Language/Hebrew/Grammar/Personal-pronouns-and-the-present-tense

Personal pronouns and the present tense

Hebrew is not a language like any other. We will show that grammar (דִקְדוּק) has simple conjugation modes adapted to the Hebrew genius.

Time (human) flows in one direction only, and Western thought has arbitrarily divided time into past, present, and future absolute, whereas there are only aspects of Time that express Thought itself of the Creator, and which must be considered as differentiated relations with the One who is out of time.

The present, defined as the period between the end of the past and the beginning of the future, is only a perpetual moment. Only Haqadoch baroukh Hou is an Eternal Present, and apart from Him, Creation has no existence. Therefore, there is no present time in the Hebrew language.

Personal pronouns

We will show in the next lessons that the Hebrew personal pronouns are given as suffixes for the so-called completed time, and as prefixes for the so-called unfinished time.

"Whole" personal pronouns are used to make the appearance of the present.

Féminin נְקֵבָה	Masculin זָכָר
je	אֲנִי
tu	אַתְ	אַתָה
il elle	הִיא	הוּא
nous	אֲנַחְנוּ
vous	אַתֶן	אַתֶם
ils elles	הֵן	הֵם

Note: There is no speaking in Hebrew.

Vocabulary

         élève   תַלְמִיד     ז

         lettre   מִכְתָב     ז

         crayon   עִפָּרוֹן     ז

         livre   סֵפֶר     ז

         pain   לֶחֶם     ז

         hébreu (adverbial)   עִבְרִית

Grammar

++ Prepositions with and in Hebrew are expressed by the same letter בּ placed in front of the name. ==

       une lettre       מִכְתָב

             dans une lettre       בְּמִכְתָב

             dans une belle lettre       בְּמִכְתָב יָפֶה

             un grand livre       סֵפֶר גָּדוֹל

             dans un grand livre       בְּסֵפֶר גָּדוֹל

One can also translate with a letter, with a beautiful letter, with a large book, depending on the context.

When the name is defined, the ה is deleted and its vowel goes under the בּ

la lettre       הַמִכְתָב

             dans la lettre       בַּמִכְתָב

The qualifying adjective normally takes the definite article

la belle lettre       הַמִכְתָב הַיָפֶה

             dans (ou avec) la belle lettre       בַּמִכְתָב הַיָפֶה

             le grand livre       הַסֵפֶר הַגָּדוֹל

             dans (ou avec) le grand livre       בַּסֵפֶר הַגָּדוֹל

In front of names and adjectives beginning with one of the letters ע, א or ר, the definite article takes the vowel ָ

avec le crayon   בָּעִפָּרוֹן

The verb "present"

In a Hebrew dictionary, the verb is indicated by its root (שֹׁרֶשׁ), usually composed of three letters.

Let's look at how the verbs that we define as: סָסַס

écrire      כָּתַב

manger      אָכַל

	Féminin  נְקֵבָה	Masculin  זָכָר
Singulier יָחִד	כּוֹתֶבֶת	כּוֹתֵב
Pluriel  רַבִּים	כּוֹתְבוֹת	כּוֹתְבִים

the student (f.) writes a letter הַתַלְמִידָה כּוֹתֶבֶת מִכְתָב

students (m.) write letters הַתַלְמִידִים כּוֹתְבִים מִכְתָבִים

The participles

The present participle (פּוֹעֵל)

It expresses an action made by the subject, without indication of the beginning and the end: it is an action in the making.

When we say, in Hebrew: אֲנִי אוֹכֵל (I eat), it means in fact: I am eating.

It will be noted that English proceeds in the same way with this difference that he uses the auxilière to be, non-existent in Hebrew: I am eating.

Rachel writes with a pencil רָחֵל כּוֹתֶבֶת בְּעִפָּרוֹן

Joseph eats bread יוֹסֵף אוֹכֵל לֶחֶם

The past participle (פָּעוּל)

It expresses an action suffered by the subject.

You will note the position of the letter ו which moves to the left (reading direction), when the action is completed.

Féminin  נְקֵבָה	Masculin  זָכָר
Singulier יָחִד	כְּתוּבָה	כָּתוּב
Pluriel  רַבִּים	כְּתוּבוֹת	כְּתוּבִים

This book is written in Hebrew הַסֵפֶר הַזֶה כָּתוּב בְּעִבְרִית

There are seven verbal forms in Hebrew. The one we have examined is the simple form (קַל, also called פָּעַל.

The other six forms derive from the first form, and make it possible to specify the manner in which the action was accomplished or undergone.

Note that not all verbs necessarily combine with the seven forms.