Oh No! Notes + Grammar
Here are select frames from the story with grammar and other notes, and additional resources are provided at the end. You do not need to memorize all of these rules during this unit!
I repeat: the expectation is not for you to memorize these grammar and other explanations. Instead, I want you to use them to help you notice different features of the Hebrew language. Which prepositions do you notice follow a given verb? What differences do you notice in a verb's masculine and feminine forms? Which English words aren't actually words in Hebrew? You will notice many of these same features in future stories, and the more you encounter them, the more familiar you will become, and you will learn the grammar over time.
I also want you to have answers to questions you may have been asking yourself on your own, as you watched the video and listened to the story. If you have additional questions, be sure to ask them at the end of the unit, in the Questions? lecture.
- The preposition BE –ּּבְּ means "in" or "at," and BA –בַּ means "in the" or "at the." It's not a separate word in Hebrew like it is in English, but rather the letter Bet ב that attaches to whatever word follows, like MITBACH מטבח (kitchen) in this story.
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The O sound that you hear at the end of ACHOTO אחותו indicates "his." It's an example of a pronominal suffix, which is a suffix that indicates a pronoun. ACHOT אחות is sister, and ACHOTO אחותו is specifically "his sister."
The verb NOTEN נותן is used with the preposition/prepositional pronouns that begin with Lamed ל. So whenever this verb is used in any tense, you'll notice what follows will begin with the letter Lamed ל.
"The" in Hebrew is the prefix HA –הַ, which is not its own word the way it is in English. If a word is made up of two nouns in Hebrew, like RESEK TAPUCHIM רסק תפוחים (applesauce), the prefix HA –הַ is added to the *second* noun, and not the first. So RESEK TAPUCHIM רסק תפוחים is "applesauce," and RESEK HATAPUCHIM רסק התפוחים is "the applesauce."
- Notice the Lamed –ל preposition again after the verb NOTEN. This time, instead of using the prepositional pronoun LAH לה (her), the story uses the preposition with Miriam's name.
- The "ch" sound isn't native to Hebrew, so it's represented using the letter Tsadi צ and an apostrophe, called a geresh גרש. Also note the proper Hebrew word for fries is TUGANIM טוגנים, but the loanword CHIPS צ׳יפס is used in everyday speech.
MELUCHIM מלוחים (salty) is a plural adjective adjective, because CHIPS צ׳יפס (fries) is plural. In Hebrew, adjectives must match the gender and count of the noun they describe. The singular adjective is MALU'ACH מלוח.
Notice here we have another plural adjective, CHARIFIM חריפים (spicy), because it's describing another plural noun, tacos. The singular adjective is CHARIF חריף.
HAOCHEL האוכל (the food) is another example of the definite article "the," which is HA –הַ in Hebrew, attaching to the word that follows. So OCHEL אוכל is "food," and HAOCHEL האוכל is "the food." The proper term for this definite article is HEY HAYEDIYAH ה׳׳א הידיעה - it just refers to the letter Hey ה that means "the."
The verb HOLECH הולך is used with the preposition/prepositional pronouns that begin with Lamed, just like the verb NOTEN נותן. Here's also another example of the preposition BA –בַּ meaning "in the" or "at the," just like we saw with BAMITBACH במטבח (in the kitchen).
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The verb LEHAACHIL להאכיל is followed by the preposition ET אֶת if what follows is a definite noun (e.g. the girl) , a proper noun (e.g. Miriam), or a pronominal suffix (e.g. his sister).
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Here we see ET אֶת being used again with the verb OCHELET אוכלת (eating), because what follows is the definite noun HAOCHEL האוכל (the food).
The verb CHOZER חוזר is used with the preposition/prepositional pronouns that begin with Lamed, just like the verbs NOTEN נותן (give) and HOLECH הולך (go). Also note this preposition usually means "to" or "for." Here, we have LAMITBACH למטבח, meaning "TO the kitchen," versus what we saw earlier as BAMITBACH במטבח, which was "IN the kitchen."
Remember the O pronominal suffix at the end of ACHOTO אחותו, which meant "his"? Here we have the same pronominal suffix at the end of SHELO שלו, meaning "his" or "belonging to him." HAPITSAH SHELO הפיצה שלו is "his pizza."