Summer grammar review?

[avra34v2]

Hello,

I just recently finished my first year of Hebrew Grammar and will be moving on to Hebrew Exegesis in the Fall.

After unpacking when I got home from school I realized I had made a grave mistake.... I misplaced my Hebrew Grammar book. I had planned on doing a speedy review, reading a more advanced guide on Hebrew syntax, and beginning to chug away at Genesis this summer. Now of course I still plan on doing that, but I still wanted to review basic grammar to solidify what I've learned. I'm still not 100% comfortable with all irregular verbs (I NEVER feel comfortable with geminate and hallow verbs...). I was wondering if anybody knew of a site that went through basic Hebrew grammar rather extensively like an introductory grammar book would?

Also, slightly relevant, what is the best (or a good) way to expand vocabulary? I think I know somewhere around 400 (maybe 500?) words. I wish I had my grammar, cuz then I could say exactly how many words I know...

 

[drjean]

Sorry I can't help... I'm going the Pimsleur approach and am learning along the way... and I just began reading as I go into Level II... it appears quite easy so far.

I found this online, does it help? Hebrew for Christians Grammar Pages

 

[yonah_mishael]

What grammar book did you use? Are you aware that Weingreen's grammar is online for review? You should look through it.

The best way to improve vocabulary is to read more text and look up words in a dictionary. I don't know of a shortcut for it.

 

[yonah_mishael]

If you've got specific questions, though, I would love to go over them. Which irregular verbs are you thinking of? Have you got a copy of 501 Verbs?

 

[avra34v2]

What grammar book did you use? Are you aware that Weingreen's grammar is online for review? You should look through it.

The best way to improve vocabulary is to read more text and look up words in a dictionary. I don't know of a shortcut for it.

It was Ross's grammar.

And I'll definitely check out that review.

I also have vocab cards of 1,200 of the most common words in the Hebrew Bible that I might grab a few every week to learn.

And by irregular verbs, I guess I mean more like third heh verbs... hollow verbs, etc, etc.

I also never got around to learning the really uncommon stems (polel, histophel, etc...)(i know qal, piel, pual, hiphil, hophal, and hithpael)

 

[yonah_mishael]

"Hollow" is what we learned as "middle weak" (verbs with vav or yod as the second radical).

Good to see that you're aware of the regular binyanim. Polel (like סוֹבֵ&#1489 works just like a regular piel, but with -o- instead of -i- (or -e- before most gutturals).

סוֹבַבְתִּי
סוֹבַבְתָּ | סוֹבַבְתְּ
סוֹבֵב | סוֹבְבָה
סוֹבַבְנוּ
סוֹבַבְתֶּם | סוֹבַבְתֶּן
סוֹבְבוּ

אֲסוֹבֵב
etc.

Does that make sense? It's pretty easy.

I'm not aware of any histophel verbs. Can you give an example? I like הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה on its own. Not sure of any other verbs that go in that pattern either.

Do you have any specific questions? Have you worked with Weingreen?

 

[avra34v2]

"Hollow" is what we learned as "middle weak" (verbs with vav or yod as the second radical).

Good to see that you're aware of the regular binyanim. Polel (like סוֹבֵ&#1489 works just like a regular piel, but with -o- instead of -i- (or -e- before most gutturals).

סוֹבַבְתִּי
סוֹבַבְתָּ | סוֹבַבְתְּ
סוֹבֵב | סוֹבְבָה
סוֹבַבְנוּ
סוֹבַבְתֶּם | סוֹבַבְתֶּן
סוֹבְבוּ

אֲסוֹבֵב
etc.

Does that make sense? It's pretty easy.

I'm not aware of any histophel verbs. Can you give an example? I like הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה on its own. Not sure of any other verbs that go in that pattern either.

Do you have any specific questions? Have you worked with Weingreen?

I actually found my grammar!
tucked away in it's own pocket of a bag I forgot about.

But, I remember my prof mentioning the hishtophel was a theoretical stem that only applied to one verb (the verb meaning 'to worship'), which is why grammarians disagree as to whether or not it is right to speak of a hishtophel stem.

And I have not worked with Weingreen, what is it?

 

[yonah_mishael]

I actually found my grammar!
tucked away in it's own pocket of a bag I forgot about.

