There are several prefixes in the Hebrew language which are appended to regular words to introduce a new meaning. In Hebrew, the letters that form those prefixes are called "formative letters" (Hebrew: , Otiyot HaShimush). Eleven of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet are considered Otiyot HaShimush. These letters are Aleph (), Bet (), He (), Vav (), Yud (), Kaf (), Lamed (), Mem (), Nun (), Shin (), and Tav (). A mnemonic to remember these letters is (Eitan, Moshe, v'Kalev), which translates to "Ethan, Moses, and Caleb."
Otiyot HaShimush Prefixes in Hebrew serve multiple purposes. A prefix can serve as a conjunction, preposition, definite article, or interrogative. Prefixes are also used when conjugating verbs in the future tense and for various other purposes.
Conjunctions PrefixMeaning CommentsExamples (Vav) and Vav-conjunctive (cf. Vav-consecutive) can make the "v" sound (/v/) or the "u" sound (/u/).If it is used with other prefixes, this is always the first prefix. In front of פ ,ב ,מ, and sheva, waw (ו) is read as "u" sound, otherwise it is typically pronounced as /ve/. v'huGenesis 3:16. (and he) uvayomExodus 12:16. (and on the day) uneharotSong of Songs 8:7. (and rivers)
Inseparable prepositions PrefixMeaning CommentsExamples (Lamed) to, for, onto The Inseparable Prepositions are pointed: Normally with Sheva. Before a Sheva they take Chirik. Before they take Chirik, but the Sheva under the falls away. Before a T'nua Chatufa they assume the corresponding short vowel. Before they take Tzere and the T'nua Chatufa under the disappears. l'melekh (to a king) lim'lokhim (to kings) lihudah (to Judah) la'ari (to the lion) lelohim (to God) (Bet) in, on, with, by b'melekh (in a king) bim'lokhim (in kings) bihudah (in Judah) ba'ari (in a lion) belohim (in God) (Kaf) as, like k'melekh (as a king) kim'lokhim (as kings) kihudah (Like Judah) ka'ari (Like a lion) kelohim (Like Gods)
Other prepositions PrefixMeaning CommentsExamples (Mem) from/of/out of/than Before ordinary letters (excluding the gutturals and ) it is followed by a Dagesh Chazak. Before gutturals and it is . Before the definite article () it is as in 2, and the article remains intact; or it becomes plus . mimelekh (from a king) me'adam (from a man) mehamelekh (from the king), or min hamelekh
Definite article PrefixMeaning CommentsExamples (He)the Before ordinary letters (i.e. excluding gutturals and ) it is followed by a Dagesh Chazak. hamelekh (the king) Before the weaker gutturals and , as well as , it is . ha'or (the light) ha'ayin (the eye) harosh (the head) Before the harsh gutturals and it is . hahod (the glory) hachoshekh (the darkness) Before an unaccented and and always before it is . heharim (the mountains) he'afar (the dust) hechakham (the wise) Before an accented and it is . hahar (the mountain) ha'az (the strong) When used with the Bet, Kaf or Lamed prepositional prefix it is omitted; instead the vowel on the preposition is changed. If He is used with other prefixes, the He is always the last prefix before the root. uvayomExodus 12:16. (and on the day: note that the ve (on) combines with the ha (the) to become va (on the)).
Interrogative PrefixMeaning CommentsExamples (He) ...? Used to indicate a question. Can usually be distinguished from the definite article because it is vowelized with a chataf patach haven yaqir li?Jeremiah 31:19. (Is he my most precious son?)
Conjugation of verbs
PrefixMeaning CommentExamples (Alef) I will When prefixed to a verb stem, indicates first person, singular, future tense. I will. 'osamak (I will uphold) (Yud) He/They will When prefixed to a verb stem, indicates third person, future tense. (Number and gender depend on suffixes.) He will or They will. yosamak (he will uphold) yosamaku (they will uphold) (Nun) We will When prefixed to a verb stem, indicates first person, plural, future tense. We will. nosamak (we will uphold) (Tav) She/You/They will When prefixed to a verb stem, indicates one of the following: third person, singular, feminine, future tense. She will second person, future tense. (Number and gender depend on suffixes.) You will In biblical Hebrew, third person, plural, feminine, future tense. They will tosamak (she/you will uphold) tosamaku (you (pl.) will uphold) tosamakna sarotEsther 1:18. (the women of the nobility will uphold)
Other uses PrefixMeaning CommentsExamples (Shin) that, which, who, whom sheqara (which happened) she'asu Ecclesiastes 2:11. (who performed) (Vav) changes past tense to future tense and vice versa Used mostly in Biblical Hebrew as vav-consecutive (compare vav-conjunctive). Pronounced "va" when changing future tense to past tense. Usually pronounced "v'" or "u" when changing past tense to future tense. vayomer Genesis 1:6. (and he said) compare yomar Genesis 31:8. (he will say) ve'ahavta Leviticus 19:18. (you shall love) compare ahavta Genesis 22:2. (you loved)
Non Otiyot HaShimush European languages had a large stock of prefixes for technical terminology mostly taken from Greek and Latin. While Hebrew traditionally did not use this kind of prefixes, professionals in the Yishuv who started to teach and work in Hebrew were used to this terminology, and incorporated most of these prefixes into Hebrew. Meanwhile, people working on revitalising the language coined some Hebrew parallels, so today those foreign and Hebrew prefixes are used interchangeably.
