 Every word in the Hebrew Bible, unless joined to the following word by a maqqef, carries a primary accent mark on its tone syllable.

TRUE

 Every word has a secondary accent in addition to the primary accent

FALSE Only some longer words may receive a secondary accent in addition to the primary accent.

אָלֶףדָּלֶת

If there are words accented on any syllable other than the final syllable they are marked with the munah accent.

^ The accent that marks the end of the first half of the verse is known as?

^ The accent that marks the end of the first half of the verse is known as? Atnah

 The second major disjunctive accent is known as the?  It is placed below the accented syllable of the last word in the last half of the verse, the word that immediately precedes the?

 The second major disjunctive accent is known as the silluq  It is placed below the accented syllable of the last word in the last half of the verse, the word that immediately precedes sof passuq (“end of sentence”)

 A secondary accent that sometimes appears in addition to the primary accent in a word.  It is made exactly like the silluq, but the two are easily distinguishable, since silluq appears only on the tone/accented syllable of the last word in a verse.

 Meteg is secondary accent that sometimes appears in addition to the primary accent in a word.  It is made exactly like the silluq, but the two are easily distinguishable, since silluq appears only on the tone/accented syllable of the last word in a verse.

הּ

 A mappiq is a dot that can be inserted in a final ה (הּ) to signal to the reader that it is a consonant, and not simply a vowel letter.  It therefore closes the syllable in which it stands.

 Every consonant in a Hebrew word, with the exception of final consonants and of אwhen it stands at the end of a syllable or is otherwise quiescent, must be followed by a vowel sound or by a silent sheva.  A consonant + A Vocalization Mark ▪ CvCvCv  The vowel sound:  Full vowel or a half-vowel ▪ Simple sheva or compound sheva

 All syllables in a Hebrew word must begin with a consonant, which may be any consonant in the alphabet.  The one seeming except to this rule occurs when a word begins with the vowel וּ, as in וּבֵין(“and from”-Gen. 1:4)

 Kelley  A Hebrew syllable must include one full vowel. ▪ A syllable may also contain a half-vowel (simple or compound sheva)  The number of syllables in a word is determined by the number of full vowels in that word, irrespective of the number of half-vowels that may be present.  Alternative  A Hebrew syllable is a consonant + a vocalization mark ▪ Full vowel ▪ Vocal Sheva ▪ Simple or compound

 Hebrew syllables are classified as either open or closed.  Cv  CvC  An open syllable ends in either:  A vowel  A Quiescent Letter  A closed syllable is one that ends in a consonant.

 Near Open  An open syllable (ending with vocalization)  A near open syllable is: ▪ An open syllable immediately to the right or to the left of the tone syllable  There can be no more than two open syllables in any Hebrew word נִקְבְּצוּ מָצָאתִי >

 Distant Open  An open syllable (ending with vocalization)  A distant open syllable is: ▪ Any open syllable that is neither to the immediate right nor to the immediate left of the tone syllable, i.e. any open syllable that is at least one syllable removed from the tone syllable in either direction ▪ There may be many distant open syllables in any Hebrew word אוֹצְרֹתָם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם

 A closed syllable, i.e., CvC ( a syllable ending with a consonant)  Unaccented, i.e. any closed syllable that does not bear the primary accent for the word שֻׁלְחָן

חָכְמָה “wisdom” C C V Silent Sheva C V

חָכְמָה “wisdom” OC

דָּבָר word C V C V C

דָּבָר word O C

כַּאֲשֶׁר As, just as, when C C C C V Compound Sheva V

כַּאֲשֶׁר As, just as, when OOC

מִִשְׁפָּט C CCC V V Justice Silent Sheva

מִִשְׁפָּט CC Justice

צְדָקָה Righteousness CCC Vocal Sheva V V

צְדָקָה Righteousness OOO Vocal Sheva

חַיִּים C V C Life

חַייִים C V C Life C V C

חַיִּים C C

 Hebrew has no indefinite article  It is the absence of the definite article which indicates that a noun is indefinite

מֶלֶךְ a king הֵיכָל a palace נָהָר a river <

שָׂדֶה a field דֶּרֶךְ a road אִישׁ a man <

הַ “the”.

 The definite article never stands alone but always appears as an inseparable prefix to the noun whose definiteness it determines  It is prefixed to the word it defines so as to make “one word” in writing and pronunciation  The form of the article is not affected by the gender and number of the noun to which it is prefixed, but is the same for all genders and numbers  i.e. the definite article is not marked for gender or number

הַמֶּלֶךְ the king הַנָּהָר the river <

הַשָּׂדֶה the field הַדֶּרֶךְ the road <

 Even though the article is not marked for gender and number  The form of the article will be affected by the consonant to which it is prefixed

הַ “the”.

יָדa hand קוֹלa voice לֵב a heart הַיָּד the hand הַקּוֹל the voice הַלֵּב the heart

 When the article is prefixed to a noun whose initial consonant is a guttural, the form of the article will be modified to compensate for the guttural’s refusal to be doubled

 Before ה and ח the article is usually written הַ (ה plus patah, but without the dagesh forte)  In this situation, ה and ח are said to be doubled by implication, that is virtually doubled

הַ הַ Implicit Doubling.

