Discussion Group for General Hebrew Questions

[księżycowy]

I never said I didn't care. I read them all the time for my biblical studies (which is where I pulled that verb from).

I'm trying to train myself to be able to read Modern Hebrew without them though. For obvious reasons.

[Luís]

Are the rules even the same for Biblical and Modern Hebrew?

[księżycowy]

The rules for pronouncing Biblical Hebrew (or at least most schemes I've seen) largely follow Modern pronunciation practices. Sometimes with the addition of acknowledging the original pronunciation of letters like ayin and tsade.

[caleteu]

What do I do with this: זוהי היהדות המתבוללת? The translator renders it: “This is an assimilationist Jewry.”. Is a form of זהה? or of זה? What is the function of the י?
תודה!

[Drink]

זוהי is short for זו היא ("this is"). This is the feminine of זהו, which is short for זה הוא.

[Luís]

Any difference between חופשה and נופש?

[Baldanders]

Yes.
נופש involves recreational activity away from home, while חופשה is any period of time off your normal duties, regardless of how you choose to spend it.

[Jannet]

Is there a difference between the verbs להימשך לארוך לְהִתְאָרֵךְ? They all mean 'to last'. Thank you!

[Baldanders]

להתארך means some activity or event extended beyond its alloted time or anticipated termination.

להימשך and לארוך are sometimes interchangeable when used to mean "last", but להימשך may also mean "continue", "proceed in the same fashion".
לארוך also suggests completion, while להימשך does not, so I may prefer to translate לארוך as "take" (as in "the operation took 30 minutes", for instance), depending on context.

[Jannet]

Ani mevinah! Todah rabah!!

[Jannet]

Shalom! I just found out that there are at least 10 verbs in Hebrew for 'to destroy'. See pealim.com. Sort of difficult to know when to use what!!! Are all these verbs in use in the modern language? After this I found another 8 verbs where one of the meanings is 'destroy'. Incredible.

Word Root Part of speech Meaning
לְהָשֵׁם
lehashem שׁ - מ - ם Verb – hif'il to destroy, to ravage (archaic)
לְמוֹטֵט
lemotet מ - ו - ט Verb – pi'el to destroy, to collapse
לְהַאֲבִיד
leha'avid א - ב - ד Verb – hif'il to destroy, to demolish, to cause utter loss
לַהֲרוֹס
laharos ה - ר - ס Verb – pa'al to destroy, to ruin
לְהַחֲרִיב
lehachariv ח - ר - ב Verb – hif'il to destroy, to ruin
לְמַגֵּר
lemager מ - ג - ר Verb – pi'el to overthrow, to destroy (lit.)
לְרוֹשֵׁשׁ
leroshesh ר - שׁ - שׁ Verb – pi'el to ruin, to destroy, to impoverish (biblical)
לְאַבֵּד
le'abed א - ב - ד Verb – pi'el to lose, to destroy
לִקְטוֹל
liktol ק - ט - ל Verb – pa'al to kill, to destroy
לְהַשְׁחִית
lehashchit שׁ - ח - ת Verb – hif'il to damage, to destroy; to corrupt

[Drink]

I can think of at least a few more:

• לְהַשְׁמִיד hif'il שׁ - מ - ד
• לְהַכְחִיד hif'il כ - ח - ד
• לְחַסֵּל pi'el ח - ס - ל
• לְהַכְרִית hif'il כ - ר - ת

This isn't so unusual. English has no shortage of such words as well, each with their own shades of meaning:
destroy, annihilate, eradicate, obliterate, decimate, wipe out, exterminate, devastate, ravage, lay waste (to), etc.

I'm sure you can make a similar list for Dutch.

[Jannet]

Wow, you are very right. I checked for the Dutch synonyms and found at least 20! I am impressed!

[alon]

What are the commonly accepted English terms for vowel changes in Hebrew word forms causes by stress change, like

דָּבָר -> דְּבָרִים -> דִּבְרֵי?

Like, can one say that a kamatz is "reduced" into a shva, or that a kamatz "drops out", or that the first shva then "turns into" a chirik?

Also, what is the best way to say about a "vowel change" to make sure it is understood as the difference between two forms of a word (or a word and a word derived from that one) and not e.g. as a historical vowel change?

I have searched the internet and could not find any established terms for these things (or any decent English-language source that discusses these vowel changes, except Gesenius https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gesenius%27_Hebrew_Grammar/92._Vowel_Changes_in_the_Noun, which only covers Biblical Hebrew) - so I had to ask these questions here.

Thank you very much!

[caleteu]

I only have Gesenius in German, but I assume that the translation uses the standard linguistic terminology, which would be the same for modern Hebrew. As to the term which designates vowel changes not due to pronunciation, I think you mean "vowel gradation" which is a standard vowel change which distinguishes various forms (for example Hifil, Piel, etc).
As for modern grammars, I don't know whether Glinert dicusses that much morphology, Coffin/Bolozky doesn't.
Yours, cambron

[Jannet]

I have been searching for correct words for mathematical terms, but have been unable to find them:
The words for:
addend
minuend
subtrahend
multiplicand
multiplier
dividend
divisor
Thanks!

[caleteu]

Have you tried Lexilogos (http://www.lexilogos.com/english/hebrew_dictionary.htm#)?
Yours, Cambron

[Drink]

addend מחובר
minuend מחוסר
subtrahend מחסר
multiplicand נכפל
multiplier כופל/מכפיל
dividend מחולק
divisor מחלק

[Jannet]

Cambron and Drink, thank you so much for your help. This is great! Todah rabah!

[Luís]

תודה!

What about between נשמה and נפש?