Читать книгу Hebrew For Dummies - Jill Suzanne Jacobs - Страница 34

When you read or hear Modern Hebrew sentences, you may think that they’re oddly constructed compared with sentences in English or any other European language. In English, so much depends on word order. Hebrew, on the other hand, is more flexible about word order. In Hebrew, for example, you could say either of the following:

 מֶמְשָׁלָה חֲדָשָׁה קָמָה (mehm-shah-laḥ ah-dah-shah kah-mah; literally: A government new arises.)

 קָמָה מֶמְשָׁלָה חֲדָשָׁה (kah-mah mehm-shah-laḥ hah-dah-shah; literally: Arises government new.)

Both phrases mean the same thing: A new government rises. The order of the words doesn’t affect the meaning.

Look at another example in English. “Mollie kissed Fred” isn’t the same as “Fred kissed Mollie,” is it? It certainly isn’t to Mollie — or, for that matter, to Fred.

In Hebrew, sometimes a verb, especially one without an object, comes before its subject — not after it, as in English. Under certain conditions, you can identify the direct object (the person or thing acted on, as opposed to person or thing doing the acting) because the word אֶת (eht) precedes the direct object. You know that it was Mollie who did the kissing whether I say

 מָלִי נִשְּׂקָה אֶת פָרֶאד (moh-lee neesh-kah eht fred; literally: Mollie kissed Fred.)

 מָלִי אֶת פָרֶאד נִשְׁקָהּ (moh-lee eht fred neesh-kah; literally: Mollie Fred kissed.)

 אֶת פָרֶאד נִשְׁקָהּ מָלִי (eht fred neesh-kah moh-lee; Fred [is] kissed [by] Mollie.)

All these sentences, despite their different word order, mean essentially the same thing: Mollie kissed Fred.

To say there is or there are, use the word יֵשׁ (yehsh) before the noun you want to talk about. To say there isn't or there aren't, use the word אֵין (ayn) before the noun. For example:

 יֵשׁ בָּנָנוֹת (yehsh bah-nah-noht; There are bananas.)

 אֵין בָּנָנוֹת (ayn bah-nah-noht; There aren’t any bananas.)

Now, you can find any noun in this book, put a יֵשׁ or an אֵין in front of it, and you’ll be speaking Hebrew!