Hebrew Language Blog

In November last year, I wrote a post to learn how to ask where someone is from. Today I’m going to write how to say where you live through the use of the verb לָגוּר – ‘to live’.

The form of “לָגוּר” in linguistic terms is in the infinitive. That means it is like saying “to live”. If we are going to say we live in a certain country or city, then we add the preposition that indicates the ‘in’ part of “to live in…” and that would be בּ…. So the construction we’re looking for is לָגוּר בּ… – to live in.

Where do I live?

So, let’s say I live in Israel. I would take the לָגוּר and drop the לָ part so I’m left with גוּר. There is a change in the niqqud when indicating who is living where. Because I live in Israel, I could say אֲני גוּר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, but that would be like saying “I to live in Israel”. So in order to be grammatically correct, I change וּ (shuruk) to ָ (qamats) so that I have גָר. And now I can correctly say אֲני גָר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל.

גָר can be used not only to say “I live”, but also to say you live and he lives – in the masculine gender. Here’s how they look in Hebrew:

אני גָר – I live / I am living
אתה גָר – you live / you are living
הוּא גָר – he lives / he is living

If a woman is speaking or being spoken to, then the addition of the feminine suffix ָה is added on, making it גָרָה.

אני גָרָה – I live / I am living
את גָרָה – you live / you are living
הִיא גָרָה – she lives / she is living

Check Yourself

Here is a list of countries. I’m giving you a few examples to look at and see how they are constructed. See if you can make up your own sentence saying you live in that country or city. Mix them up between the masculine and feminine genders.

I live in Russia – אני גר ברוסיה
He lives in Romania – הוא גר ברוסיה
She lives in the Netherlands – היא גרה בהולנד

Something Extra

Here’s a table showing the plural forms when speaking/asking about where more than one person lives. You will see there are just two endings you need to add to גָר.

Masculine
We live… – אנחנו גָּרִים
You live… – אתם גָּרִים
They live – הם גָּרִים

Feminine
We live – אנחנו גָּרוֹת
You live – אתן גָּרוֹת
They live – הן גּרוֹת

In the King James translation of the Old Testament, the name of God appears only four times – Psalm 83:18, Exodus 6:3, Isaiah 12:2 and Isaiah 26:4. It is also used three times as a part of a name of an altar or place (Genesis 22:14, Exodus 17:15 and Judges 6:24). Otherwise, the name of God does not appear in the King James translation at all. Yet, the Hebrew Bible has the name of God over 6,800 times! The only other translations that keep the Divine Name intact is the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures and the Divine Name King James Bible.

In modern English, the name of God is spelled Jehovah. I’ve come across many people telling me it’s not a correct/accurate pronunciation or translation – to which I agree, it is not. And there are dozens and dozens of theories online along with videos on YouTube of people trying to say they discovered the true pronunciation of Jehovah,
or they have an idea of how it was originally pronounced. But it’s what it is today because of superstition and centuries of change in language over the years.

The Superstition

So, why is Jehovah not used more often in the King James translation? This is due to the translators allowing themselves to be influenced by an ancient Jewish custom of not pronouncing the Divine Name יהוה because of a misunderstanding of the commandment at Exodus 20:6 “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” So instead of saying God’s name aloud, a title had to be placed in the Biblical text when reading.

When Masorite scribes invented the Hebrew vowel system, they wanted to be sure when anyone saw the name יהוה they would pronounce it ‘adonai’ by placing the vowels for ‘adonai’ (ְ וֹ ָ) with the consonants in God’s personal name, therefore writing it יְהֹוָה. This altered pronunciation is the ye-ho-va that is now used in Modern Hebrew and Jehovah in English. This development contributed to the eventual loss of the original pronunciation of יהוה.

This substitution is shown in English translations every time the Divine Name is printed as LORD (note: it’s in all caps to distinguish it from the substition of the Divine Name with the addressing of human rulers as ‘lord’). This practice is evident throughout the King James translation, such as 1 Kings 1:36 and Exodus 4:13–14.

Spelling and Pronunciation

In the English spelling of Jehovah, the consonants J-h-v-h are derived directly from the Hebrew letters (originally, it was I-h-v-h in English, but the Hebrew letter “yod” י eventually came to be written “j” due to the French influence on English). The vowels in “Jehovah” come from the vowels in the title ‘adonai’. Thus, the name Jehovah, which is very familiar to us in English, is a transliteration of the hybrid form used in Hebrew. As I’ve mentioned before, we don’t know how it was originally pronounced before 537 B.C. Yet, the shortened form of יהוה appears in Hebrew personal names and in the Hebrew Bible (for example, JAH in Psalm 68:4, and the last syllable in “Hallelujah” – הַלְּלוּיָהּ), it is evident the first syllable of the Divine Name is pronounced “yah”, thus the popular thought of “Yahweh” being the correct pronunciation.

