Hebrew for Bible Readers

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A notable feature of Hebrew is the three-consonant root, such as ldg, meaning “to be or become great.” Reading from right to left, the g Gimel holds the initial position, the d Daleth the medial position and the l Lamed the final position. The root ldg is the basis for a variety of words formed by adding a vowel or vowel and consonant combinations, and all share the basic meaning of the root. For example:

This triradical root system, as it is called, is the basis for most Hebrew words (the exceptions are some pronouns, the definite article, the conjunction and most prepositions).

ldg is called a strong root because its three root letters appear in all derived forms, but roots with the consonants y, w, h, a, and n are called weak roots because those consonants may not appear in some derived forms. Weak root letters may occur in any of the three positions. Sometimes a weak letter will be written but not pronounced. Note the following roots and derived forms:

With a bit of experience it is easy to identify a weak root by the remaining consonants. Many Hebrew dictionaries are arranged according to the root from which a form is derived, so the ability to identify roots is crucial to using a Hebrew-English dictionary.

Unexpected peculiarities sometimes crop up in biblical Hebrew that may surprise even the reader of modern Hebrew. One of them occurs in narratives when a prefixed verbal form is joined to the conjunction w”, va. For example, the root btk, “write,” when prefixed with a y, yod (bTok]yI), means “he shall write.” But when the conjunction w”, va, is joined to the beginning (bTok]YIw” vay-yik-tov), it is not translated “and he shall write”; unexpectedly this combination is translated as a past tense, “and he wrote.” Likewise, if a narrative section begins with a verb in the future tense, the future tense continues for subsequent suffixed verbs (which usually indicates the past tense) if they are attached to the conjunction wÒve. This function of the vov is known as vov conversive. Let’s see how it works. Look at Numbers 15:1–2

ynEBeAla, rBeD’ rmoaLe hv,mAla, h/hyÒ rBed’yÒw” År,a,Ala, Wabot; yKi µh,ylea} T;r]m’a;wÒ laer;c]yI µt,yci[}w” µk,l; ÷teOn ynIa} rv,a} µk,ytebov]/m…h/;hyl’ hV,ai

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to the Sons of Israel and you shall say to them, “When you shall enter into the land of your dwelling which I am giving to you, then you shall offer a burnt sacrifice to the Lord…”’”

Note that rBed}yÒw” (vay-dab-ber) begins with va prefixed to rBed}y. It is translated in the past tense, “spoke.” Now note that the Lord’s words to Moses begin with an imperative (future) tense: rBeD’, dabber, “speak.” The next verb, T;r]m’a;wÒ, “and you shall say” (not “and you said”), begins with a prefixed wÒ ve and continues the future tense. Similarly, the verse continues with Wabot;, “you shall enter,” in the future tense, and that tense persists with µt,yci[}w:, “and you shall offer” (rather than “and you offered”).

Now, let’s look at this passage and note some of the varied forms that result from weak consonants. Wabot;, “you shall enter,” is the second person masculine plural future form of awb. If this were a strong root, we would expect WawÒbeTi. However, the weak letter vov has weakened into a vowel and the vowel under the pronominal element t has been modified to a kamats in the adjusted pronunciation.

µt,yci[}w’ “and (then) you shall offer (up),” derives from hc[. It is a second person masculine plural past tense form in a narrative setting. The strong root form would have been µT,h]c'[]wI. But because the final root letter h is weak, it has been lost in pronunciation and replaced by y. (the chirik gadol vowel).

For practice, study Genesis 2:8–9 and find examples of vov conversive and of verbs with weak root letters.

A notable feature of Hebrew is the three-consonant root, such as ldg, meaning “to be or become great.” Reading from right to left, the g Gimel holds the initial position, the d Daleth the medial position and the l Lamed the final position. The root ldg is the basis for a variety of words formed by adding a vowel or vowel and consonant combinations, and all share the basic meaning of the root. For example: ldeG: ga-del, “(he) is great” lD’gÒTi tig-dal, “you shall be great” hl;WdGÒ ged-ulah, “greatness” lDeGI gid-del, “he made (object) great” lDeG:t]hi hith-gad-del, “boast” lD;gÒmi […]