zompist bboard

It's probably a bad idea to be doing two of these at once, but what the hey. It might be fun!

<b>Lesson 1 / השעור הראשון / Hashi`ur Harishon</b>

1) Background.

Hebrew is, of course, a Semitic language, official in Israel, and spoken by many Jews scattered throughout the world. These lessons will be based on the Modern Israeli Standard - several other historical dialects still exist and are used in communities, but are losing ground outside of religious services. The modern standard was based heavily on the Sephardi dialect, constrained to an Ashkenazi phonology (meaning the pronunciation is largely Sephardi, but many of the pharyngeal sounds, absent in Ashkenazi speech, have been lost).

The modern standard is very close to Biblical Hebrew, but with quite a few changes. Other the the pronunciation changes, the historical perfective/imperfective system was reanalyzed to a past/future tense system, several verb and nominal forms were lost (or at least limited to formal speech), and the standard word order has shifted from VSO to SVO.

2) Phonology:

Hebrew has five vowels: /a e i o u/. They may lose a little bit of quality when unstressed, but for the most part, do not change their pronunciation significantly.

There are 19 consonants:

/p b t d k g ?/
/f v s z S X h/
/m n/
/r l j/

/p/, /b/, and /k/ have lenited forms as well, [f], [v], and [X] respectively. Yes, these do merge with the phonemic /f/, /v/, and /X/. These lenitions occur in many places, but most often word-finally and before another consonant, and sometimes word-medially. These will be indicated throughout the lessons. However, when /k/ is represented by the letter ק (qaf, formally /q/), it never lenites in any position.

/r/ may either be pronounced [r] or [R] (alveolar or uvular trill), although the latter seems to be preferred. It often weakens to [R_o] (a uvular approximant).

In romanization, all letters represent their IPA values except for: ch /X/ or lenited [X], ' or ` /?/ (the former being the letter 'alef, the latter `ayin - formally a pharyngeal fricative), sh /S/, and y /j/. Finaly <h> is not pronounced.

Stress almost always goes on the final syllable. Any exceptions will be marked by an acute accent in the romanization in the following lessons.

3) Script

I'm not going to go into very much detail about the script here, the focus being pronunciation. Hebrew script will always accompany romanizations, however. Unless someone wants more explanation...

4) Some Basic Vocabulary

שלום shalom "Hello/Goodbye" (literally "Peace")
להתראות lehitra'ot "Goodbye" (literally "To see one another [again]", often used with Shalom - "Shalom, lehitra'ot!")
בוקר טוב bóqer tov "Good morning!"
ערב טוב `érev tov "Good evening!"
לילה טוב laylah tov "Good night!"

בבקשה bevaqashah "Please"
תודה todah "Thank you"

כן ken "Yes"
לא lo' "No"

If you need any pronunciation help with the above, please ask.


The next lesson should cover pronouns, some prepositions, and some basic verbs.

Ive been trying to leanr some hebrew recently... hmm

<b>Lesson 2 / השעור השני / Hashi`ur Hasheni</b>

1) Personal Pronouns

Hebrew has only one set of personal pronouns, no case, no nothing. The following are all there is. Note that there is a gender distinct in all forms but the first person, usually formed by changing a single consonant:

Singular:
אני 'ani "I" (1SG)
אתה 'atah "You" (2SG Masculine)
את 'at "You" (2SG Feminine)
הוא hu' "He" (3SG Masculine)
היא hi' "She" (3SG Feminine)

Plural:
אנחנו 'anáchnu "We" (1PL)
אתם 'atem "You all" (2PL Masculine)
אתן 'aten "You all" (2PL Feminine)
הם hem "They" (3PL Masculine)
הן hen "They" (3PL Feminine)

When referring to a mixed-gender group, or where gender is unknown, the masculine form is used.

2) "To be" in the Present Tense

Quite simply, there isn't one. The subject and complement are just juxtaposed: הוא פרופסור hu' profésor "He is a professor".

3) The Regular Pa`al Present

Binyan pa`al is the simplest binyan (verb class) in Hebrew, representing many active verbs.