But, I remember my prof mentioning the hishtophel was a theoretical stem that only applied to one verb (the verb meaning 'to worship'), which is why grammarians disagree as to whether or not it is right to speak of a hishtophel stem.

And I have not worked with Weingreen, what is it?

Jacob Weingreen (1907-1995) is the name of a professor who put together a great grammar that has been used for a long time in colleges. It's called A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew (Clarendon Press, 1959). This grammar is full of clear explanations and exercises from both Hebrew to English (the standard) and English to Hebrew (much more challenging!). It covers everything you need to know to read biblical Hebrew well and understand what's going on behind the scenes.

As regards your mention of the binyanim, I'm not sure what you mean about the verb "worship." Could you be more specific? Are you referring to הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה? If so, how do you take it as hishtophel (being that there is no -o- in the form at all)? What about הִשְׁתּוֹלֵל ("become unruly") and הִתְלוֹנֵן ("complain"), which both have the -o- and the doubled root letter at the end (a sort of geminate)?

 

[yonah_mishael]

You can preview the whole grammar here.

 

[yonah_mishael]

I just looked up the idea of hishtaphel in Seow's, and I see that this is probably what you were talking about, with the -a- vowel in the middle.

He wrote (XXVII.7):

There is another reflexive verbal pattern in Hebrew known as Hishtaphel. It is, however, attested only for the root חוה, which occurs only in this pattern, meaning “to bow down, do obeisance, worship.” This verb (which occurs 170 times) has been analyzed in BDB as reflexive of the root שָׁחָה, with the metathesis of the infixed t and the sibilant (š). From external evidence discovered in this century, however, most scholars have concluded that this important verb is traced to the root חוה. There is, to be sure, a root שָׁחָה (to bow down) attested once in Qal and once in Hiphil, but that root appears to have been secondarily derived from הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה.​

From there, he goes on to list all of the forms of the verb (perfect, imperfect, imperative, participle [present tense] and vav-consecutive).

Do you want to run any questions by me or lay out anything that you're working on for confirmation or sharing? Feel free!

 

[yonah_mishael]

But, I remember my prof mentioning the hishtophel was a theoretical stem that only applied to one verb (the verb meaning 'to worship'), which is why grammarians disagree as to whether or not it is right to speak of a hishtophel stem.

You shouldn't think of it as a separate binyan. Just remember that there are seven: qal - niphal, piel - pual, hiphil - hophal, hitpael. Everything else is related to these seven by analogy, whether hishtaphel, hitpalel, phitpolel, polel, or any other. They all come back to the basic seven.

ACTIVE : PASSIVE
נִפְעָל : קָל
פֻּעַל : פִּעֵל
הָפְעַל : הִפְעִיל

REFLEXIVE
הִתְפַּעֵל

 

[avra34v2]

yeah, I haven't really run into any big questions so far but I will definitely ask when I do. Right now I'm just reviewing everything I've gone over and trying to cement the forms for verbs in (particularly irregulars). I'm also reading up on extra chapters in my grammar that goes over the basic features of the BHS and I'm also reading a slightly more advanced book on syntax, because in translation I also get tripped up by idioms and syntactical constructions that don't translate well.

 

[yonah_mishael]

What book are you reading on syntax?

 

[yonah_mishael]

By the way, Gesenius' grammar has a section on "unusual conjugations". It's section 55. Do you have a copy? If not, you can download it from archive.org here: http://archive.org/details/GeseniusHebrewGrammarPdf

 

[yonah_mishael]

Specifically, Gesenius mentions:

Polel
Pilel / Pulal / Hitpalel
Pealel (notice that he also mentions diminutive nouns in this connection - which would be like כְּלַבְלַב puppy)
Pilpel
Tiphel (in modern Hebrew, we have תִּדְלֵק to fill up gas and תִּקְשֵׁר to communicate as examples)
Shaphel (only in one biblical Hebrew word: שַׁלְהֶבֶת spark, ember, flame)

These are all special cases, and they are not numerous enough to memorize as different binyanim. You should make sure that you know the standard binyanim and can recognize the irregulars. Beyond that, don't go overboard with memorization. Everything fits the patterns, even if there are some strange ones (like those above).