# Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar

This grammar focuses only on Biblical Hebrew. It mentions Rabbinic Hebrew (calling it NH – "New Hebrew") only occasionally and has no information about Modern Israeli Hebrew, which was in its early formative stages when this edition was published. Also, its style of linguistic description is somewhat archaic. For example, it uses many Latin terms for which modern English terms exist. It also tends to describe historical sound change as "corruption", something which is avoided in modern Linguistics. Despite these minor shortcomings, even in the 21st century Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar remains one of the most important scientific sources on the grammar of Hebrew.
For important technical notes about this edition, especially if you plan to edit it yourself, see these pages:
* Index:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu
* Category:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar templates
HEBREW GRAMMAR
AS EDITED AND ENLARGED BY THE LATE E. KAUTZSCH PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF HALLE
SECOND ENGLISH EDITION
REVISED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TWENTY-EIGHTH GERMAN EDITION (1909) BY A. E. COWLEY
WITH A FACSIMILE OF THE SILOAM INSCRIPTION BY J. EUTING, AND A TABLE OF ALPHABETS BY M. LIDZBARSKI
OXFORD
GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI CAPE TOWN IBADAN
Geoffrey Cumberlege, Publisher to the University
SECOND ENGLISH EDITION 1910
REPRINTED LITHOGRAPHICALLY IN GREAT BRITAIN AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, OXFORD, 1946, 1949, 1952, 1956 FROM CORRECTED SHEETS OF THE SECOND EDITION
CONTENTS
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| | | PAGE |
| Translator's Preface | Translator's Preface | iii |
| From the German Preface | From the German Preface | v |
| Additions and Corrections | Additions and Corrections | viii |
| List of abbreviations | List of abbreviations | x |
| Table of Early Semitic Alphabets | Table of Early Semitic Alphabets | |
| Siloam inscription | Siloam inscription | xviii |
| INTRODUCTION |||
| § 1. | The Semitic Languages in General | 1 |
| § 2. | Sketch of the History of the Hebrew Language | 8 |
| § 3. | Grammatical Treatment of the Hebrew Language | 17 |
| § 4. | Division and Arrangement of the Grammar | 22 |
| FIRST PART ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES, OR THE SOUNDS AND CHARACTERS Chapter I. The Individual Sounds and Characters |||
| § 5. | The Consonants: their Forms and Names | 24 |
| § 6. | Pronunciation and Division of Consonants | 31 |
| § 7. | The Vowels in General, Vowel Letters and Vowel Signs | 35 |
| § 8. | The Vowel Signs in particular | 39 |
| § 9. | Character of the several Vowels | 45 |
| § 10. | The Half Vowels and the Syllable Divider (Š$^e$wâ) | 51 |
| § 11. | Other Signs which affect the Reading | 54 |
| § 12. | Dageš in general, and Dageš forte in particular | 55 |
| § 13. | Dageš lene | 56 |
| § 14. | Mappîq and Rāphè | 56 |
| § 15. | The Accents | 57 |
| § 16. | Of Maqqēph and Mèthĕg | 63 |
| § 17. | Of the Q$^e$rê and K$^e$thîbh. Masora marginalis and finalis | 65 |
| Chapter II. Peculiarities and Changes of Letters: the Syllable and the Tone |||
| § 18. | In general | 68 |
| § 19. | Changes of Consonants | 68 |
| § 20. | The Strengthening (Sharpening) of Consonants | 70 ​ |
| § 21. | The Aspiration of the Tenues | 75 |
| § 22. | Peculiarities of the Gutturals | 76 |
| § 23. | The Feebleness of the Gutturals א and ה | 79 |
| § 24. | Changes of the Weak Letters ו and י | 82 |
| § 25. | Unchangeable Vowels | 84 |
| § 26. | Syllable-formation and its Influence on the Quantity of Vowels | 85 |
| § 27. | The Change of the Vowels, especially as regards Quantity | 88 |
| § 28. | The Rise of New Vowels and Syllables | 92 |
| § 29. | The Tone, its Changes, and the Pause | 94 |
| SECOND PART ETYMOLOGY, OR THE PARTS OF SPEECH |||
