Classical · Biblical Hebrew
Internalise syllable structure, the shewa, and the two daghesh dots — the machinery that drives every vowel change inside a 3-letter root.
Ch. 3 — The Syllable and the ShewaCh. 4 — The Daghesh
Core concepts · 7
- Open syllables end in a vowel (בָּ); shut syllables close on a consonant (בַּת).
- Key rule: a shut, unaccented syllable must take a short vowel.
- Shewa (ְ) is a hurried half-vowel — vocal at the start of a syllable, silent when it closes one (יִשְׁמְרוּ).
- Gutturals replace simple shewa with a composite one (hateph-patach, hateph-seghol, hateph-qamets).
- Daghesh lene: the dot that hardens בגדכפת when not preceded by a vowel sound.
- Daghesh forte: doubles a letter (קִטֵּל = qittēl), always after a vowel — it marks the Pi'el and the definite article.
- Stress normally falls on the last syllable (milra'), sometimes the next-to-last (mil'el).
Vocabulary & signs · tap a word to hear, expand for how to say it
he kept (open + shut syllable)
say: shāmar
daughter (one shut syllable)
say: bath
silent shewa under ש, vocal under מ
say: yishmᵉrû
daghesh forte doubling the middle radical
say: qittēl
word — long vowel in an accented shut syllable
say: dābhār
donkey — composite shewa under the guttural
say: hᵃmôr
Exercises · answer in the app
Exercise 1 / 6
What does this mean?
Bridge to this week
The 3-consonant roots you mine in Week 2 (כ-ת-ב, א-כ-ל, ל-מ-ד) generate their families only by reshuffling exactly these vowels, shewas and daghesh-doublings — this is the engine under the root matrix.
Teach Yourself Hebrew — R. K. Harrison (E.U.P.)
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Quick check · 1 / 4