Using the tools, and what next

A routine for any verse

This is the last lesson of the course. You can now sound out Hebrew, recognise the labels on nouns and verbs, and follow Genesis and a psalm word by word. Here is a routine you can use on any verse you meet. We will try it on Genesis 12:1.

Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you.

Genesis 12:1

Step one: open the 원어 panel. Tap a word and read its form, sound, gloss and grammar labels together.

Step two: split the word. A Hebrew word is often a bundle: prefixes at the front, a root in the middle, suffixes at the end. Take וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ, "umimoladtekha". The panel labels it conjunction, preposition, noun, construct, suffix. Read the labels from the front: וּ "and", מִ "from" (מִן with its נ absorbed into a doubled מ), the noun "kindred", and ־ךָ "your". Together: "and from your kindred". One word holds four English words, which is hard at first and gets easier once you follow the labels.

Step three: follow each label to its lesson. When a label is unfamiliar, tap the panel's "Learn this grammar" link to go back to the lesson that teaches it. לֶךְ־, "lekh", is a Qal imperative, second person, "go". אַרְאֶךָּ, "ar'ekha", is a Hiphil imperfect, first person, with a suffix "you": "I will show you". Both are labels you already know.

Step four: check the lexicon form and its frequency. Which word is it, and how common? Frequent words are the best ones to memorise.

Step five: compare 개역한글 and the BSB. See how each translation handled the words. Where the two disagree you usually have the most to learn.

Four labels you have not met

A few labels in the panel were never taught on their own in this course. Each is simple once you see an example.

Interrogative comes in two kinds. In Genesis 15:2 Abram asks God מַה־, "mah", "what?". The lexicon entry מָה occurs 752 times. The word for "who?" is מִי, "mi", 423 times, as in מִי in "Who told you?" (Genesis 3:11). The other kind is a question prefix הֲ attached to the front of a word. When Cain answers "Am I my brother's keeper?" in Genesis 4:9, the word הֲשֹׁמֵר, "hashomer", is the participle "keeper" with that prefix, so the whole question is built into a single word.

Interjection. הִנֵּה, "hineh", means "behold!" or "look!" and occurs 843 times. It is the first word of Psalm 121:4, הִנֵּה. It adds no verb to the sentence; it simply makes the reader look. The adverb עַתָּה, "attah", "now", occurs 433 times and sometimes comes right before הִנֵּה; Genesis 12:19 shows both side by side: וְעַתָּה, "and now", then הִנֵּה, "here is".

Directional ה. A final ־ָה on a word of place means "toward". In Genesis 10:19, סְדֹמָה, "sedomah", is "toward Sodom". When a place name ends in ־ָה, think of this first. The same ending can also be an ordinary feminine ending, so confirm it with the panel's label.

Gentilic. This marks a word for a member of a people, usually formed by adding ־ִי to the name of a land or an ancestor: כְּנַעַן "Canaan" gives "Canaanite". In Genesis 12:6, וְהַכְּנַעֲנִי, "vehakena'ani", is "and the Canaanite": singular in form, but it means the Canaanites as a people, as the BSB shows. It carries וְ "and" and the article הַ in front. You can now read that label too.

What next

Keep reading Genesis stories and the Psalms. The verses in this course are your first texts, and the same words and forms will keep coming back. Spend a few minutes a day with the routine on one or two verses and review the vocabulary; reading and word study feed each other. A fuller course would add the paradigms of weak verbs, syntax (how clauses fit together) and Aramaic, which appears in parts of Daniel and Ezra. This course was an introduction to reading with helps, and you now have the tools in hand.

Words in this lesson

• מָהmahwhat?752 times in the OT
• מִיmiwho?423 times in the OT
• הִנֵּהhinnehbehold843 times in the OT
• עַתָּ֫הattahnow433 times in the OT

Practice