An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

for example, a noun (the modified) usually precedes an attributive adjective (the
modifier): הרוּצ ָ ְנ רי ִע ‘a city, a besieged one’ > ‘a besieged city’ (Isa 1:8). The
modified-modifier (or defined-defining) relation is sometimes described with the
Latin terms regens (‘governor, ruler, head’) for the modified element and rectum
(‘ruled thing’) for the modifier. 3 English often uses regens-rectum order (verb
before object; the possessed-possessor genitive, e.g., ‘the Holy One of Israel’); it
may also use a modifier-modified sequence (e.g., ‘besieged city,’ ‘Gabriel’s
horn’). Other languages display a syntax similar to Hebrew (cf. French ‘une ville
assiégée,’ LXX Greek ‘pólis poliorkoúmenē,’ Arabic ‘madīnatin muḥāsaratin‘).
[Page 138] 9.2 Construct State
a In the language antecedent to Biblical Hebrew, the genitive relation was indicated
by a final vowel marker, -i in the singular and -ī in the plural. After the loss of the
case system (8.1), the noun in the genitive was left unmarked. If a noun preceded
a noun in the genitive, however, that noun often came to be marked; such a
“pregenitive” noun stands in the construct state. Formation of the construct is a
matter of sound and rhythm: in order to bind the pregenitive to the genitive, the
pregenitive may be shortened.
b The construct state is a form of the noun or a nominal equivalent that may serve
any syntactic function or case.
1. איהִ ה ַ ץרֶ א֫ ָ הָ
בהַ ֲזוּ And the gold (CONSTRUCT:NOMINATIVE) of that
בוֹט ֑ land is good.
2.
3.
Gen 2:12
ה ךְוֹת ְבּ in the middle (CONSTRUCT:GENITIVE) of the garden
ןגָּ ַ
ךְרֶ דּ־ת ֶ֫ אֶ
רֹמ ְשׁ ִל
׃םיִיּ חַ ה ַ ץ ֵע
Gen 2:9
to guard the way (CONSTRUCT:ACCUSATIVE) of
[i.e., leading to] the tree (CONSTRUCT:GENITIVE) of
life
3
For the terms, see, e.g., GKC §89a / p. 247. This terminology is open to question; as
A. Sperber remarks, “According to the Hebrew way of thinking it is exactly vice
versa: the second noun [in a construct chain] remains unchanged and even gets the
article if determined, and causes the first noun to undergo certain charlges”; see A
Historical Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Leiden: Brill, 1966) 16. In Hebrew the
construct is nismak ‘bound,’ the genitive is somek ‘unbound,’ and the relation is
səmikût; in Arabic the construct is al-muḍāf, the genitive al-muḍāf ˒ilayhi, and the
relation is al-iḍāfa.
LXX Septaugint