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Course 5 · Lesson 2.2

Roots, nouns, gender, number and the construct chain

11 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 5 outline

Module 1: What the Languages Are and What This Course Can Do

  1. The languages of the Bible: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek
  2. What an introduction can and cannot do: no fluency, and why
  3. Biblical Hebrew in brief: history, script and sound
  4. Koine Greek in brief: history, script and sound

Module 2: Hebrew Fundamentals

  1. The Hebrew alphabet, reading right to left, and the vowel points
  2. Roots, nouns, gender, number and the construct chain
  3. Hebrew verbs: perfect, imperfect and the seven stems in outline
  4. A core Hebrew vocabulary and how to learn it

Module 3: Greek Fundamentals

  1. The Greek alphabet, accents and breathing marks
  2. Nouns, cases and the definite article
  3. Greek verbs: tense, aspect, voice and mood in outline
  4. A core Greek vocabulary and how to learn it

Module 4: The Texts: Masoretic, Septuagint and New Testament Manuscripts

  1. The Masoretic Text and the codices that preserve it
  2. The Septuagint and where translators consult it
  3. Greek New Testament manuscripts and printed editions
  4. How variants are recorded in footnotes and critical editions

Module 5: How Translations Are Made

  1. Formal and dynamic equivalence, and the middle positions
  2. Who translates: committees, churches and traditions of translation
  3. Hard cases: idioms, word play, gender and untranslatable words
  4. Reading a translation’s preface to learn its principles

Module 6: Tools for the Reader

  1. Interlinear Bibles: what they show and what they hide
  2. Lexicons and concordances: how to read an entry
  3. How to do a word study, step by step
  4. Common word study errors and how to avoid them

Module 7: Evaluating Translation Differences

  1. Locating the Hebrew or Greek words behind a verse
  2. Types of translation differences: text, grammar, word meaning and style
  3. A worked example from the Old Testament
  4. A worked example from the New Testament
  5. Knowing your limits, and when to ask a specialist

All courses

Program / Course 5: Biblical Languages / Lesson 2.2

What you will learn

  • Explain what a Hebrew root is and how words are built from it.
  • Identify gender and number in Hebrew nouns, including the dual.
  • Describe the definite article, prefixed words and the direct object marker.
  • Explain the construct chain and read simple examples such as word of the LORD.

The big idea

Most Hebrew words are built on a root of three consonants that carries a core idea. Vowel patterns and added letters turn that root into verbs, nouns and adjectives. Nouns are masculine or feminine and singular, plural or dual. There is a definite article but no indefinite article. Two nouns joined in a construct chain express a relation like of in English. Knowing these patterns helps a reader find words in a lexicon and see why translations vary. It does not make a reader fluent.

Key terms

Root
A set of usually three consonants that carries a core meaning shared by a family of related words.
Gender
A grammatical class. Hebrew nouns are masculine or feminine, whether or not they refer to persons.
Dual
A number form used for things that naturally come in pairs, such as hands and eyes.
Definite article
The word the. In Hebrew it is a prefix, ha, attached to a noun. There is no word for a or an.
Construct state
A form a noun takes when it is linked to the noun that follows, to say something like the word of.
Absolute state
The ordinary form of a noun when it is not in construct.
Direct object marker
The small word et, which introduces a definite direct object and is not translated.

Background

Hebrew grammar looks different from English because it builds meaning in a different way. English adds separate words, such as helpers and prepositions. Hebrew often attaches small words and endings to the main word, so that a single Hebrew word can correspond to several English words. A student who sees a long word in a verse may be looking at a phrase.

The central idea is the root. A root is not a word that appears on its own. It is a pattern of consonants from which words are formed by adding vowels, prefixes and suffixes. Learning to find the root is the key to using a Hebrew lexicon, since most dictionaries are organized by root.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Roots

Take the root m, l, k. It carries the idea of ruling. From it come melek, king, malkah, queen, mamlakah, kingdom, and the verb malak, to reign. The root sh, m, r carries the idea of guarding or keeping. From it come the verb shamar, to keep, and the noun mishmeret, a watch or charge. The root q, d, sh carries the sense of holiness or being set apart. From it come qadosh, holy, qodesh, holiness, and miqdash, sanctuary.

A root gives a family likeness, and finding it can help a reader see links among words. But a root is not the meaning of every word built on it. A word takes its meaning from use, and the sense in a given verse can drift far from the root’s core. A later lesson returns to this as a major source of error, called the root fallacy.

Step 2: Gender and number

Every Hebrew noun is masculine or feminine. Many feminine nouns end in ah or et, as in malkah, queen, and torah, teaching. But there are exceptions: some masculine nouns have feminine looking endings, and some feminine nouns have none. Gender in Hebrew is a grammatical class, and it does not always match the sex of what is named. The word for earth, eretz, is feminine, and the word for day, yom, is masculine.

Number is singular, plural or dual. The common masculine plural ends in im, as in melakim, kings, and the common feminine plural ends in ot, as in torot, teachings. The dual ends in ayim and is used for things that come in pairs, as in yadayim, hands, and eynayim, eyes. Some nouns, like the word for heavens, shamayim, and the word for water, mayim, have a plural or dual form but are treated as a single thing. Elohim, the word often translated God, has a plural ending but, when it refers to the God of Israel, takes singular verbs. Scholars explain this in several ways, and the question of how best to understand it is debated.

Step 3: The article, prefixes and the object marker

The definite article is ha, attached to the start of a noun: ha melek, the king. There is no indefinite article, so melek by itself may be translated king or a king according to context. Several one letter words are attached in front of nouns: waw for and, bet for in or with, lamed for to or for, and the letter kaf for like or as. The prefix mem, written min, means from.

