Lesson 6 · Stage 2

Nouns and the construct chain

Recognise gender and number in a noun, and read "X of Y" chains the way Hebrew builds them

וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם

wərûaḥ 'ĕlōhîm məraḥéfet 'al-pənê hammáyim

"And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." (Gen 1:2)

Hebrew has no word for "of". רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים rûaḥ 'ĕlōhîm is just "spirit God", and פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם pənê hammáyim "face the-waters". Putting two nouns side by side, in a special form, is the "of". This lesson shows how that works and what it lets Hebrew say.

1. Gender

Every noun is masculine or feminine.

Some feminines have no ending: אֶרֶץ 'éreṣ earth, רוּחַ rûaḥ spirit, נֶפֶשׁ néfeš soul, life. The lexicon tells you. It matters because verbs and adjectives agree with the noun: in Gen 1:2 məraḥéfet "hovering" is feminine because rûaḥ is.

2. Number

Vowels inside the word often shift when an ending is added (mélekh → məlākhîm). Look for the root consonants; they stay.

Dual: -áyim. Things that come in pairs: יָד yād hand → יָדַיִם yādáyim (both) hands; עַיִן 'áyin eye → עֵינַיִם 'ênáyim eyes. שָׁמַיִם šāmáyim heavens and מַיִם máyim water look dual but are simply plural nouns.

3. The construct chain: "X of Y"

To say "X of Y", Hebrew puts X first in a shortened form (the construct) and Y after it in its normal form (the absolute). The two are said almost as one word.

Endings to spot:

• feminine -â becomes -at: nəšāmâ → nišmat, yir'â → yir'at
• masculine plural -îm becomes -ê: bānîm → bənê, pānîm → pənê
• many singulars just shorten their vowels: dāvār → dəvar

Exodus 1:1 is a chain of three: שְׁמוֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל šəmôt bənê yiśrā'ēl, "names (of) sons (of) Israel". Its second word gives the book its Hebrew name: Šəmôt, "Names".

4. Who gets "the"?

The first noun never takes the article. The whole chain is definite if the last noun is definite (it has ha-, is a name, or has "my, your..."):

So רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים rûaḥ 'ĕlōhîm is "the spirit of God", even though no ha- appears anywhere.

5. Why this matters for the text

Construct instead of adjectives. Hebrew has few adjectives and often uses a chain instead. Psalm 2:6: הַר־קָדְשִׁי har qodšî, literally "the mountain of my holiness", means "my holy mountain". Translations smooth it; the Hebrew puts the holiness, as a thing, at the centre.

Superlatives. "The X of the Xs" means the greatest X:

• שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים šîr haššîrîm, "the song of the songs": the finest song, the Song of Songs (Song 1:1)

• קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים qōdeš haqqŏdāšîm, "the holy of the holies": the most holy place (Exod 26:33)

"Of" can point both ways. Proverbs 1:7: יִרְאַת יְהוָה רֵאשִׁית דָּעַת yir'at [the LORD] rē'šît dá'at, "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge". Is it fear that comes from the LORD, or fear directed at him? The chain alone doesn't say. Context does: here, fear directed at God. Many debated verses turn on this (compare "the love of God" in English), and now you know where the ambiguity sits.

Notice that Proverbs 1:7 uses rē'šît "beginning", the same word as in bərē'šît, here in a construct chain: "beginning of knowledge".

6. Words

Exercises

Type your answers in plain letters: sh for š, a for ā; hyphens and accents don't matter.