Lesson 7 | Prefixes
[1] Wow! Hey!
Hebrew has a wonderful way of expanding a thought by the addition of prefixes and suffixes. In terms of meaning, these prefixes and suffixes can be understood to be distinct words, something that distinguishes them from the prefixes and suffixes that get added on to verbs and nouns as they are inflected. Yet, they are still prefixes and suffixes added on to other words—not full-fledged words that can stand alone.
As you may have observed, Biblearc conveniently color-codes the different types of prefixes and suffixes when you click on a Hebrew word. Here are the colors for the different types of prefixes:
types of prefixes
| conjunction | וַיְסַפֵּר | and he told |
| article | הַחֲלוֹם | the dream |
| preposition | לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֺת | to bow down |
| relative | שֶׁגַּם | that also |
| interrogative | הֲבוֹא נָבוֹא | will we surely come? |
The only one of these prefixes with more than a single form is the preposition type. We will cover it in the next step, along with the relative prefix. As for the rest, they really come down to a little extra hey! (i.e. ה) and wow! (i.e. a common pronunciation of the letter ו).
ו conjunction
The only prefix conjunction in Hebrew is the conjunction ו. This prefix is found over 50,000 times in the Hebrew Bible—that is, everywhere! Its simplest meaning is “and,” though in reality it is a general connector that can mean a great variety of things. But, or, that is, while, when, if, then, for, that, though, surely, and even to name a few. Context, of course, is the determining factor.
ה prefix
The definite article (the word “the” in English) is not a separate word in Hebrew, but rather the prefix ה. The only minor complications relate to how this article prefix works with prepositions prefixes, construct chains, and adjectives. We will cover these things as we meet them later in this course and the next.
Less commonly, a ה prefix at the beginning of a sentence or phrase can also be functioning as an interrogative. That is to say, it will turn a statement into a question (as we saw in the devotional). In English, we often do this with words like is, do, does, and will. “He likes pizza” is a statement, whereas adding the word “does” to the beginning makes it a question—“Does he like pizza?”
Now, the double use of the ה prefix for two distinct functions might seem problematic to you, as it would cause ambiguity. But the reality is that, if you know the rest of the words in the sentence, it is usually very easy to discern which ה prefix is intended.
Genesis 37:10; Ecclesiastes 1:17
You can begin practicing right now. Before clicking on any of the words in the two verses below, try to find and identify all the prefixes and suffixes. Then click to see if you are right. (Hint: the words in the chart above were taken from these two texts.)