{"id":1378,"date":"2014-01-22T14:59:55","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T19:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hebrew\/?p=1378"},"modified":"2014-01-27T09:54:58","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T14:54:58","slug":"a-look-at-grammar-the-direct-object","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hebrew\/a-look-at-grammar-the-direct-object\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look at Grammar: The Direct Object"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"et\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In this article, we’re going to look at a part of Hebrew grammar that beginning students often want to know. There’s a particle in Hebrew (\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea<\/span>) that isn’t translated into English. This particle indicates that a ‘direct object’ is ahead in that sentence. A direct object answers the \u2018what\u2019 or \u2018whom\u2019 in a sentence (for our readers who are familiar with linguistic terms, this is also known as the accusative case)<\/em>: <\/p>\n

    What<\/u> are you writing? I\u2019m writing a letter<\/u>.
\n    Whom<\/u> do you see? I see a waiter<\/u>.<\/p>\n

In Hebrew direct objects can be either indefinite<\/strong> (a waiter, a letter)<\/em> or definite<\/strong> (the waiter)<\/em>. In this article we are focusing on the definite direct object. A definite direct object is always preceded by the particle \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea<\/span> (pronounced like the ‘et’ part of bet<\/u>)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    I see the waiter – \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05de\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05e6\u05b7\u05e8<\/span>
\n    I see the book – \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05e1\u05b5\u05e4\u05b6\u05e8<\/span><\/p>\n

Since proper nouns are by nature definite, they too are preceded by \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea<\/span>
\n    I see Moshe \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05d4 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Indefinite Direct Object<\/h3>\n

As I mentioned above, Hebrew also has an indefinite direct object. To talk about that, you simply omit \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea<\/span>.
\n    I see a waiter – \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05de\u05b6\u05dc\u05b0\u05e6\u05b7\u05e8<\/span>
\n    I see a book – \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05e1\u05b5\u05e4\u05b6\u05e8<\/span><\/p>\n

Think of the indefinite article “a” in English: this word has no meaning by itself, it’s simply an indefinite marker. As there is no indefinite articles in Hebrew, this word is simply ignored while translating from English to Hebrew. <\/p>\n

Check Yourself<\/h3>\n

Which of these sentences are definite?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d5\u05b9\u05d0\u05b6\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05e1\u05e4\u05e8<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. \u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea\u05d9 \u05e6\u05e8\u05d9\u05da \u05d0\u05ea \u05d6\u05d4<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. \u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e6\u05e8\u05d9\u05db\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. \u05d4\u05ea\u05e8\u05e6\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d3\u05e2\u05ea \u05d0\u05b5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05de\u05ea?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

    In this article, we’re going to look at a part of Hebrew grammar that beginning students often want to know. There’s a particle in Hebrew (\u05d0\u05b5\u05ea) that isn’t translated into English. This particle indicates that a ‘direct object’ is ahead in that sentence. A direct object answers the \u2018what\u2019 or \u2018whom\u2019 in a sentence (for…<\/p>\n

    Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":1379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6,207738],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1378","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","category-learning-hebrew"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t