An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

accusative (with verbs, תא, and הנה). From a comparative perspective, this double
patterning is remarkable. 5 Ugaritic, for example, has independent third-person
genitive-accusative pronouns, 6 and some dialects of Akkadian have independent
nominative, genitive-accusative, and dative forms. 7 There are some complexities in
the syntax of the independent personal pronouns, involving their use in apposition to
nouns in an oblique function. 8 Such complexities cannot distract from the
overwhelmingly basic usage of the separate pronouns in nominative functions. 9
[Page 292] 16.3 Independent Personal Pronouns
a Before turning to the topic of the uses of the separate pronouns, we can make a few
observations on their shapes. 10
singular plural
ִ ֲ ָ
ְ ֫ ֲ
ָ ַ
ֶ ַ
ְ ַ
ֵ֫
ַ ֵ ַ
ֵ֫
ֵ
ִ
ֵ֫
first common ינא, י ִכֹנ א וּנח ַנא second masc. התּא םתּא second fem. תּא ה ָנתּא, ןתּא third masc. אוּה ה ָמּ ה, םה איה ה ָנּה third fem.
There are two distinct subgroups. The first- and second-person forms are all
formed from a base ˒an with endings; 11 the -n assimilates to the -t- of the secondperson
endings, yielding -tt-. In contrast, the third-person forms are made up of
5 It is occasionally contended that the appositional use of the independent personal
pronouns shows that they are not strictly nominative, but that use is comparatively
marginal. This is apparently the view of T. Muraoka, Emphatic Words and Structures
in Biblical Hebrew (Jerusalem: Magnes/Leiden: Brill, 1985); this volume is an
important contribution, and its influence on our discussion has been central. On the
double patterning, however, the traditional view has much to commend it.
6 UT §6.4; in Hebrew the role of these pronouns is played by ˒t + suffixes.
7
E.g., anāku ‘I’; jâti ‘me, my’; jâši ‘to me.’ See Wolfram von Soden, Grundriss der
akkadischen Grammatik (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1969) 41–42.
8
See GKC §135d-h / p. 438 and below, 16.3.4.
9
There are a very few instances of the independent pronoun in the oblique cases, apart
from the appositional use; these are all either textually doubtful or to be explained by
ellipsis; cf. 2 Kgs 9:18, Isa 18:2, Nah 2:9, etc. M. Dahood has suggested recognition
of some other cases; see, e.g., his paper “The Independent Personal Pronoun in the
Oblique Case in Hebrew,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 32 (1970) 86–90.
10
The most common pronouns in order of frequency (after SA/THAT) are hû˒ 1,390
times, ˒ănî 870, ˒attâ 743, hēm and hé̄mmâ 551 (hēm 269, hé̄mmâ 282), hî˒ 485, ˒ānōkî
358, ˒attem 282, ˒ănáḥnû 125.
masc. masculine
11
As in all the Semitic languages; see, e.g., G. Bergsträsser, Introduction to the
Semitic Languages, trans. and sup. Peter T. Daniels (Winona Lake, Indiana:
Eisenbrauns, 1983) 7; C. Brockelmann, Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der
semitischen Sprachen (Berlin: Reuter und Reichard, 1908), 1.297–306.