The Hebrew Noun – Lesson 14

Some Prepositions, and the Sign of the Direct Object

Nouns can have different roles in a sentence. A noun could be the one doing the action, or it could be the one the action is being done to. It could be naming where something is located, or the method being used to do something. Many languages use cases to define these roles, and many languages also inflect their nouns in order to make clear which role that noun is serving at that time.

Hebrew’s approach to these things is relatively simple. It takes some of its prepositions and attaches them to the noun when appropriate. This takes the place of much of the inflecting/declining that goes on in other languages.

The preposition מִן means “from”. It is used instead of an ablative inflection. It can comine with the noun either as a separate word joined by a makkeph ( מִִן־ִ ), or it can blend in with the word like this מִִ with a daghesh forte in the next letter. For example, מִשָּׁ מַיִםַ means “from heaven(s)”.

The dative case is shown by the preposition לִ, which means “to/for”. This deals with nouns in a “receiving” type of role, including indirect objects. Unlike מִן , לִ, always blends with the noun, like this: לבֵןִ .

The locative and instrumental cases, which deal with location and instrumentality, have several prepositions that could be used to point out that a noun is being used this way. But only one preposition blends into the noun like the ones above. בִ means “in” or “by”, depending on whether the noun is dealing with location “in”, or the means “by” which

the action is being done. Context will generally make it clear which meaning is intended. בִ combines like this: ברִֵאשִיתִ

Finally, the accusative case is generally used with the direct object. This case often relies on word order to make itself clear, but it is also very common to see the particle אֵת used in front of the direct object. This is called the sign of the direct object. It has no translation or meaning; it simply designates the following noun as the direct object of the sentence. It may or may not be joined to the noun by a makkeph.

When used with nouns that have a definite article, the prepositions בִִ

and לִ can cause the definite article (הִ) to disappear. It is replaced by moving the vowel pointing that was under the ה underneath the preposition, and by adding a daghesh forte to the next letter. For example, “to a son” is לבֵן , but “to the son” is לבֵןִ .

Exercises

לִ מַ לךַ את־צַ אןַ שַם־ המָּׁקוֹם

בבַָּׁיִתַ מִן־הָּׁאַָּׁ רץַ מִשָּׁ מַיִםַ

מַ לך יִַשְׂרָּׁ אַלַ וּמָּׁקוֹם את־ המָּׁקוֹםַ

בָּׁאַָּׁ רץַ לַ נ פשַ מִן־ המָּׁקוֹםַ

בַית אֱַלֹהִַיםַ במָּׁקוֹם אֱלֹ הַי השָּׁ מַיִם

את־ ה מַ לךַ