The Hebrew Writing System – Lesson 7

Pastor Billy Mryon

We have covered some things about shewa, particularly in the second half of Lesson 5. Simple shewa is another symbol that can appear under a letter (אְ). It can have one of two roles: either it is a vocal shewa standing for a half-vowel sound, or it is a silent shewa serving as a syllable divider. Lesson 5 covered vocal shewa; now we will take what we have learned about syllables and cover silent shewa, and how to tell the difference between the two.

Silent shewa, unlike vocal shewa, is not pronounced. It is used to mark the end of a syllable. Therefore, a simple shewa is silent if:

1) It follows a short vowel

2) It precedes another shewa (such as יִ ש מרוּ )

A simple shewa is vocal if:

1) It follows an unaccented long vowel

2) It follows another shewa (see rule 2 above)

3) It is at the beginning of the word (such as שמ וְ )

4) It is under a letter with a daghesh forte

The reason for rule 1 of both vocal and silent shewa is this: In Lesson 6 we covered the difference between open and closed syllables. Open syllables end in a vowel, and generally have a long vowel. Therefore, the following shewa is not ending or dividing the syllable – it is under the consonant that begins the next syllable, and is a vocal shewa. Closed syllables end in a consonant, and generally have a short vowel. The following shewa is not sitting under a consonant that is beginning the

next syllable, but under the consonant that ends the previous syllable. Therefore it is a syllable divider – a silent shewa.

Rule 2 (for both vocal and silent shewa) deals with when there are back-to-back shewas. In that case the first one is silent, and the second one is vocal.

Rule 3 for vocal shewa simply points out that since silent shewa is a syllable divider, it cannot be at the beginning of a syllable, so being at the beginning of the word guarantees that it is vocal.

Rule 4 for vocal shewa points out that, since daghesh forte doubles the letter, a syllable divider is unnecessary. The previous syllable ends with the first instance of the doubled consonant, and the next syllable begins with the second instance.

Find the syllables in these words using the rules from Lesson 6, and determine whether the simple shewas are vocal or silent.

סָ מְךְ מְ רפֵּא מְְְְִ ש בצ ות צדְָקָה קְְְָר וב יְְָמִין בְ עדְְְ

בְרִית חשְרךְ חְ ש מל מ עְלָה פְְוּתִי נְְָשְִיםְ גְְּמוּלָהְ

Vocabulary

ברִיתְ covenant

דָבָרְ word, thing

שָל וםְ peace

ר אְשְ head

נָבִיא prophet