Hebrew
Modern Hebrew shows a limited set of mutation alternations, involving spirantization only. The consonants affected may be stem-initial, stem-medial, or stem-final.
| Radical | Spirantized |
|---|---|
| p | f |
| k | x |
| b | v |
For example, some verbs show mutation between tenses and conjugation classes:
- "he wrote", "he will write"
- "he sank" (transitive), "he sank" (intransitive)
Some nouns show mutation between masculine and feminine, between singular and plural, or after prepositions:
- "a king", "a queen", "kings", (spoken Hebrew, )
- "a bear" (masc.), "a bear" (fem.), "bears" (masc.), "bears" (fem.)
- "a house", "in a house" (in spoken Modern Hebrew:
But some words do not have alternations:
- "he hacked", "he will hack"
- "good", ~ "goods"
- "a kibbutz", "in a kibbutz"
In some limited cases, initial mutation can signal adverbial status in spoken Modern Hebrew:
- "a request", "please" (spoken or written, "בבקשה"), "please" (spoken, informal).
Read more about this topic: Consonant Mutation
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“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
—Bible: Hebrew Ecclesiastes, 1:9.
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