew: verb-subject-object
Loved Rachel Jacob
E. How to parse a verb: Provide the stem,
conjugation, person, gender, number and lexical
(qal perfect 3ms) form17
F. Verbal Diagnostics
1. Qal Stem
a) Qal Perfect Strong – see endings chart18
17
See chart on p. 138 in textbook 181818
See p. 141
Qal Perfect Strong Endings Chart
Ending Qal Perfect of strong verb
Translation
3MS None ל ט He killed ק
3FS ה ל ט הק She killed
2MS ת ט ל ק ת You killed
2FS ת ט ל ק ת You killed
1CS י ת ט יל ק ת I killed
3CP ל ו ט וק They killed
2MP ם ת ט םל ק ת You all killed
2FP ן ת ט ןל ק ת You all killed
1CP ל נו ט נוק We killed
b) Qal Perfect Weak – Chart p. 161
c) Qal Imperfect Strong – see chart p. 167, includes prefixes and
suffixes
d) Qal imperfect weak – see chart on p.190
e) Vav consecutive exception19
f) Qal imperative
(1) Only 2nd person
(2) Suffixes on p. 209
(3) Related to imperfect form
(4) Negative of imperative – p. 211
g) Participle (translated as “please”) – p. 211
h) Weak imperative and middle weak – p . 212…
i) Qal Cohortative
(1) Only 1st person, see p. 217-218
(2) Related to imperfect form
j) Qal Jussive
(1) Only 3rd person, see p. 218-221
(2) Related to imperfect form
k) Qal infinitive construct
l) Verbal nouns – to study, to learn
(1) Normally one form: ______, same as Qal imperative 2ms
(2) _______, other exceptions for weak verbal forms, p.238-
(3) Often occurs with pronominal suffixes that can serve as
either the subject or the object of the verbal idea. – see p. 241-242
(4) Also often occurs with inseparable propositions
(5) Negation - _______, rather than _____ or ____
19
See ch. 17 in textbook as well as II-B in this outline.
m) Qal Infinitive absolute
(1) Rare
(2) Verbal noun, not easy to translate
(3) Not inflected, one basic form _______
(4) Weak forms – p. 252
(5) Uses of this form
(a) Emphatic: you will indeed listen, you will certainly die
(b) Imperatival: Remember the day, observe the Sabbath
(c) Contemporaneous action: and he walked, walking and
eating
(d) Complementary - ? p. 254
(e) Participles can be added p. 254-255
n) Qal participle- plug in details here
2. Niphal Stem
a) Generally: Simple action with passive or reflexive voice
b) Most forms have nun
c) Nihpal perfect strong: _______________
d) Niphal imperfect: he will be killed, _________________
e) Niphal Imperative/Infinitive construct, _________________
f) Niphal Infinitive Absolute, _____________________
g) Niphal Participle, __________________________
h) Niphal Weak – see chart p. 306
3. Piel Stem – diagnostic chart p. 325
4. Pual stem
a) Meaning: intensive action with passive voice
b) Rare
5. Hiphil Stem
a) Meaning: causative action with an active voice
b) “he caused to remember”
c) See chart on p. 363 for strong and weak forms
d) Common
6. Hophal Stem
a) Meaning: causative action with passive voice, or a passive
version of Hiphil
b) Examples: “He was made King” is hophal while “he made
somone King” is hiphil
c) See chart p. 383
7. Hithpael stem
a) Meaning: intensive action with a reflexive voice
b) Examples: Qal is “he was holy,” while hithpael would be “he
sanctified himself” – Note translation of this almost always involves
somethingself --- himself, myself, etc.
c) Can also mean reciprocity, as in “they looked at each other”
d) Diagnostics on p. 398
e) Easy to spot because of common prefixes:
(1) ___________
(2) ___________
(3) ___________
f) Some forms blur out tav or switch the tav with another
consonant – see p. 390-391
V. Other material in the textbook…
A. Verbal Diagnostics at a glance – p. 438-445
B. Lexicon
Lexicon alefbet key
Letter Page # Lamed 456
Alef 446 Mem 457
Bet 448 Nun 459
Gimel 449 Samek 460
Dalet 450 Ayin 461
He 450 Pe 462
Vav 451 Tsade 463
Zayin 451 Qof 463
Chet 452 Resh 464
Tet 453 Sin 466
Yod 453 Shin 466
Kof 455 Tav 468
ם! ש ברוךה Baruch Hashem! (Praise God!)