Grammar Terms Reference¶
Many of us studied formal grammar in school and haven't thought much about it since. That's completely normal — and you're almost certainly not alone in the room. Please interrupt and ask any time we use a term that hasn't been defined or that you've forgotten. The goal is understanding, not vocabulary tests.
The tables below define the grammatical and linguistic terms we'll use throughout the course. Bookmark this page — it's a quick reference you can return to any time.
Areas of Linguistics¶
Biblical language study draws on several branches of linguistics. Knowing what each field covers helps you understand why we study things in the order we do (sounds → writing → word structure → sentence structure → meaning).
| Term | What it studies |
|---|---|
| Phonology | The sounds of a language and how they pattern — which sounds exist, how they interact, and what changes them |
| Orthography | The writing system — how a language represents sounds in written form; includes spelling conventions and script |
| Morphology | The internal structure of words — how roots and affixes combine to form meaningful units (verb conjugations, noun plurals, etc.) |
| Syntax | How words are arranged into phrases, clauses, and sentences — word order, agreement, and grammatical relationships |
| Semantics | The study of meaning — what words and sentences mean, and how meaning is built up from parts |
| Lexicology | The study of vocabulary — the words of a language, their forms, meanings, and relationships to one another |
| Pragmatics | Language in context — how speaker intent, situation, and discourse shape what a word or sentence actually communicates |
In our course: we begin with phonology and orthography (alphabet and vowels), move into morphology (noun and verb forms), and work toward syntax (reading sentences and clauses).
Parts of Speech¶
These are the categories words fall into based on their function in a sentence. Hebrew has most of the same parts of speech as English, though they don't always map one-to-one.
| Part of Speech | What it does | English example | Notes for Hebrew |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noun | Names a person, place, thing, or idea | king, city, word | Hebrew nouns are either masculine or feminine; they inflect for number |
| Verb | Expresses an action or state of being | rule, speak, write | The richest category in Hebrew; verbs carry person, gender, number, aspect, stem, and more |
| Adjective | Describes or modifies a noun | great, holy, new | Hebrew adjectives agree with their noun in gender and number |
| Adverb | Modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb | quickly, very, not | Hebrew often uses particles where English uses adverbs |
| Pronoun | Stands in for a noun | he, she, it, they | Hebrew pronouns are built into verb forms; independent pronouns are also used for emphasis |
| Preposition | Shows the relationship of a noun to another word | in, on, before, with | Hebrew has a small set of prepositions; many attach directly to the following word |
| Conjunction | Joins words, phrases, or clauses | and, but, because | The Hebrew conjunction ו (and / but / then) attaches to the very first word of a clause |
| Article | Introduces or specifies a noun | the (definite); a/an (indefinite) | Hebrew has a definite article (ה, "the") but no indefinite article; indefiniteness is implied by its absence |
| Particle | A small, uninflected word with grammatical or nuancing function | not, indeed, please | Hebrew has many particles with specialized roles (negation, emphasis, interrogation, etc.) |
| Interjection | Expresses sudden feeling | behold, ah, woe | Hebrew interjections like הִנֵּה (behold/look) are common in narrative |
Inflection: Conjugation and Declension¶
Inflection is the change a word undergoes in form to express grammatical information. English inflects modestly (speak → speaks → spoke → spoken). Hebrew inflects extensively — a single verb form encodes aspect, stem, person, gender, and number all at once.
| Term | What it means | English example |
|---|---|---|
| Inflection | Any change in word form to express a grammatical relationship | walk → walks → walked → walking |
| Conjugation | The inflection of a verb — varying its form for aspect, mood, stem, person, gender, and number | he spoke vs. they spoke vs. she will speak |
| Declension | The inflection of a noun, pronoun, or adjective — varying its form for case, number, and gender | king → kings → king's |
| Paradigm | A table showing all the inflected forms of a word in a systematic arrangement | The Qal perfect paradigm (all 13 forms) |
| Person | Whether the grammatical subject is the speaker (1st), the one spoken to (2nd), or the one spoken about (3rd) | I/we (1st), you (2nd), he/she/they (3rd) |
| Number | Whether a word refers to one (singular) or more than one (plural) | king (sg.) vs. kings (pl.) |
| Dual | A form referring to exactly two of something — rare in English, alive in Hebrew | Hebrew has a dual for naturally paired things (eyes, hands, years) |
| Gender | Grammatical classification of a noun as masculine or feminine | Hebrew: מֶלֶךְ (king, m.) / מַלְכָּה (queen, f.) |
| Case | The grammatical role a noun plays in a clause — subject, object, possessor, etc. | nominative (subject), accusative (object), genitive (possessive) |
| Aspect | How the speaker views the action — as a complete whole or as ongoing/incomplete | Perfect (completed action); Imperfect (ongoing, repeated, or incomplete action) |
| Tense | The time of an action relative to the speaker — past, present, future | Hebrew verbal aspect is more foundational than tense; context often determines time reference |
| Mood | The speaker's relationship to the action — stating a fact, issuing a command, expressing a wish | Indicative (fact), Imperative (command), Jussive/Cohortative (wish/exhortation) |
| Voice | The relationship between the grammatical subject and the action of the verb | Active (subject does), Passive (subject receives), Reflexive/Middle (subject acts on itself) |
| Stem | In Hebrew, a modification of the verb root that changes or nuances its meaning | Qal (simple active), Niphal (passive/reflexive), Piel (intensive active), etc. |
Grammatical Analysis Terms¶
These are terms we'll use when analyzing and parsing Hebrew words in class.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Root | The core consonants of a Hebrew word from which related forms are derived; most Hebrew roots have three consonants |
| Lexeme / Lemma | The base dictionary form of a word — what you look up in a lexicon; for verbs, the Qal perfect 3ms form |
| Gloss | A brief English translation or keyword for a word (not a full definition) |
| Parsing | Identifying all grammatical features of a given word form: for a verb — stem, conjugation, person, gender, number, lexeme |
| PGN | Shorthand for Person-Gender-Number — the three inflectional categories of Hebrew verbs and pronouns |
| Construct chain | A Hebrew grammatical construction linking two nouns where the first "belongs to" or is "of" the second (the word of the LORD) |
| Clause | A grammatical unit containing a subject and a predicate |
| Copula | A linking verb (to be); in Hebrew, the present tense copula is usually implied rather than written |
Helpful Online Resources¶
| Resource | What it provides |
|---|---|
| BLB Simplified Hebrew Grammar | Click any part of speech for a plain-English definition of the term before diving into how it works in Hebrew — excellent reference when a term is unfamiliar |
| STEP Bible | Free morphological search of the Hebrew OT; hover over any word for its parsing, gloss, and root |
| Logos Bible Software | Full morphology search and interlinear; pairs with the BBH textbook resource |
| Accordance | Mac-native; powerful Hebrew morphology engine |
| Bible Hub | Quick Strong's lookups with interlinear display — good for vocabulary checking |