The Hebrew Noun – Lesson 15

The Sentence

In English, the word order is very important. We often use the word order to define each word’s role in the sentence. For example, the sentence “the messenger gives a letter to an old king” does not mean the same thing as the sentence “an old king gives a messenger to the letter”. The meaning is changed by simply moving the words around.

Hebrew is a little freer with its word order. Word order can be changed to place emphasis on a particular word in the sentence. There is, however, a standard word order in Hebrew sentences. It is in breaking this normal word order that emphasis is provided.

Hebrew sentences generally start with the verb, then the subject followed by any modifiers, then the direct object followed by any modifiers, then the indirect object. Like this: “gives the messenger a letter to a king old” – verb, subject, direct object, indirect object.

Obviously not every sentence contains all of these parts. A sentence may have no direct object, or no indirect object, or neither. The subject itself may not be expressed, since technically the verb, through its parsing, could supply a subject. There are also sentences with no verb, in which case a “to be” verb is understood – “The king old.” is not a complete sentence in English, but in Hebrew it would be understood to mean “The king (is/was) old”.

Vocabulary

(We will cover time with Hebrew verbs later; for now, understand that these verbs can be past, present, or future.)

דָּבַר – he/she spoke מָּשַל – he/she ruled

זָּכַר – he/she remembered נָּתַן – he/she gave

Some Hebrew Sentences:

מָּשַל הַמֶּלֶּךְ הַגּוֺי

נָ תַן אֱלֹ הַים שֵַׁם לְַ אבְרָהַָם

דבַר אלֹהִים מִן־הַשָּמַיִ ם

נָּתַן הכֺ הן־ אלֹ הִים אֵׁת־ שלוֺם לגּוֺ י

אלֹהִים קֺדֶּש

זָּכַר הַבֵׁן תּוֺרָּה

לנָּ ביא נתַן המֶּ לךְ לחֶּם

הַתּוֺרָּה ב לב־כֺהן

זכַר את־תּוֺרָּה