Lesson 14: Sentences in the Negative; Declension of Singular Nouns
Vocabulary
| who? | מִי |
| what? | מָה |
| how? | אֵיךְ |
| to whom? for whom? whose? | לְמִי |
| why? | לָמָּה |
| why? | מַדּוּעַ |
| when? | מָתַי |
| little, few | מְעַט |
| only | רַק |
| when, as | כַּאֲשֶׁר |
| another, other | אַחֵר |
| if | אִם |
| no, not, there is (are) not | אֵין |
| there is | יֵשׁ |
| no, not | לֹא |
| also, too | גַּם |
| where? | אֵיפֹה, אַיֵּה |
| where? | אָן |
| how long? | עַד מָתַי |
| how many? how great? how often? | כַּמָּה |
| word, thing | דָּבָר |
| stone (f) | אֶבֶן |
| darkness | חשֶׁךְ |
| to hear | שָׁמַע |
| to obey | שָׁמַע בְּקוֹל |
אֵין means "no, not, there is not, there are not" and so on; it depends on the context as to the precise way to render it in English. It is always placed at the beginning of a sentence that is not in the perfect or imperfect. לֹא is a simple negative meaning "no" or "not." It is placed immediately before the perfect or imperfect verb in a sentence.
Pronominal Suffixes
Whereas in English, the possesive pronoun precedes the noun it modifies (as for instance, "my horse" or "her dog", in Hebrew, as with other Semitic languages, possesive pronouns are attached as suffixes to the nouns they are modifying:
| “his horse” | 3ms | סוּסוֹ | = וֹ | + סוּס |
| “her horse” | 3fs | סוּסָהּ | = ָ הּ | + סוּס |
| “your horse” | 2ms | סוּסְךָ | = ְ ךָ | + סוּס |
| “your horse” | 2fs | סוּסֵךְ | = ֵ ךְ | + סוּס |
| “my horse” | 1cs | סוּסִי | = ִ י | + סוּס |
| “their horse” | 3mp | סוּסָם | = ָ ם | + סוּס |
| “their horse” | 3fp | סוּסָן | = ָ ן | + סוּס |
| “your horse” | 2mp | סוּסְכֶם | = ְ כֶם | + סוּס |
| “your horse” | 2fp | סוּסְכֶן | = ְ כֶן | + סוּס |
| “our horse” | 1cp | סוּסֵנוּ | = ֵ נוּ | + סוּס |
Notice that the suffix for the 3rd person feminine singular "her" or "hers" has a dot in it. This distinguishes it from a femine ending. The dot is called a mappiq; it is not a daggesh, despite the fact that in appearance it is indistinguishable. The letter he ה cannot take a daggesh, and the function of the
mappiq is different. Yes, it is a bit confusing, but we must simply accept a language as it is.
"her horse" = סוּסָהּ
"mare" = סוּסָה
Please read pages 118-121 in Biblical Hebrew Step-by-Step.
Exercises
1. Memorize the vocabulary and paradigms.
2. Do the Exercises on pages 121-123.