| § 30. | Stems and Roots; Biliteral, Triliteral, and Quadriliteral | 99 |
| § 31. | Grammatical Structure | 103 |
| Chapter I. The Pronoun |||
| § 32. | The Personal Pronoun. The Separate Pronoun | 105 |
| § 33. | Pronominal Suffixes | 108 |
| § 34. | The Demonstrative Pronoun | 109 |
| § 35. | The Article | 110 |
| § 36. | The Relative Pronoun | 112 |
| § 37. | The Interrogative and Indefinite Pronouns | 113 |
| Chapter II. The Verb |||
| § 38. | General View | 114 |
| § 39. | Ground-form and Derived Stems | 114 |
| § 40. | Tenses. Moods. Flexion | 117 |
| § 41. | Variations from the Ordinary Form of the Strong Verb | 118 |
| I. The Strong Verb. |||
| § 42. | In general | 118 |
| A. The Pure Stem, or Qal. |||
| § 43. | Its Form and Meaning | 118 |
| § 44. | Flexion of the Perfect of Qal | 119 |
| § 45. | The Infinitive | 122 |
| § 46. | The Imperative | 124 |
| § 47. | The Imperfect and its Inflexion | 125 |
| § 48. | Shortening and Lengthening of the Imperfect and Imperative. The Jussive and Cohortative | 129 |
| § 49. | The Perfect and Imperfect with Wāw Consecutive | 132 |
| § 50. | The Participle | 136 ​ |
| B. Verba Derivativa, or Derived Conjugations. |||
| § 51. | Niphʿal | 137 |
| § 52. | Piʿēl and Puʿal | 139 |
| § 53. | Hiphʿil and Hophʿal | 144 |
| § 54. | Hithpaʿēl | 149 |
| § 55. | Less Common Conjugations | 151 |
| § 56. | Quadriliterals | 153 |
| C. Strong Verb with Pronominal Suffixes. |||
| § 57. | In general | 154 |
| § 58. | The Pronominal Suffixes of the Verb | 155 |
| § 59. | The Perfect with Pronominal Suffixes | 158 |
| § 60. | Imperfect with Pronominal Suffixes | 160 |
| § 61. | Infinitive, Imperative and Participle with Pronominal Suffixes | 162 |
| Verbs with Gutturals. |||
| § 62. | In general | 164 |
| § 63. | Verbs First Guttural | 165 |
| § 64. | Verbs Middle Guttural | 169 |
| § 65. | Verbs Third Guttural | 171 |
| II. The Weak Verb. |||
| § 66. | Verbs Primae Radicalis Nûn (פ״ן) | 173 |
| § 67. | Verbs ע״ע | 175 |
| The Weakest Verbs (Verba Quiescentia). |||
| § 68. | Verbs פ״א | 184 |
| § 69. | Verbs פ״י. First Class, or Verbs originally פ״ו | 186 |
| § 70. | Verbs פ״י. Second Class, or Verbs properly פ״י | 192 |
| § 71. | Verbs פ״י. Third Class, or Verbs with Yôdh assimilated | 193 |
| § 72. | Verbs ע״וּ | 194 |
| § 73. | Verbs middle i (vulgo ע״י) | 202 |
| § 74. | Verbs ל״א | 205 |
| § 75. | Verbs ל״ה | 207 |
| § 76. | Verbs Doubly Weak | 217 |
| § 77. | Relation of the Weak Verbs to one another | 219 |
| § 78. | Verba Defectiva | 219 |
| Chapter III. The Noun |||
| § 79. | General View | 221 |
| § 80. | The Indication of Gender in Nouns | 222 |
| § 81. | Derivation of Nouns | 225 |
| § 82. | Primitive Nouns | 225 ​ |
| § 83. | Verbal Nouns in General | 226 |
| § 84$^a$. | Nouns derived from the Simple Stem | 227 |
| § 84$^b$. | Formation of Nouns from the Intensive Stem | 233 |
| § 85. | Nouns with Preformatives and Afformatives | 235 |
| § 86. | Denominative Nouns | 239 |
| § 87. | Of the Plural | 241 |
| § 88. | Of the Dual | 244 |
| § 89. | The Genitive and the Construct State | 247 |
| § 90. | Real and supposed Remains of Early Case-endings | 248 |
| § 91. | The Noun with Pronominal Suffixes | 254 |
| § 92. | Vowel Changes in the Noun | 260 |
| § 93. | Paradigms of Masculine Nouns | 262 |
| § 94. | Formation of Feminine Nouns | 275 |
| § 95. | Paradigms of Feminine Nouns | 276 |
| § 96. | Nouns of Peculiar Formation | 281 |
| § 97. | Numerals. (a) Cardinal Numbers | 286 |
| § 98. | Numerals. (b) Ordinal Numbers | 292 |
| Chapter IV. The Particles |||
| § 99. | General View | 293 |
| § 100. | Adverbs | 294 |
| § 101. | Prepositions | 297 |
| § 102. | Prefixed Prepositions | 298 |
| § 103. | Prepositions with Pronominal Suffixes and in the Plural Form | 300 |
| § 104. | Conjunctions | 305 |
| § 105. | Interjections | 307 |
| THIRD PART SYNTAX Chapter I. The Parts of Speech I. Syntax of the Verb. A. Use of the Tenses and Moods. |||