חֶרֶב “sword” הַחֶרֶב “the sword”

הֵיכָל “palace” הַהֵיכָל the palace

 Before ר, א, and עthe article is usually written הָ (ה plus qames)  In this case, the guttural’s rejection of the dagesh forte causes the preceding short vowel to be lengthened (patah to qames).  This is known as the compensatory lengthening of a vowel.  Without the lengthening, patah would have been left as a short vowel in an open, unaccented syllable.

הַ הָ Compensatory Lengthening.

רֹאשׁ “head” הָרֹאשׁ “the head”

אָב “father” הָאב “the father”

עִיר “city” הָעִיר “the city”

 Before חָ, and before unaccented הָ or unaccented עָ, the article is written הֶ (ה, plus segol)

הַ הֶ.

חָכָם “wise man” הֶחָכָם “the wise man”

עָפָר “dust” הֶעָפָר “the dust”

הָרִים “mountains” הֶהָרִים “the mountains”

 When the article is prefixed to a noun whose initial consonant is yod, followed by a simple sheva (יְ), the article will normally be written הַ (ה, plus patah, but without the dagesh forte).  The same rule sometimes applies when a noun’s initial consonant is מ, followed by a simple sheva (מְ).  It does not apply, however, in the case of other letters of the alphabet that occur with a simple sheva.

הַ הַ.

יְלָדִים “children” הַיְלָדִים “the children”

יְאֹר “river” הַיְאֹר “the river”

מְסִלָּה “highway” הַמְסִלָּה “the highway”

מְלָכִים “kings” הַמְּלָכִים “the kings”

מְקֹמוֹת “places” הַַמְּקֹמוֹת “the places”

דְּבָרִים “words” הַדְּבָרִים “the words”

זְקֵנִים “elders” הַזְקֵנִים “the elders”

אֶרֶץearth הַרmountain עַםpeople גַּןgarden פַּרbull חַגfestival אְַרוֹןark הָאַרֶץthe earth הָהָר the mountain הָעָםthe people הַגָּןthe garden הַפָּרthe bull הֶחָגthe festival הָאָרוֹןthe ark

ע, ח, ה, אand sometimes ר

1. Gutturals cannot be doubled. That is, they reject the dagesh forte. 1. When this takes place, the preceding vowel is left in an open, unaccented syllable, and therefore it must be lengthened 2. When doubling is necessary, one of the following occurs: a)Compensatory Lengthening b)Implicit Doubling

1. (ר) ע א 2. Instead of receiving a dagesh forte, the preceding vowel is lengthened by way of compensation a)If patah, it will be lengthened to a qames b)If hireq, it will be lengthened to sere c)If qibbus it will be lengthened to holem

אָב + הַ=הַאָב אָב + הַ=הָאָב..

1. If the guttural that rejects a dagesh forte is either ה or ח, no lengthening of the preceding short vowel is necessary. 1. Under these circumstances, ה and ח are said to be implicitly doubled or doubled by implication, and the preceding syllable is treated as a closed syllable.

. חשֶׁךְ+הַ=הָחשֶׁךְ חשֶׁךְ+הַ=הַחשֶׁךְ. < < < <

2. Gutturals tend to take “a” class vowels before and sometimes after them a) This preference is especially noticeable with the strong gutturals ח, הּ, and ע b) When one of these gutturals occurs at the end of a word and is preceded by an unchangeably long vowel that is not of the “a” class, then another short “a” sound must be inserted between this vowel and the guttural. c) This short “a” sound is called a patah furtive or furtive patah because of its hurried pronunciation

 The furtive patah is not technically a vowel, but is simply a slight a-class vowel sound which assists in the pronunciation of the guttural  It must not be regarded as increasing the number of syllables in a word.  It is written after (i.e., under) the guttural letter  It is pronounced before the guttural letter

רוּה ruh רוּה ru a h ַ

הִשְׁמִיע hismi’ הִשְׁמִיע hismi a ’ ַ

מַדּוּע maddu a ’ ַ

מִזְבֵּח mizbe a h ַ

זְרוֹע z e ro a ’ ַ

יְהוֹשׁוּע y e hosu a ' ַ

 If the form requires an i-class vowel, then the i-class vowel nearest the a-class vowel is used.

אִכְתֹּב אֶכְתֹּב (segol is closer to a-class)

3. Gutturals tend to take compound shevas rather than simple shevas

 ח, ה, א, and ע require a compound/composite sheva instead of a simple vocal sheva  This will usually be hatef-patah  Initial א, however, often takes a hatef segol  Only in rare instances will a guttural appear with a hatef-qames

עְבֹר עְַבֹר

חְכָמִים חְַכָמִים

אְַשֶׁר “who, which, that”

חְַלוֹם “dream”

אְלֹהִים “God” ֶ

חְלִי “sickness” ָ

 The gutturals’ preference for compound shevas is so strong that even silent shevas that occur beneath gutturals will usually be changed to compound shevas.  Whenever this change takes place, the vowel preceding the guttural will remain short, even though it is now left in an open, unaccented syllable.  Sometimes it may receive a meteg in order to insure its stress in pronunciation.  Furthermore, the vowel before the guttural will belong to the same class as the compound sheva that follows the guttural.

נַעְַבֹד Na- ’a vod COO

מָעמָד mo- ’o mad ְָ C OO