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==Grammar<!--'Hebrew grammar' redirects here-->== {{Main|Modern Hebrew grammar}} {{Further|History of Hebrew grammar}} Hebrew grammar is partly [[analytic language|analytic]], expressing such forms as [[dative case|dative]], [[ablative case|ablative]] and [[accusative case|accusative]] using [[preposition]]al particles rather than [[grammatical case]]s. However, inflection plays a decisive role in the formation of verbs and nouns. For example, 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 [[hyphen]]s. 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"-[[enclitic]]s are widely used to "decline" prepositions. ===Morphology=== Like all Semitic languages, the Hebrew language exhibits a pattern of stems consisting typically of "[[triliteral]]", or 3-consonant [[Triliteral|consonantal roots]], from which nouns, adjectives, and verbs are formed in various ways: e.g. by inserting vowels, doubling consonants, lengthening vowels and/or adding prefixes, suffixes or [[infix]]es. 4-consonant roots also exist and became more frequent in the modern language due to a process of coining verbs from nouns that are themselves constructed from 3-consonant verbs. Some triliteral roots lose one of their consonants in most forms and are called "Nakhim" (Resting). Hebrew uses a number of [[Prefixes in Hebrew|one-letter prefixes]] that are added to words for various purposes. These are called inseparable prepositions or "Letters of Use" ({{langx|he|ืืืชืืืช ืืฉืืืืฉ|Otiyot HaShimush|links=no}}). Such items include: the definite [[article (grammar)|article]] ''ha-'' ({{IPA|/ha/}}) (= "the"); [[preposition]]s ''be-'' ({{IPA|/be/}}) (= "in"), ''le-'' ({{IPA|/le/}}) (= "to"; a shortened version of the preposition ''el''), ''mi-'' ({{IPA|/mi/}}) (= "from"; a shortened version of the preposition ''min''); [[Grammatical conjunction|conjunctions]] ''ve-'' ({{IPA|/ve/}}) (= "and"), ''she-'' ({{IPA|/สe/}}) (= "that"; a shortened version of the Biblical conjunction ''asher''), ''ke-'' ({{IPA|/ke/}}) (= "as", "like"; a shortened version of the conjunction ''kmo''). [[File:ืขืืจืืช handwritten form.jpg|thumb|The Hebrew word for "Hebrew" ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืขืืจืืช}}) in its [[Cursive Hebrew|cursive form]]]] The vowel accompanying each of these letters may differ from those listed above, depending on the first letter or vowel following it. The rules governing these changes are hardly observed in colloquial speech as most speakers tend to employ the regular form. However, they may be heard in more formal circumstances. For example, if a preposition is put before a word that begins with a moving [[Shva]], then the preposition takes the vowel {{IPA|/i/}} (and the initial consonant may be weakened): colloquial ''be-kfar'' (= "in a village") corresponds to the more formal ''bi-khfar''. The definite article may be inserted between a preposition or a conjunction and the word it refers to, creating composite words like ''mรฉ-ha-kfar'' (= "from the village"). The latter also demonstrates the change in the vowel of ''mi-''. With ''be'', ''le'' and ''ke'', the definite article is assimilated into the prefix, which then becomes ''ba'', ''la'' or ''ka''. Thus *''be-ha-matos'' becomes ''ba-matos'' (= "in the plane"). This does not happen to ''mรฉ'' (the form of "min" or "mi-" used before the letter "he"), therefore ''mรฉ-ha-matos'' is a valid form, which means "from the airplane". :''* indicates that the given example is grammatically [[standard language|non-standard]]''. ===Syntax=== Like most other languages, the vocabulary of the Hebrew language is divided into verbs, nouns, adjectives and so on, and its sentence structure can be analyzed by terms like object, subject and so on. * Though early [[Biblical Hebrew]] had a [[Verbโsubjectโobject word order|VSO]] ordering, this gradually transitioned to a subject-verb-object ordering. Many Hebrew sentences have several correct orders of words. * In Hebrew, there is no [[indefinite article]]. * Hebrew sentences do not have to include verbs; the [[Copula (linguistics)|copula]] in the [[present tense]] is omitted. For example, the sentence "I am here" ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืื ื ืคื}} ''{{transliteration|he|ani po}}'') has only two words; one for I ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืื ื}}) and one for here ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืคื}}). In the sentence "I am that person" ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืื ื ืืื ืืืื ืืื}} ''{{transliteration|he|ani hu ha'adam ha'ze}}''), the word for "am" corresponds to the word for "he" ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืืื}}). However, this is usually omitted. Thus, the sentence ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืื ื ืืืื ืืื}}) is more often used and means the same thing. *Negative and interrogative sentences have the same order as the regular declarative one. A question that has a yes/no answer begins with {{lang|he|rtl=yes|"ืืื"}} (''ha'im'', an interrogative form of 'if'), but it is largely omitted in informal speech. * In Hebrew there is a specific preposition ({{lang|he|ืืช}} ''{{transliteration|he|et}}'') for direct objects that would not have a preposition marker in English. The English phrase "he ate the cake" would in Hebrew be {{lang|he|ืืื ืืื ืืช ืืขืืื}} ''{{transliteration|he|hu akhal et ha'ugah}}'' (literally, "He ate {{lang|he|ืืช}} the cake"). The word {{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืืช}}, however, can be omitted, making {{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืืื ืืื ืืขืืื}} ''{{transliteration|he|hu akhal ha'ugah}}'' ("He ate the cake"). Former Israeli Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] was convinced that {{lang|he|ืืช}} should never be used as it elongates the sentence without adding meaning. * In spoken Hebrew ‏{{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืืช ื-}}‏ {{transliteration|he|et ha-}} is also often contracted to ‏{{lang|he|rtl=yes|-ืชึท'}}‏ {{transliteration|he|ta-}}, e.g. {{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืช'ืื ืฉืื}} {{transliteration|he|ta-anashim}} instead of {{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืืช ืืื ืฉืื}} {{transliteration|he|et ha-anashim}} (the ' indicates non-standard use). This phenomenon has also been found by researchers in the [[Cave of Letters#Bar-Kokhba letters|Bar Kokhba documents]]: {{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืืขืื ืื ื ืขืื '''ืชืฉืืื'''โฆ ืฉืื ื ื ืืชื '''ืชืืืืื''' ืืจืืืืื}}, writing {{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืชืืื}} instead of {{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืืช ืืืื}}, as well as {{lang|he|rtl=yes|ืชืืงื}} and so on.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}
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