Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar

Future , , , , , ,Roots with‘gutturals’ImperativeAction noun Infinitive The system behind this verb table is as for the other binyanim, exceptthat:1 The fem. sing. in the present is not the expected but .2 Where there is no suffix, the rule is as in the other binyanim – exceptthat colloquially one tends to say rather than in the presentmasc. sing., in keeping with the vowels in the regular NIF’AL (30). Forthis reason, everyday usage has ‘It looks good’ ratherthan . . . .. . .51 Roots with ‘gutturals’a Introduction , , ‘Gutturals’ are the letters . These were all once pronouncedthroatily and involved such an effort that they affected the form ofneighboring vowels, giving them the quality of an a (the most ‘throaty’ ofvowels).Nowadays, in the dominant (‘Europeanized’) Israeli accent, is usuallypronounced like , i.e. with a quick catch in the throat rather than withguttural friction. In the same way, is commonly pronounced like : it isnot usually heard as ‘h’. As for , it is usually simply like . Yet , , still cause neighboring vowels to vary their form, a kind of historical echothat still causes considerable complications for modern Hebrew grammar.So we are entitled to talk of abstract ‘gutturals’, in inverted commas.Two other letters, and , have ‘guttural’ effects sometimes, the lattervery occasionally.85