| § 106. | Use of the Perfect | 309 |
| § 107. | Use of the Imperfect | 313 |
| § 108. | Use of the Cohortative | 319 |
| § 109. | Use of the Jussive | 321 |
| § 110. | The Imperative | 324 |
| § 111. | The Imperfect with Wāw Consecutive | 326 |
| § 112. | The Perfect with Wāw Consecutive | 330 ​ |
| B. The Infinitive and Participle. |||
| § 113. | The Infinitive Absolute | 339 |
| § 114. | The Infinitive Construct | 347 |
| § 115. | Construction of the Infinitive Construct with Subject and Object | 352 |
| § 116. | The Participles | 355 |
| C. The Government of the Verb. |||
| § 117. | The Direct Subordination of the Noun to the Verb as Accusative of the Object. The Double Accusative | 362 |
| § 118. | The Looser Subordination of the Accusative to the Verb | 372 |
| § 119. | The Subordination of Nouns to the Verb by means of Prepositions | 377 |
| § 120. | Verbal Ideas under the Government of a Verb. Co-ordination of Complementary Verbal Ideas | 385 |
| § 121. | Construction of Passive Verbs | 387 |
| II. Syntax of the Noun. |||
| § 122. | Indication of the Gender of the Noun | 389 |
| § 123. | The Representation of Plural Ideas by means of Collectives, and by the Repetition of Words | 394 |
| § 124. | The Various Uses of the Plural-Form | 396 |
| § 125. | Determination of Nouns in general. Determination of Proper Names | 401 |
| § 126. | Determination by means of the Article | 404 |
| § 127. | The Noun determined by a following Determinate Genitive | 410 |
| § 128. | The Indication of the Genitive Relation by means of the Construct State | 414 |
| § 129. | Expression of the Genitive by Circumlocution | 419 |
| § 130. | Wider Use of the Construct State | 421 |
| § 131. | Apposition | 423 |
| § 132. | Connexion of the Substantive with the Adjective | 427 |
| § 133. | The Comparison of Adjectives. (Periphrastic expression of the Comparative and Superlative) | 429 |
| § 134. | Syntax of the Numerals | 432 |
| III. Syntax of the Pronoun. |||
| § 135. | The Personal Pronoun | 437 |
| § 136. | The Demonstrative Pronoun | 442 |
| § 137. | The Interrogative Pronoun | 443 |
| § 138. | The Relative Pronoun | 444 |
| § 139. | Expression of Pronominal Ideas by means of Substantives | 447 ​ |
| Chapter II. The Sentence I. The Sentence in General. |||
| § 140. | Noun-clauses, Verbal-clauses, and the Compound Sentence | 450 |
| § 141. | The Noun-clause | 451 |
| § 142. | The Verbal-clause | 455 |
| § 143. | The Compound Sentence | 457 |
| § 144. | Peculiarities in the Representation of the Subject (especially in the Verbal-clause) | 459 |
| § 145. | Agreement between the Members of a Sentence, especially between Subject and Predicate, in respect of Gender and Number | 462 |
| § 146. | Construction of Compound Subjects | 467 |
| § 147. | Incomplete Sentences | 469 |
| II. Special Kinds of Sentences. |||
| § 148. | Exclamations | 471 |
| § 149. | Sentences which express an Oath or Asseveration | 471 |
| § 150. | Interrogative Sentences | 473 |
| § 151. | Desiderative Sentences | 476 |
| § 152. | Negative Sentences | 478 |
| § 153. | Restrictive and Intensive Clauses | 483 |
| § 154. | Sentences connected by Wāw | 484 |
| § 155. | Relative Clauses | 485 |
| § 156. | Circumstantial Clauses | 489 |
| § 157. | Object-clauses (Oratio Obliqua) | 491 |
| § 158. | Causal Clauses | 492 |
| § 159. | Conditional Sentences | 493 |
| § 160. | Concessive Clauses | 498 |
| § 161. | Comparative Clauses | 499 |
| § 162. | Disjunctive Sentences | 500 |
| § 163. | Adversative and Exceptive Clauses | 500 |
| § 164. | Temporal Clauses | 501 |
| § 165. | Final Clauses | 503 |
| § 166. | Consecutive Clauses | 504 |
| § 167. | Aposiopesis, Anacoluthon, Involved Series of Sentences | 505 |
| Paradigms | Paradigms | 507 |
| Index of Subjects | Index of Subjects | 533 |
| Index of Hebrew Words | Index of Hebrew Words | 544 |
| Index of Passages | Index of Passages | 565 |
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