The Meaning of the Name

The meaning of the Divine Name? I’ve had many discussions about it, maybe a few arguments, all the way from students of Hebrew all the way up to Rabbi’s.

The name Jehovah is a verb and is related to the Hebrew verb "to be." It is usually associated with the form of the name Moses was told at the burning bush: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (Exodus 3:14). It is usually translated “I am what I am”. When understood this way, it’s a pretty vague description of who he really is, easily bringing up the question “What is he?” thus causing more confusion about his name.

Looking deeper into grammar, Jehovah is in the causative form, the imperfect state, of the Hebrew verb הוה (ha·wah′, “to become”). Therefore, does not mean “I am”, or “He is . . . (something, like love or mercy),” but rather “He Causes to Become.” the more accurate translation of the Divine Name is “I shall prove to be what I shall prove to be”. This reveals Jehovah as the One who, with progressive action, causes himself to become the Fulfiller of promises, the One who always brings his purposes to realization. In order to accomplish his purpose for mankind, he can become whatever he pleases, filling whatever role is needed.

As an example: Think of a parent caring for their child. If the child gets hurt in some way, the parent acts as a nurse. If the child is hungry, the parent becomes a cook, when it comes to learning, a teacher. The parent becomes what he or she needs to be according to the need that arises.

Where Else Is Jehovah Used?

The name Jehovah is not limited to the Bible. It occurs twice in the Book of Mormon, it can be seen in many churches as יהוה, and in many famous paintings and writings.

Another feature of this blog is to show you Hebrew as it’s used in the real world through various advertisements, signage, newspapers, etc. This will help you not only get a variety in your studies, but also see the different styles and slang used in daily life. Today we’re going to look at an ad for Google’s Chrome browser.

The text reads:
אם זה חלק מהחיים שלך – If it’s a part of your life
זה חלק מהדפּדפּן שלך – It’s a part of your browser

Breaking it down to the necessary vocabulary words:
אִם (eem) – if
זֶה (zeh) – this/it (masc)
חֵלֶק (khey-lek) – part
חַיִּים (khah-yeem) – life
שֶׁלָךְ (shell-akh) – your (fem)
שֶׁלְךָ (shell-khah) – your (masc)
דַּפְדְּפָן (dahp-deh-fahn) – web browser
מִ (mee) – from, of, than

Painless Grammar

Notice the words מהדפּדפּן and מהחיים? In Hebrew, prefixes and suffixes are added on to each other to create a new meaning from the root word. So the root form דפדף gives the general idea of skimming or leafing (through a book or some reading text). Adding on the appropriate niqqud makes the word דַּפְדְּפָן, which is what you’re doing with a web browser on the Internet – leafing thorugh the virtual pages.

The מה at the beginning is actually two prefixes together. מ is a preposition that means ‘of’ or ‘from’ and ה is the definite article ‘the’. So the word מהחיים translates literally as ‘of the life’. מהדפּדפּן means ‘of the web browser’.

Now that we’ve met our friends, it’s usual to ask after their health. Here’s the vocabulary list we’ll be working with, and listen to the audio file to hear how to pronounce them.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

מָה (mah) – what
שָׂלוֹם (shah-LOHM) – peace, welfare
    שְׁלוֹמכֶן (sh’lohm-EE) – my peace, welfare
    שְׁלוֹמְךָ (sh’lohm-KHAH) – your peace, welfare (masc)
    שְׁלוֹמֵךְ (sh’lohm-EKH) – your peace, welfare (fem)
    שְׁלוֹמכֶם (sh’lohm-KHEM) – your peace, welfare (masc pl)
    שְׁלוֹמכֶן (sh’lohm-KHEN) – your peace, welfare (fem pl)
טוֹב (tov) – good, fine, well
תוֹדָה (toh-DAH) – thank you
מְאוֹד (meh-’OHD) – very

Before We Begin

Look at the list again and see the words that are indented? They are all variant forms of the word “שָׂלוֹם“, but a possessive suffix has been added onto them to indicate “your”. When these suffixes are added, the word שָׂלוֹם drops the Qamats (“ָ“) to make pronunciation a little easier.

Here's how they would look when by themselves:
ךָ – “your” when indicating a male
ֵךְ – “your” when indicating a female
כֶם – “your” when indicating a group of men
כֶן – “your” when indicating a group of women

How Are You?

Let's say you've just met David Williams. And you would like to ask how he is doing. So you would ask him מַה שְׁלוֹמְךָ?. You would ask this question, using the masculine form of the suffix “your” to a man, or a male child.

If you’re going to ask a woman, or a female child, you would ask מַה שְׁלוֹמֵךְ? with the feminine form.

Now, if you remember, Hebrew is not normally written with the vowels written in. So asking “How are you?” would look like this: מה שׁלוֹמך? – how would you know which ending to use? Again, you must pay attention to the context of the sentence if it’s written, or to whom it is being asked when spoken. That’s important.