As you all should know, Hebrew uses a triconsonantal root system, meaning that verb roots consist of three consonants only, and meanings are changed by changing the vowels in between them.

The present tense has four forms - the masculine singular, the masculine plural, the feminine singular, and the feminine plural. They agree in gender and number with their subject, but not person. So, for example, you would use the masculine singular form with 'ani if you're male, but the feminine singular if you're female.

The regular pattern is as follows:

Masculine Singular: CoCeC (K-T-B "write" > כותב kotev "I/You/He writes")
Feminine Singular: CoCéCet (K-T-B > כותבת kotévet "I/You/She writes")
Masculine Plural: CoCCim (K-T-B > כותבים kotvim "We/You/They write")
Feminine Plural: CoCCot (K-T-B > כותבות kotvot "We/You/They write")

The second and third consonants will be in their lenited forms, if any.


Exercises:

Try to translate the following (vocab necessary at bottom):

• He is a policeman.
• We (m) are thinking.
• He sees a dog.
• You (f) are eating an apple.
• I am going.
• They (m+f) are dancing.

שוטר shoter "policeman"
כלב kélev "dog"
תפוח tapúach "appple"

ח-ש-ב CH-SH-B "think"
ר-א-ה R-'-H "see"
א-כ-ל '-K-L "eat"
ה-ל-כ H-L-K "go, walk"
ר-ק-ד R-Q-D "dance"

/p/, /b/, and /k/ have lenited forms as well, [f], [v], and [X] respectively. Yes, these do merge with the phonemic /f/, /v/, and /X/. These lenitions occur in many places, but most often word-finally and before another consonant, and sometimes word-medially. These will be indicated throughout the lessons. However, when /k/ is represented by the letter ק (qaf, formally /q/), it never lenites in any position.

You don't think your phonemic analysis is being influenced by the orthography just a tad?

?Papapishu! wrote:

/p/, /b/, and /k/ have lenited forms as well, [f], [v], and [X] respectively. Yes, these do merge with the phonemic /f/, /v/, and /X/. These lenitions occur in many places, but most often word-finally and before another consonant, and sometimes word-medially. These will be indicated throughout the lessons. However, when /k/ is represented by the letter ק (qaf, formally /q/), it never lenites in any position.

You don't think your phonemic analysis is being influenced by the orthography just a tad?

Must we have this argument again?

Probably yes, but:

/f/ and /v/ were not phonemes until relatively recently. The only place they occur unpredictably is in foreign loan words, like פורל forel "trout", illegal in native words. Go back mabye 80 years and we probably wouldn't have this argument at all, because it would be obvious...

And regarding /k/~/X/. They behave differently. /X/ (ie, ח) word-finally does some weird things to vowels, while /k/ [X] (ie, כ) never does. And at the same time, /X/ is not allowed to immediately procede another consonant - an epenthetic /a/ is always inserted. However, /k/ [X] may, without any such vowel, even if a vowel is written in the orthography.

Yay! Hebrew! I shall bite:


1 הוא שוטר hu' shoter
2 אנחנו חושבימ 'an?chnu choshvim
3 הוא רואה כלב hu' ro'eh kelev
4 את אוכלת תפוח 'at 'ochelet tapuach
5 אני הולך 'ani holech
6 המ רוקדימ hem roqdim

I may be interested in learning the script at some point, but for now, I'll stick to the romanization, if that's okay:

hu' shoter
an?chnu choshvim
hu' ro'eh k?lev
'at 'och?let tap?ach
'ani holech
hem roqdim

I'll have a go:

hu' shoter
'anachnu choshvim
hu' ro'eh k?lev
'at 'ochelet tap?ach
'ani holech
hem rochdim

Nice. You both did perfectly.

One small note for you, Dewrad - you forgot about the sofit (final) forms in the spelling with the letter מ. At the end of a word, it should be ם, not מ.