The small word et marks the definite direct object of a verb. It is not translated into English. In Genesis 1:1 the Hebrew has et before the heavens and before the earth, and English versions simply do not show it. Seeing this, a student of an interlinear can understand why a word appears in the Hebrew line with no English under it.

Step 4: The construct chain

Hebrew has no word for of in the way English does. Instead it joins two nouns, and the first appears in a shortened or altered form, the construct state. The pair of words davar YHWH is the word of the LORD, and beyt lechem is house of bread, which is how the name Bethlehem is formed. Notice that the order is the reverse of the English, and that the second noun is the one that is definite or not. If the second noun has the article or is a name, the whole phrase is definite.

The relation expressed by a construct chain is not always possession. It may be source, material, purpose, description or something else. The phrase spirit of holiness can mean holy spirit. Context decides the sense, as it does for the English of. This is a source of translation differences, since a translator must choose which relation to express.

  1. What is the root of the word I am examining, and what family of words shares it?
  2. Is the noun masculine or feminine, singular, plural or dual?
  3. Is the word marked as definite, and by what?
  4. Is a word in the Hebrew line left untranslated, like the object marker?
  5. Are two nouns joined in a construct chain, and what relation might they express?
  6. Am I in danger of assuming a word means what its root means?

Examples

A family of words from one root

The root d, b, r carries the idea of speaking or word. It gives dabar, to speak, and davar, word, matter or thing. A single Hebrew word davar can mean a spoken word, an event or a thing, which is why English translators use different words. A lexicon entry for davar shows these senses.

A construct chain

The phrase davar YHWH is translated the word of the LORD. The first noun is in construct and the second is a name. A longer example, such as the phrase house of the king, would have the article before the final noun.

A word with a dual form

The word yad, hand, has the dual form yadayim, since people have two hands. The same ending in the word for heavens, shamayim, has led some to see a pair of things. Others see the ending as an old form with no dual meaning. This is a case where an apparent meaning does not follow from the form.

Different perspectives

Jewish

Medieval Jewish grammarians such as those of Spain developed the study of roots and the grammar of Hebrew, and their work still shapes how the language is taught. Jewish commentators often pay close attention to small details of form.

Catholic

Jerome used his knowledge of Hebrew roots in translating the Vulgate, and Catholic scholarship today draws on the whole range of Hebrew grammar and comparative study. Catholic translations explain their choices in notes.

Orthodox

In the Orthodox tradition the Greek Septuagint often reflects a particular understanding of a Hebrew root or construct. Orthodox readers frequently compare the translations of a word in the Septuagint and the Hebrew.

Protestant

Protestant scholarship has produced many Hebrew grammars and lexicons used by all traditions. Protestants also have debates over the proper use of roots in word studies, often warning against the root fallacy.

Scholarly

Linguists agree that the three consonant root is a key feature of Semitic languages, and they debate how far roots are real units in the mind of a speaker and how many words have roots with only two consonants.

Why it matters

A student who can see a root, a construct chain or an object marker can find a word in a lexicon and make sense of an interlinear. These small grammatical facts explain many differences between English translations, and they protect against claims that depend on misreading the form of a word.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: A Hebrew word always means what its root means.

Correction: Roots give a family likeness, but words develop their own senses through use. Always check the meaning in context.

Misunderstanding: Elohim is plural, so it proves a plurality of persons.

Correction: The ending is plural in form, but the word is used with singular verbs for the God of Israel, and it is also used of single gods and of judges. Christians and Jews explain the form in different ways, and a grammatical form alone is not proof of any doctrine.

Misunderstanding: Hebrew has no word for a or an, so it is a poor language.

Correction: Languages differ in how they mark definiteness. Hebrew marks the definite with the article and leaves the indefinite unmarked.

Misunderstanding: Feminine nouns in Hebrew refer to women.

Correction: Grammatical gender is a class of words and does not always reflect the sex of the thing named.

Knowledge check

What is a Hebrew root, and why does it help in using a lexicon?

A root is a set of usually three consonants that carries a core meaning shared by related words. Lexicons are usually arranged by root, so finding the root of a word helps a reader locate it. The root does not fix the meaning of every word built from it, which depends on use.

What are the three numbers in Hebrew?

Singular, plural and dual. The plural of masculine nouns often ends in im and of feminine nouns in ot. The dual, which ends in ayim, is used for things that come in pairs, such as hands and eyes. Some nouns have a plural or dual form but refer to one thing.

What does the construct chain do?

It joins two nouns so that the first is in the construct state and the second completes it, giving a sense like of. Davar YHWH means the word of the LORD. The relation may be possession, source, material or description, and the translator chooses from the context.

What does the word et do?

It marks a definite direct object of a verb. It has no English equivalent and is not translated, so an interlinear may show a Hebrew word with no gloss beneath it. Recognizing it helps a reader understand why a Hebrew line may appear to have extra words.

Think it through

  1. How does the idea of a root change how you might look up a word?
  2. Why might the absence of an indefinite article matter for a translator?
  3. What risks do you see in basing an argument on the plural ending of a word?
  4. Which English phrases using of could have more than one meaning?

Independent assignment

A root family

In your own notebook, write 300 to 450 words. Choose one root from this lesson (m, l, k or sh, m, r or q, d, sh). Using a lexicon, list at least five words built on it and note what each means. Find a verse for two of the words and read how an English translation renders them. Then write a paragraph on how the words are related and on how far the root explains their meanings. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study