CONTENTS Preface 3 1 Introduction 4 2 Stretch and Voice 7 3 Mood 10 4 Tense and Aspect 11 5 Tenses -an overview 13 6 The use <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Vav prefix 16 7 Forming <strong>the</strong> tenses 19 8 The Participle 21 9 Conjugations 23 10 The Subjunctive (and Imperative) 24 11 Infinitive and Gerund 26 12 Main uses <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Imperfective 29 13 More on <strong>the</strong> Conversive Vav 30 14 Construction <strong>of</strong> Hif'il and Nif'al 32 15 Construction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Intensives 33
PREFACE This book is intended primarily for those who have had some introduction to Classical Hebrew Grammar, whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>y understood what <strong>the</strong>y were taught or not, and preferably not; and for those who have some knowledge <strong>of</strong> Classical Hebrew without having learned any grammar, but have studied some o<strong>the</strong>r language (apart from English) and <strong>the</strong>refore learned something <strong>of</strong> grammatical concepts. Hebrew is probably <strong>the</strong> only language that is ever studied seriously without necessarily paying attention to grammar, right or wrong. Those who have not studied <strong>the</strong> grammar <strong>of</strong> any language at all, even if <strong>the</strong>y are familiar with Classical Hebrew, may well find this all extremely difficult if not impossible to follow, so you have been warned! The above does not imply that beginners should not have all this explained to <strong>the</strong>m, or that grammar should be taught at an advanced level - quite <strong>the</strong> contrary, grammatical rules and concepts should be introduced right from <strong>the</strong> very start, but gradually. This book throws it all at you in one go, and so is not for beginners. Unfortunately, Hebrew grammar is almost always taught, when taught at all, on <strong>the</strong> basis <strong>of</strong> false concepts. Certain entrenched ideas are repeated from generation to generation, and <strong>the</strong>se are <strong>of</strong>ten totally misleading. There is nothing holy about grammar. The whole idea <strong>of</strong> it is that it should work, and while it does, all well and good. When rules <strong>of</strong> grammar do not work, <strong>the</strong>y can sometimes be made to work by simple amendment, but when highly complicated sets <strong>of</strong> rules and sub-rules are needed one must consider chucking out <strong>the</strong> whole lot and starting again. Most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ideas expressed here are not original. Some are traditional and correct. O<strong>the</strong>rs which go contrary to <strong>the</strong> usually-taught traditional ones are <strong>of</strong>ten found in existing grammar books, but not toge<strong>the</strong>r. That is to say, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ideas will appear in one or a few books, ano<strong>the</strong>r will appear in different books that do not include <strong>the</strong> first, and so on. Sometimes a fundamental idea is included only as an advanced idea or in a footnote somewhere. The o<strong>the</strong>r major fault with Hebrew grammar books written in English is <strong>the</strong> terminology. Standard terms used by grammarians with a fixed meaning in teaching all o<strong>the</strong>r languages are used in Hebrew grammars with a different meaning, causing great confusion. As an example, two different past tenses, <strong>the</strong> past continuous and <strong>the</strong> past repeated (‘I was doing’ and ‘I used to do’) are combined into one in French, German, Latin and Greek, and possibly o<strong>the</strong>rs, and known as <strong>the</strong> ‘imperfect tense’. In Hebrew grammars, this term, ‘imperfect tense’, is taken as a synonym for ‘future tense’ (‘I will do’) to describe something which, as we explain, is really not even a tense at all! The biggest problem is for Israelis, speakers <strong>of</strong> Modern Hebrew, in which over-simplified and totally incorrect concepts <strong>of</strong> Classical Hebrew, influenced by Aramaic and by European languages, have become entrenched. The language is very far from flexible, concepts cannot easily be expressed and where <strong>the</strong>y can <strong>the</strong> Israeli mentality will not allow <strong>the</strong>m to be easily grasped. English, on <strong>the</strong> contrary, is highly flexible, is very rich in expression, and has terms that are in accepted use in teaching o<strong>the</strong>r languages. If <strong>the</strong> concepts <strong>of</strong> Classical Hebrew are properly understood, <strong>the</strong>y can be explained in English perhaps better than in any o<strong>the</strong>r language. This book is not intended to be comprehensive. The rules given are not all universal, <strong>the</strong>re are many exceptions. All that is claimed for <strong>the</strong> rules is that <strong>the</strong>y cover <strong>the</strong> vast majority <strong>of</strong> cases, and that <strong>the</strong>y do so far better than any o<strong>the</strong>r set <strong>of</strong> rules given in most if not all o<strong>the</strong>r grammar books. They also lead to a better understanding <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mentality and outlook behind <strong>the</strong> language, so that one can begin to understand <strong>the</strong> language from <strong>the</strong> point <strong>of</strong> view <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> people who used to use it, instead <strong>of</strong> from our modern one.
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