PrefixOriginHebrewMeaningExamples ex- Latin - former eqspozitzya exposition un-/non-/ English/ Latin i1 Samuel, 4:21 al negation i-alimut non-violence nonqonformizm nonconformism al-matechet nonmetal in-/il-/im-/ir- Latin i not, opposite of iratzyonali irrational a- Greek - lacking in, lack of apoliti apolitical a-mini asexual prae- Latin trom qdam before prehistori prehistoric terom-ledati (pre-birth/delivery of a baby) prenatal qedam-soqratit Pre-Socratic post- Latin aḥar batar after batar-miqra'i post-old-testamental pro- Greek - for, on the side of prognoza prognosis inter- Latin ben between, among internatzyonal international benle'umi international internet internet intra- Latin tokh pnim inside intranet intranet para- Greek - beside, beyond parapleg paraplegic homo- Greek - same homoseqsualiyut homosexuality hetero-(often shortened hetro) Greek - different heteroseqsualiyut heterosexuality di-/bi- Greek/Latin du two du-tachmotzet (means: di-oxide) dioxide du-leshoni (means: bi-lingual) bilingual biseksual (means: bi-sexual) bisexual geo- Greek - relating to the earth or its surface geotermi geothermal retro- Latin - backwards retroaqtivi retroactive semi- Latin dmui- ḥatsi- half, similar to- semitreyler semitrailer hemi- Greek ḥatsi- half hemisfera hemisphere ḥatsi-sfera hemisphere haḥlafat ḥatsi mifrak hemi-arthroplasty electro- Greek - electric, electricity eleqtroentzfalograf electroencephalograph (EEG) anti- Greek - opposite antikrist Antichrist anti-chomer antimatter infra- Latin tat below, beneath infra-adom infrared mono- Greek chad one, sole, only monolog monologue chad-leshoni monolingual uni- Latin chad one, whole chad-ofan (lit. uni-wheel) unicycle poly- Greek rav many poligamya polygamy multi- Latin rav many multimedya multimedia rav-leshoni multilingual tele- Greek - at a distance telesqop telescope super- Latin al over, above, more than, better supernova supernova al-tiv'i supernatural hyper- (soft i) Greek - extra specially, over, high hiperaqtivi hyperactive tri- (soft i) Greek tlat three triatlon triathlon tlat-Ofan (lit. three-wheel) tricycle re- Latin - again, back reorganizatzya reorganization re-irgun reorganization revizya revision sub- Latin tat under, lower than, less than tat-muda subconscious extra- Latin chutz outside chutz-tai extracellular eqstrateritoryali extraterritorial neo- Greek - new neologizm neologism proto- Greek av qedam first, original, father avtipus prototype socio- sots'io French - society, social, sociological sotzyolingvistiqa sociolinguistics hydro- Greek - relating to water, or using water hidroeleqtri hydroelectric hypo- Greek - under or below something, low hipogliqemya hypoglycemia iso-/ izo/iso Greek - equal izotop isotope meta- Greek - after, along with, beyond, among metabolizm metabolism mega- Greek - very large, million megahertz megahertz micro- Greek - minute size, 1/1,000,000 miqrosqop microscope trans- Latin - across transatlanti transatlantic idio- Greek - individual, personal, unique idyomati idiomatic pyro- Greek - fire pirometer pyrometer piroman pyromaniac re- she again shechtuv rewrite auto- Greek - self otomati automatic
See also Affix Hebrew grammar Hebrew verb conjugation Prefix Preposition Suffixes in Hebrew
References
External links Hebrew Language: Root Words