A Modern Grammar for Biblical Hebrew

Duane A. Garrett, Jason S. DeRouchie

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781087703497
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Reference

A Modern Grammar for Biblical Hebrew is a complete revision of Duane Garrett's respected 2002 release originally entitled A Modern Grammar for Classical Hebrew. In addition to the revisions and contributions from new coauthor Jason DeRouchie, the book now includes the answer key for an all-new companion workbook and an updated vocabulary list for second year Hebrew courses.

Chapter 1The Hebrew Alphabet and Vowels

The Hebrew alphabet consists entirely of consonants, the first being א (Aleph) and the last being ת (Taw). The standard script for biblical Hebrew is called the square or Aramaic script. Modern Hebrew uses a wide variety of scripts.

A. The Consonants

1. The Letters of the Alphabet

To master the Hebrew alphabet, first learn the signs, their names, and their alphabetical order.

Table 1.1. The Hebrew Alphabet

1	א	Aleph	7	ז	Zayin	13	מ	Mem	19	ק	Qoph
2	ב	Beth	8	ח	Heth	14	נ	Nun	20	ר	Resh
3	ג	Gimel	9	ט	Teth	15	ס	Samek	21	שׂ	Sin
4	ד	Daleth	10	י	Yod	16	ע	Ayin	22	שׁ	Shin
5	ה	Hey	11	כ	Kaph	17	פ	Pe	23	ת	Taw
6	ו	Waw	12	ל	Lamed	18	צ	Tsade

The alphabet has 23 letters, but in biblical times שׂ (Sin) and שׁ (Shin) were counted as one letter, and thus it had 22 letters. It is written from right to left, so that in the word written אשׁ, the letter א is first and the letter שׁ is last.

2. Letters with Final Forms

Five letters have final forms. Whenever one of these letters is the last letter in a word, it is written in its final form rather than its normal form. For example, the final form of צ (Tsade) is ץ. Both forms represent the same letter; it is simply written differently if it is the last letter in the word. The five final forms are as follows.

Table 1.2. Consonants with Final Forms

Normal Form	כ	מ	נ	פ	צ
Final Form	ךְ	ם	ן	ף	ץ

1. In מלךְ (mlk), מ (the first letter, reading right to left) has the normal form, but the last letter in the word is כ in its final form (ךְ).
2. In לכם (lkm), כ has the normal form, but מ has the final form (ם).

Blackboard 1.1. The Use of Final Forms of Letters

3. Confusing Letters

Hebrew can be difficult to read because many letters look similar. Observe the letters in the following chart. In each box, you see a series of letters that look like one another. Be sure that you can distinguish which letter is which.

Table 1.3. Easily Confused Letters

צ ע	ם ט מ ס	ן ז ו י	ךְ ר ד
פ כ ב	ת ח ה	ו ג נ

4. The Phonetic Value of the Alphabet

For learning the alphabet, Hebrew consonants can be divided conveniently into six groups: begadkephat letters, sibilants, ט and ק, gutturals, liquids, and nasals. These six groups are not built around phonetic definitions. They simply provide a framework for learning to pronounce the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

a. Begadkephat Letters

Referred to as the begadkephat letters, the letters ב, ג, ד, כ, פ, and ת are unique in that each has two distinct phonetic values. Each of these may be found with a dot called a Daghesh Lene (בּ) or without the Daghesh Lene (ב).

1. If the Daghesh Lene is present, the letter is a plosive, like the English P or B.
2. If there is no Daghesh Lene, the sound is a fricative or spirant (there is a breathing sound, as with the English F sound).
3. Do not think of the begadkephat letters as twelve different letters. There are only six, each with or without the Daghesh Lene.
4. The Daghesh Lene is used only with these six letters.
5. In a given word the same begadkephat letter will be written sometimes with and sometimes without a Daghesh Lene, according to rules we will learn in the next chapter.

Table 1.4. The “Begadkephat” Letters

With Daghesh Lene
בּ	גּ	דּ	כּ	פּ	תּ
B	G	D	K	P	T
boy	good	dot	kite	paste	tin
Without Daghesh Lene
ב	ג	ד	כ	פ	ת
V	GH	voiced	C	F	unvoiced
very	dog	TH	cool	fix	TH
	house	then			thin

b. The Gutturals

Hebrew has four guttural letters: א, ע, ה, and ח. The sounds of these letters are made at the back of the throat. For English speakers, the “sound” of...