Hebrew Language - Hebrew Grammar

Hebrew Grammar

Hebrew grammar is partly analytic, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than grammatical cases. However, inflection plays a decisive role in the formation of the verbs and nouns. E.g. nouns have a construct state, called "smikhut", to denote the relationship of "belonging to": this is the converse of the genitive case of more inflected languages. Words in smikhut are often combined with hyphens. In modern speech, the use of the construct is sometimes interchangeable with the preposition "shel", meaning "of". There are many cases, however, where older declined forms are retained (especially in idiomatic expressions and the like), and "person"-enclitics are widely used to "decline" prepositions.

Read more about this topic:  Hebrew Language

Famous quotes containing the words hebrew and/or grammar:

    Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled:t hou takest away their
    breath, they die, and return to their dust.
    —Bible: Hebrew Psalm CIV (l. CIV, 29)

    I demand that my books be judged with utmost severity, by knowledgeable people who know the rules of grammar and of logic, and who will seek beneath the footsteps of my commas the lice of my thought in the head of my style.
    Louis Aragon (1897–1982)