HEBREW CLASS l #18 l "Grammatical Functions" l John J. Parsons l School of the Bible l VidDevoChurch

Hebrew Consonants - Printer-Friendly Version Common Grammatical Functions of the Hebrew Letters

	Four grammatical categories of letters can be made of the twenty two consonants of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet: Root letter only Prefix letter (or root letter) Suffix letter (or prefix letter or root letter) Infix letter (or suffix letter, prefix letter, or root letter)

Category One: Root Letter Only

	Though all letters of the Hebrew alphabet can be used to form the shoresh or root of a word, 12 letters (indicated in the table below as shaded items) can ONLY be used as root letters:

	Root Letters

	Example:

Fey, Sin, and Tet are the root letters (the Lamed at the beginning is a prefix letter).

Category Two: Root Letter OR Prefix

	The four highlighted letters can serve two functions: they may be either a root letter (see above) or they may be a prefix before the first letter of a root letter:

	Prefix Letters

	Prefix Meanings:

Hebrew letters functioning as prefixes are called Otiyot HaShimush (אוֹתִיּוֹת הַשִּׁמּוּש).

Category Three: Prefix OR Suffix

	The five green-highlighted letters can serve two functions: they may be either a root letter (see above) or they may be either prefix before the first letter of a root letter or a suffix:

	Prefix or Suffix Letters

	Prefix/Suffix Meanings:

Category Four: Prefix OR Suffix OR Infix

	Vav and Yod are undoubtedly the most flexible letters of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet, functioning as root letters, prefixes, suffixes, and infixes.

	Vav and Yod
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