Biblical Hebrew Grammar and Vocabulary

Flashcards covering key grammar terms, syllable definitions, vowel rules, and preposition paradigms in Biblical Hebrew.

Open Syllable

A Biblical Hebrew syllable consisting of a consonant plus a vowel (Cv).

Closed Syllable

A Biblical Hebrew syllable consisting of a consonant plus a vowel plus a consonant (CvC) or a consonant plus a diphthong.

Compensatory Lengthening

The lengthening of a vowel preceding an undoubled consonant from short to long, occurring when a rule dictates that a guttural consonant or resh should be doubled.

Virtual Doubling

The situation in Biblical Hebrew where no change occurs to the vowel preceding an undoubled guttural or resh, leaving the word looking as though the consonant were actually doubled.

Vocal Shwa

A pronounced shwa, sounding like the 'e' in 'petition', occurring when it is the first vowel in a word, preceded by a long vowel, under a doubled consonant, or the second of two adjacent shwas.

Silent Shwa

An unpronounced shwa inserted by the Masoretes to mark the unvoweled closing consonant of a closed syllable in the middle of a word.

Hateph-Vowels

Very short reduced vowels formed by combining a short vowel with a shwa, used primarily in place of vocal shwa under guttural consonants.

Furtive Patakh

A very short 'a' sound pronounced between a preceding long vowel and a final guttural consonant (het, ayin, or he with mappiq) at the end of a word.

Triconsonantal Root

The core three-consonant structure foundational to Semitic languages that conveys a general meaning modified by vowel patterns, prefixes, suffixes, and doubling.

Attributive Adjective

An adjective that modifies a noun in a phrase, following the noun and agreeing with it in gender, number, and definiteness.

Predicate Adjective

An adjective used with a subject to form a complete clause or sentence; it agrees with the noun in gender and number but is always indefinite.

Segholate Nouns

Two-syllable nouns accented on the first syllable that form their plurals with a shwa or hateph-vowel in the first syllable, qamets in the second syllable, and a plural ending.

Inseparable Prepositions

The prepositions bet (in/on/at/with), lamed (to/for), and kaph (like), which attach directly to the front of their noun object to form a single word.

Rule of Shwa

The rule stating that when an inseparable preposition is attached to a word beginning with a vocal shwa, the preposition's shwa changes to a hireq to prevent two initial vocal shwas.

Construct Chain

A sequence of two or more adjacent nouns expressing an 'of' relationship without using an explicit word for 'of'.

BuMP Rule (Vav Rule 1)

The rule specifying that the conjunction vav ('and') becomes a shureq before labial consonants bet, mem, or pe.

Nine Words for the Definite Article

A memorized list of nine key Biblical Hebrew words that illustrates all rules governing the behavior of the definite article.

Pronominal Suffixes Paradigm for Bet

The set of pronominal endings attached to the inseparable preposition bet ('in') to represent personal pronoun objects.

Pronominal Suffixes Paradigm for El

The paradigm of pronominal suffixes attached to the preposition el ('to') representing personal pronoun objects.

Assimilation of Nun

The linguistic process where the consonant nun in prepositions like min disappears and causes doubling (dagesh forte) in the following consonant when no vowel sound intervenes.