An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

Other adverbs of demonstrative force are זא ָ ‘then,’ ם ָשׁ ‘there,’ and ה ָמּ ָשׁ ֫
‘thither.’ The article (13.5.2b) and תא (10.3) are also deictic words that tend to be
demonstrative. 10
[Page 308] 17.3 True Demonstratives and Quasi-Demonstratives
a Only the near demonstratives are true demonstratives; the determined personal
pronouns (אוהה and its equivalents) are quasi-demonstratives, which serve only in
certain constructions in which the true demonstratives are used. A number of
arguments support this distinction. 11
b The first difference between the sets involves case diversity: הז 12 can be used in all
ָ ֲ ָ ַ ֶ
functions, nominative (## 1–2), genitive (## 3–4), and accusative (## 5–6).
1. הוּ ִצ ר ֶשׁ א ר ָבדּ ה הז This is what YHWH commands.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
׃הוהי
׃םָי לוּב ְגּ ם ֶכל ָ הֶיהִי־ה ְ ֶ
Num 30:2
ז This will be your western border.
Num 34:6
תאֹ ז עַ ֻב ְשׁ the week of this one
Gen 29:27
ארֵ קִּי ָ תאֹ ז ְל It shall be called (to) this one.
Gen 2:23
ה֑ ז־א ֶ נ ָ ארָ ְק Read this.
Isa 29:11
תאֹ ז־תא ֶ אנ־וּח ָ ְל ִשׁ Send this person away.
2 Sam 13:17
אוה, on the other hand, as a personal pronoun, occurs only in the nominative (see
16.2a), and אוהה occurs only as an attributive adjective.
c The second difference involves the functional load of the two sets of demonstratives;
in all cases where languages with two sets of demonstratives use a contrasting pair
(e.g., English ‘We talked of this and that’), Hebrew uses only הז. Thus, אוה can have
the true demonstrative pronoun as its antecedent (## 7–8), but it is never used in
juxtaposition with it to express ‘this one…that one.’
10 On the determinative pronoun, see UT §6.23; cf. below, 17.4.3d. The most common
of the adverbs cited are (after SA/THAT) hinnēh (1,057 times), kēn (695), šām (691),
kōh (581), ˒ak (161), šá̄mmâ (141), and ˒āz (138).
11 For the following discussion, see Joüon §143j-k / pp. 445–46. From another angle
we can say that the true demonstratives make up the word class that can occur with
the definite article but not with pronominal suffixes.
12 Henceforth, הז stands for the entire z set of demonstratives (including ˒ēlleh), and
אוהה stands for thc entire set of determined third-person pronouns.