[EDIT: Oh, Cathbad, one little error: The letter qaf (ק), despite also representing /k/, never lenites. Only kaf כ does. So it's "roqdim"/"rokdim"/however you prefer to romanize it.]


Hmm. About how much time should I give in between lessons?

Maknas wrote:Hmm. About how much time should I give in between lessons?

Well, I find that a period of nine months or so works well with the Welsh lessons...

Answers:
Hu' shoter.
An?chnu choshvim.
Hu' ro'eh k?lev.
'At 'och?let tap?ach.
'Ani holech.
Hem roqdim.
The glottal stop is pronounced?
Edit: Mostly because /h/ and a bunch of other sounds were lost, and I was wondering if /?/ fell victim to the Ashkenazi constraints.

Tuli wrote:The glottal stop is pronounced?

I don't see why not

Piero Lo Monaco wrote:

Tuli wrote:The glottal stop is pronounced?

I don't see why not

If I remember correctly it doesen't have to be, but I am probably wrong

Tuli: Your answers are correct


Now, the /?/ in modern Hebrew often isn't pronounced as a true glottal stop, instead just marking a hiatus between two vowels. So ro'eh will often be heard pronounced as [Ro."E].

And /h/ hasn't been lost in Hebrew - it's just not pronounced at the end of words. In spelling, it's most often an orthographical device hinting at a final vowel.

Oh, thank you. I mistook what you said about <h> in the first post to refer to it in all positions.

<b>Lesson 3 / השעור השלישי / Hashi`ur Hashlishi</b>

1) The Definite Article

Hebrew has no indefinite articles, but it does have one definite one. All you do is prefix ha- to the noun (ה-). So you have ספר séfer "book", הספר haséfer "the book". This will sometimes cause some slight vowel changes or drops in the first syllable of the noun, but these are not all that common and will be marked: ילדים yeladim "children", הילדים hayladim "the children".

Naturally, proper nouns, which are always definite, don't take articles.

2) The Affixed Prepostions ב ל מ be- le- mi-

These three prepositions are not independent words, but attach to their object.

ב be- means "in": בעיר be`ir "in a city". If the noun begins with a consonant that /b/ can easily form a cluster with (like /R/ or /l/), the /E/ in the preposition is dropped: ברכב bréchev "in a car".

If the noun is definite, the article fuses with the preposition. The /h/ is lost, and the prepositional vowel becomes /A/. In other words, be- means "in a", while ba- means "in the": בעיר ba`ir "in the city", ברכב baréchev. The vowel in the definite form never drops. Note also that in Hebrew script, the definite and indefinite affixed forms are identical - context serves to identify which meaning and pronunciation is desired.

ל le- means "to" or "for", and marks the indirect object. It also means "to" in the literal directional sense of movement, in sentences like "I'm going to the store". It functions exactly the same way as ב be-, and has the definite form ל la-.

מ mi- "from" functions a bit differently. It has a variant form, me- (spelt the same), which is used when the following consonant is /h/, /?/, /X/, or /R/. The vowel never drops. Also, the definite article ה ha- remains untouched, so that "from the" would be מה meha-: מהשוק mehashuq "from the market" or משוק mishuq "from a market".


Exercise 1:

Translate the following:

• He is from England.
• We are going to the market.
• The dog is in the house.

אנגליה 'angliyah "England"
בית báyit "house"

3) The Conjunction ו ve-

This conjunction, which also attaches to the beginning of the following word, whatever part of speech it may be, means "and". It does not affect the word it attaches to*, and may be followed immediately by other affixed forms: האיש והאישה ha'ish veha'ishah "the man and the woman"


* Very few exceptions.

4) The Preposition את 'et

This preposition must always precede a definite direct object (though never an indefinite one). This includes both those with the definite article ha- and those that are naturally definite, such as names of people and other proper nouns:

הוא רואה כלב hu' ro'eh kélev "He sees a dog"
הוא רואה את הכלב hu' ro'eh 'et hakélev "He sees the dog"

Exercise 2:

Translate the following into English. The transliteration is located further down, right after the vocabulary, just in case some of you want to attempt reading understanding the Hebrew text.

