Biblical Hebrew
Thirty reference pages on the Hebrew of the Tanakh: the alphabet and nikud, core grammar, and three passages worked through word by word.
Everything here follows the received Masoretic Text and standard grammars (Gesenius, Joüon-Muraoka, Waltke and O'Connor).
Where a pointing or reading is genuinely disputed among scholars, the topic page says so rather than picking a side.
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What is Biblical Hebrew?
Biblical Hebrew is the language of the Tanakh: a Northwest Semitic tongue written in a 22-letter abjad, later pointed by the Masoretes.
Biblical vs modern Hebrew
Same letters and a shared core of roots; different tense system, particles, and everyday lexicon.
The alphabet then and now
Twenty-two consonants, five final forms, and a script that shifted from paleo-Hebrew to the square letters used today.
Vowels and the Masoretes
The Masoretes added niqqud so a purely consonantal Bible could be read with a stable tradition.
Cantillation marks
Te'amim mark stress, pause, and melody. They also show how a verse is parsed.
All 30 topics
1. What is Biblical Hebrew?
Biblical Hebrew is the language of the Tanakh: a Northwest Semitic tongue written in a 22-letter abjad, later pointed by the Masoretes.
2. Biblical vs modern Hebrew
Same letters and a shared core of roots; different tense system, particles, and everyday lexicon.
3. The alphabet then and now
Twenty-two consonants, five final forms, and a script that shifted from paleo-Hebrew to the square letters used today.
4. Vowels and the Masoretes
The Masoretes added niqqud so a purely consonantal Bible could be read with a stable tradition.
5. Cantillation marks
Te'amim mark stress, pause, and melody. They also show how a verse is parsed.
6. Vav-conversive
A prefixed ו can flip the usual force of a perfect or imperfect. Narrative past in the Torah is mostly this form.
7. The perfect and the imperfect
Biblical verbs mark aspect more than calendar tense. Perfect (qatal) and imperfect (yiqtol) need context, and often a vav.
8. Construct chains
Smikhut: two (or more) nouns in a row, the first in construct, the last carrying definiteness for the chain.
9. The definite article
הַ plus a following dagesh is the basic "the." Vowels under ה change before gutturals.
10. Pronominal suffixes
Person is glued to nouns, prepositions, and some particles: my, your, his, our.
11. The 100 most common words
A short list does most of the work in Biblical Hebrew. Particles and a handful of verbs open whole chapters.
12. Genesis 1 word by word
The opening of the Torah is the usual first connected text: a few roots, heavy use of wayyiqtol, and the object marker.
13. The Shema word by word
Deuteronomy 6:4–5 is short, liturgical, and packed with suffixes, construct, and the name of God.
14. Psalm 23 word by word
A short poem with shepherd imagery, first-person suffixes, and the parallelism typical of biblical verse.
15. Names of God
Several divine names and titles run through the Tanakh. Jewish reading treats the four-letter name with care.
16. Paleo-Hebrew script
Before the square letters, Hebrew used a Canaanite linear alphabet closely related to Phoenician.
17. Aramaic in the Bible
Most of the Tanakh is Hebrew. Several stretches are Imperial Aramaic, written in the same square letters.
18. Hebrew poetry and parallelism
Biblical verse leans on matching lines, not on end-rhyme. Psalms, prophets, and wisdom books all use it.
19. Reading the Torah scroll
A sefer Torah is consonants only, in square script, on parchment, chanted with a memorized melody.
20. How to start reading
A small grammar, the high-frequency list, and three short texts will carry you farther than a year of isolated drills.
21. Resources
Grammars, dictionaries, and text editions. Names only; no links.
22. The binyanim
Hebrew verbs inflect in stems (binyanim) that shift voice and intensity on the same root.
23. Weak verbs
Roots with gutturals, nun, yod, vav, or repeated letters lose or change consonants. They are the majority of common verbs.
24. The infinitive construct
A verbal noun, often with לְ, that carries purpose, time, or the gloss "to …".
25. The direct object marker
אֵת (often אֶת) flags a definite direct object. It has no English word of its own.
26. Biblical prepositions
A closed set of short words does the work of English "in, to, from, on, before, after."
27. Ketiv and qere
The written consonants (ketiv) and the reading tradition (qere) sometimes disagree. Both are in the Masoretic notes.
28. The participle
A verbal adjective: "guarding," "a guard," sometimes a present-time situation in narrative.
29. Interrogative particles
Questions are marked with הֲ, מִי, מָה, and a few other short words, not with English word order.
30. The Dead Sea Scrolls and Hebrew
Scrolls from the Judean Desert give Hebrew (and Aramaic) copies from around the last centuries BCE to the first century CE, without Masoretic pointing.