Building On

We’re going to take the conversation we’ve been using in previous posts and build on to it with what we’ve just learned here, so I hope you’re all caught up. Listen to the pronunciation a few times and repeat after me.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

ינאי: שׁלום, אני ינאי, מי אתם?
דוד: אני דוד וויליאמס.
שׂרה: אני שׂרה וויליאמס.
ינאי: אתם מאנגליה?
דוד: לא, אנחנו מאמריקה.
ינאי: נעים מאוד, מה שׁלוֹמכם?
שׂרה: תוֹדה, טוֹב.
דויד: שׁלוֹמי טוֹב מאוֹד. ואתה?
ינאי: טוֹב, תוֹדה. שׁלוֹמי טוב מאוֹד.

Check Yourself

Greet the following people and ask how they are according to the example. If you need to, review the post on Meeting and Greeting from last month

Example: David and Sarah – שׁלום דויד! שׁלום שׂרה! מא שׁלומכם?

1. Your boss (masc.)
2. Your two friends (fem.)
3. Your neighbor, Yanai
4. Ron and Bill

Say the following aloud in Hebrew:

1. I am fine, thank you
2. Thank you, I am very well
3. I am fine. How are you? (masc)
4. I am fine. How are you? (fem)

Extra Credit

I made a downloadable PDF with some extra materials to expand on this post. It gives you what you need to ask after someone else’s health and reply to it. It’s important to check it out as it will be used in future posts here. Okay?

Download Activity Sheet (PDF)

In our last post, we met David and Sarah Williams, Johanan Kohen and Johanan’s friend Janai. Today we’re going to look at meeting Mr. and Mrs. Williams in a situation such as waiting for them at the airport, or the library, etc. The new words for this lesson are:

אַתֶם (ah-TEM) – you
אַתֶן (ah-TEN) – you

And a very useful phrase:

נָעִים מְאֹד! (nah-’EEM meh-’OHD) – Pleased to meet you

Grammar Alert!

In this post, not only are we looking at masculine and feminine forms, but we’re also looking at the plural forms of saying “you”.

אַתֶם (ah-TEM) is the masculine form when speaking with two or more men (you can remember this by comparing the ending ֶם (-em) with the “m’ in the word masculine)
אַתֶן (ah-TEN) is the feminine form when speaking to two or more women.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the masculine gender in Hebrew (as well as most other languages) is used even if there are women involved in the conversation or group you’re referring to. So you can have a group of anywhere between 2 – 1,000,000 women, but if there’s one male in that group, then you use the masculine when speaking to that group. Otherwise, if it’s all 100% women, then you can use the feminine forms.

Let’s take a look through the following conversation:

ינאי: שׁלום, אני ינאי, מי אתם?
דוד: אני דוד וויליאמס.
שׂרה: אני שׂרה וויליאמס.
ינאי: נעים מאוד!

Janai met with David and Sarah. Notice he uses the masculine form אתם since David is also there. But if Janai was meeting with Sarah and her sister אַיָה (ah-YAH), then he would ask שׁלום, אני ינאי, מי אתן?

Check Yourself

Let’s practice our Hebrew. Using the information we’ve learned in this post and the last post, do the following exerices with a language partner. If you don’t have one, then some help is given in the parenthesis. If you want to use your own name whenever it’s needed, go ahead and write it (your name) in English for now.

1. You’re meeting with a person at a gathering. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words:

_____, אני מר _______. ____ אתה / את?
_____. _____ _____ (your name) (וויליאמס)

Expanding Your Skills

You can use these two posts to also ask where someone is from. First, review the post on “Where are you from?” and download the activity sheet for it.

To ask where someone is from, it’s just a simple phrase using the prefix מֵ / מִ meaning “from (a place)” as shown here:
אתם מישׂראל?
אתן מאירלנד?

Before we look at how we can expand our conversation above, look over these new words:

אָמֶרִיקָה (ah-MEH-ree-kah) – America / USA
לֹא (loh) – no
אֲנַחְנוּ (ah-NAKH-noo) – we, us
אַנְגְּלִיָּה (AHN-glee-ah) – England

Now, let’s look at the conversation:

ינאי: שׁלום, אני ינאי, מי אתם?
דוד: אני דוד וויליאמס.
שׂרה: אני שׂרה וויליאמס.
ינאי: אתם מאנגליה?
דוד: לא, אנחנו מאמריקה.
ינאי: נעים מאוד!

You can do it!

Are you taking these posts and using them? If you have a language partner studying Hebrew with you, or you communicate with Hebrew speakers through Skype, take every opportunity to use the skills you’re learning. Don’t keep quiet, or think you can’t do it. I know you can – I believe in you.

Even if you don’t have a language partner, or Skype or anything, keep reviewing the information daily. There’s a lot of wasted minutes out there waiting for you to study Hebrew.

If you need help, or you have questions, feel free to ask in the comment box below.

שׂלום, אני מר כוהן. מי אתה?
שׁלום, אני דוד וויליאמס.