PARTS OF SPEECH

I.  NOUN A noun is a person, place, thing, or concept. In Hebrew, it always has gender and number.

II.  PRONOUN A non-definitive word that substitutes for a noun (i.e. “it”), “it” must agree in

A. POSSESSIVE PRONOUN - A possessive pronoun shows ownership. It either takes the place of a noun or is attached to a noun.

B. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN - A word that identifies a specific object, i.e. “this” book.

III.  ADJECTIVE    An adjective describes how or what is the noun. In Hebrew, it must agree with the noun in gender, number, and definitiveness. A noun’s adjective follows the noun and has the same gender as the true gender of the noun.

A. DEFINITE ARTICLE - A definite article limits or specifies. In English the work “the” is the definite article3. In Hebrew the prefix “hay” is the sign of the definite article.

B. INDEFINITE ARTICLE - In Hebrew, there is no sign for the indefinite article. All nouns are assumed to be indefinite unless they are made definite.

IV.  VERB  A verb expresses an action, a state of being, or a condition. The verb indicates the time reference of the sentence - (past, present, or future). The verb must agree with the subject noun in gender, number, and person.

A. INFINITIVE - In English it is the “to” form of the verb (i.e. to learn, to daven). In Hebrew, it is characterized by a “lamed” prefix preceding the verb root.

B. GERUND - A noun form of a verb.

V.  ADVERB An adverb describes, qualifies, or limits a veb, adjectives, or other adverbs. In Hebrew, it does not have to agree with the verb in gender, number, person, or definitiveness. He learns quickly. “Quickly” is the adverb.

VI.  PREPOSITION A connective word that joins nouns or pronouns to the verb. A preposition shows relationshiip. (i.e. with, at, from, of, by).

VII.  CONJUNCTION A conjuncion connects words, phrases and clauses. (i.e. and, or, but).

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