Formal is the eightieth skill (assuming read left to right) in the language tree for Hebrew. It has two lessons and teaches a few words that are common in formal Hebrew that have not been introduced so far.
Grammar Notes[]
Formal Question Words[]
Formal registers of Hebrew use a few different question words than the more colloquial Hebrew taught in the rest of the course. They are:
English | Colloquial | Formal |
---|---|---|
Why | למה | מדוע |
How | איך | כיצד |
Where | איפה | היכן |
From where | מאיפה | מאין |
For questions that don't use question words, formal Hebrew can also use a -ה in front of the first word of a sentence to indicate that it is a question, like:
- ?היעדתם = Did you know?
You may also see contractions using מה followed by a pronoun beginning with -ה (such as מה הוא being contracted to מהו).
"Please" using נא/אנא[]
These two do not replace בבקשה, as they are only used in front of imperatives or infinitives to indicate that one should do something:
- אנא לשלם פה = Please pay here.
Inflection of אין[]
לא is not used in the present tense in formal Hebrew; instead the word אין is inflected with pronominal suffixes:
Colloquial | Formal Equivalent |
---|---|
אני לא | איני/אינני |
אתה לא | אינךָ |
את לא | אינךְ |
הוא לא | אינו/איננו |
היא לא | אינה/איננה |
אנחנו לא | איננו |
אתם לא | אינכם |
אתן לא | אינכן |
הם לא | אינם |
הן לא | אינן |
For the variants that use the double nun in the singular, they are also used to replace "(I am/she is/he is) gone/not here/not there" but are otherwise interchangeable.
Other Considerations[]
In addition, formal Hebrew will do some of the following modifications:
- זאת will replace את זה;
- אשר or -ה will replace -ש for relative clauses (i.e. someone that does X);
- כי replaces -ש when the clause following it is an indirect quotation instead of just for direct quotations (i.e. "he said that he..."); and
- -ה will disappear from both words when using "this X/that X."
Lessons[]
Lesson 1[]
- היכן = where (hekhan)
- מדוע = why (madu'a)
- כיצד = how (ketsad)
- עתה = now (atah)
- מאין = from where (me'ayin)
- נא = please (na)
- גברתי = madam, ma'am (gvirti)
- אדוני = sir, mister (adoni)
- מה contractions
Lesson 2[]
- אשר = that (asher)
- הבה = let's (haba)
- אנא = please (ana)
- מאשר = than (me'asher)
- -אינ inflections
- using -ה for questions and relative clauses
- כי as "that" instead of "because"
References[]
Duolingo Lesson: www.duolingo.com/skill/he/Formal