שלום. אני יונתן ואני מארצות הברית. אני והאשה שלי עחשיו מבקרים את המשפחה בישראל לחופשה


יונתן Yonatan Jonathan (the name)
ארצות הברית 'artzot habrit the United States (lit. "The Lands of the Union/Alliance")
אישה 'ishah "wife"
שלי sheli "my"
עחשיו 'achshav "now" (Don't let the spelling confuse you here. It's weird)
מבקרים mevaqrim "are visiting" (This is a different binyan, which will be discussed later)
משפחה mishpachah "family"
חופשה chufshah "vacation/holiday"









Shalom. 'Ani Yonatan ve'ani me'artzot habrit. 'Ani veha'ishah sheli 'achshav mevaqrim 'et hamishpachah byisra'el lachufshah.

When does ve- turn into u-? And is it not so that be- can also mean "with"?

Keep up the good work. I may not be posting the exercises, but I'm following the thread nonetheless.

Grath wrote:When does ve- turn into u-? And is it not so that be- can also mean "with"?

Keep up the good work. I may not be posting the exercises, but I'm following the thread nonetheless.

Well, if you want the details...

Ve- becomes u- before an unpronounced shva, in words such as "shmoneh" (eight), actually spelt "sh@mo:neh". That first shva has been lost, leading to a two-consonant cluster. If ve- were added to this, it would become "ushmoneh" (and eight), not *veshmoneh.

In addition, when added immediately before a be- (ie, indefinite "in"), the *vebe- becomes uvi- - ובפרק uviparq "and in a park". Note that it's still spelt the same, though.


And I've never heard be- used to mean "with". In what sense to do mean? Do you have an example?

Answers:
Hu' me'angliyah.
'An?chnu holchim lashuq.
Hak?lev bab?yit.
Hello. I am Jonathan and I am from the United States. My wife and I are now visiting the family in Israel on vacation.
This is great! Makes me want to study Arabic too (cognates and links between languages make me unreasonably happy). I need to learn to read Hebrew; I gave up trying after the first word of the text.

Maknas wrote:
As you all should know, Hebrew uses a triconsonantal root system, meaning that verb roots consist of three consonants only, and meanings are changed by changing the vowels in between them.
The regular pattern is as follows:

Masculine Singular: CoCeC (K-T-B "write" > כותב kotev "I/You/He writes")
Feminine Singular: CoC?Cet (K-T-B > כותבת kot?vet "I/You/She writes")
Masculine Plural: CoCCim (K-T-B > כותבים kotvim "We/You/They write")
Feminine Plural: CoCCot (K-T-B > כותבות kotvot "We/You/They write")

My underline.
Well, it seems there are som consonants which have been added, not only vowels that have changed, am I right?

Great lessons, I have wanted to learn at least some Hebrew for a time, but I haven't bothered to look for online courses or lessons yet!

תודה

Tuli/Tuomas: Both correct.

Nessimon wrote:Well, it seems there are som consonants which have been added, not only vowels that have changed, am I right?

Well, yeah. The main point being that the grammar revolves around the three root consonants.

Nessimon wrote:Great lessons, I have wanted to learn at least some Hebrew for a time, but I haven't bothered to look for online courses or lessons yet!

תודה

No problem.

זאת לא בעיה לי

Tuli wrote:This is great! Makes me want to study Arabic too (cognates and links between languages make me unreasonably happy).

On a related note - is le, by any chance, a cognate of Arabic لِ l(i)? (I'd expect that usage is somewhat different, especially regarding expression of posession, but I'm still interested.)


hu' me'angliyah
'an?chnu holchim lashuq
hak?lev bab?yit

Hello. I am Yonatan and I am from the United States. I and my wife are now visiting the family in Israel on vacation.

Lesson 2

hu' shoter
'an?chnu choshvim
hu' ro'eh k?lev
'at 'ok?let
'ani holek
hem roqdim

Sweeeeeeeet, Hebrew and Russian. My day just keeps getting better.