The 100 most common words
Particles and a handful of verbs that open most verses. Full topic page →
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְ | ve | and | ||
| הַ | ha | the | ||
| לְ | le | to, for | ||
| בְּ | be | in, at, with | ||
| אֵת | et | direct object marker; with | Citation form אֵת; often אֶת before a noun. | |
| מִן | min | from | ||
| עַל | al | on, upon, concerning | ||
| אֶל | el | to, toward | ||
| אֲשֶׁר | asher | who, which, that | ||
| כֹּל | kol | all, every | Construct form כָּל before a noun. | |
| לֹא | lo | not | ||
| כִּי | ki | because, that, for, when | ||
| הָיָה | hayah | to be | ||
| אָמַר | amar | to say | ||
| יְהוָה | YHWH | the LORD | The Tetragrammaton; Jewish reading traditionally says Adonai, not the written consonants. | |
| אֱלֹהִים | elohim | God; gods | Plural in form; often a singular God in context. | |
| בֵּן | ben | son | ||
| הוּא | hu | he; that | ||
| עָשָׂה | asah | to do, make | ||
| מֶלֶךְ | melekh | king | ||
| יִשְׂרָאֵל | yisra'el | Israel | ||
| אִישׁ | ish | man, husband, each | ||
| יוֹם | yom | day | ||
| פָּנִים | panim | face, presence | Plural in form. | |
| בַּיִת | bayit | house | ||
| נָתַן | natan | to give | ||
| עַם | am | people | ||
| יָד | yad | hand | ||
| הָלַךְ | halakh | to walk, go | ||
| בּוֹא | bo | to come, enter | ||
| אֶרֶץ | eretz | land, earth | ||
| דָּבָר | davar | word, thing, matter | ||
| רָאָה | ra'ah | to see | ||
| אָב | av | father | ||
| שָׁמַע | shama | to hear | ||
| יָצָא | yatza | to go out | ||
| אִם | im | if | ||
| הִנֵּה | hineh | behold | ||
| עַד | ad | until, as far as | ||
| עִם | im | with | ||
| עַיִן | ayin | eye; spring | ||
| מוּת | mut | to die | ||
| שָׁם | sham | there | ||
| לֵב | lev | heart | ||
| רֹאשׁ | rosh | head | ||
| עִיר | ir | city | ||
| קָרָא | qara | to call, read | ||
| יָדַע | yada | to know | ||
| דָּוִד | david | David | ||
| עָלָה | alah | to go up | ||
| שָׁנָה | shanah | year | ||
| שֵׁם | shem | name | ||
| כֵּן | ken | so, thus | ||
| עֶבֶד | eved | servant, slave | ||
| נֶפֶשׁ | nefesh | life, person, throat | ||
| גַּם | gam | also, even | ||
| אַתָּה | atah | you (ms) | ||
| אֲנִי | ani | I | ||
| נָשָׂא | nasa | to lift, carry | ||
| אֶחָד | ekhad | one | ||
| דֶּרֶךְ | derekh | way, road | ||
| שִׂים | sim | to put, set | ||
| לָקַח | laqakh | to take | ||
| דִּבֶּר | dibber | to speak | ||
| מֹשֶׁה | moshe | Moses | ||
| יְהוּדָה | yehudah | Judah | ||
| כֹּהֵן | kohen | priest | ||
| אַל | al | do not | Prohibitive particle, not the preposition עַל. | |
| אֵין | ein | there is not | ||
| זֶה | zeh | this (m) | ||
| הִיא | hi | she | ||
| הֵם | hem | they | ||
| זֹאת | zot | this (f) | ||
| עַתָּה | attah | now | ||
| בַּת | bat | daughter | ||
| אָח | akh | brother | ||
| אִשָּׁה | ishah | woman, wife | ||
| מַיִם | mayim | water | Dual/plural in form. | |
| קוֹל | qol | voice, sound | ||
| מָקוֹם | maqom | place | ||
| הַר | har | mountain | ||
| רוּחַ | ruakh | wind, spirit, breath | ||
| שָׁמַיִם | shamayim | heaven, sky | Dual/plural in form. | |
| אָכַל | akhal | to eat | ||
| יָשַׁב | yashav | to sit, dwell | ||
| שׁוּב | shuv | to return | ||
| שָׁלַח | shalakh | to send | ||
| נָפַל | nafal | to fall | ||
| מָצָא | matza | to find | ||
| יָרַד | yarad | to go down | ||
| עָבַד | avad | to serve, work | ||
| לַיְלָה | laylah | night | ||
| מִשְׁפָּט | mishpat | judgment, justice, custom | ||
| שָׁמַר | shamar | to keep, guard | ||
| עוֹד | od | still, again, more | ||
| מִי | mi | who | ||
| מָה | mah | what | ||
| אָדָם | adam | human; Adam | ||
| יְרוּשָׁלַיִם | yerushalayim | Jerusalem | Printed pointing varies; ketiv is often ירושלם. | |
| מִצְרַיִם | mitzrayim | Egypt |