Hebrew Parts of Speech

Action

Verb

פֹּעַל (po'al)

What it is: A word that describes an action, an occurrence, or a state of being. Verbs are the engines of sentences — they tell you what is happening.

English examples: create, walk, speak, know, be

בָּרָא (bara) — "he created" | אָמַר (amar) — "he said"

In Hebrew, a single verb form tells you the action, who is doing it, their gender, and whether they are one person or many.

Thing / Person

Noun

שֵׁם (shem)

What it is: A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. If you can put "the" in front of it, it is probably a noun.

English examples: king, land, covenant, peace, God

מֶלֶךְ (melekh) — "king" | אֶרֶץ (erets) — "land"

Hebrew nouns have gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular, plural, or dual).

Thing / Person

Pronoun

כִּנּוּי (kinnui)

What it is: A word that stands in for a noun, so you do not have to repeat the same name over and over. Instead of saying "Abraham went where Abraham was told," you say "Abraham went where he was told."

English examples: he, she, it, they, I, you, we, this, that

הוּא (hu) — "he" | הִיא (hi) — "she" | אֲנִי (ani) — "I"

Hebrew pronouns often attach directly to other words as suffixes — "his book" becomes a single word.

Describing

Adjective

תֹּאַר (to'ar)

What it is: A word that describes or modifies a noun — it tells you what kind or which one. Adjectives answer questions like "What kind of king?" or "Which land?"

English examples: great, holy, good, righteous, new

גָּדוֹל (gadol) — "great" | טוֹב (tov) — "good"

In Hebrew, adjectives must match their noun in gender and number: a great king (גָּדוֹל) vs. a great queen (גְּדוֹלָה).

Describing

Adverb

תֹּאַר הַפֹּעַל

What it is: A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. If adjectives describe things, adverbs describe actions and qualities. They answer questions like "How?" "When?" "Where?"

English examples: quickly, very, now, here, greatly

מְאֹד (me'od) — "very, greatly" | שָׁם (sham) — "there"

Hebrew uses adverbs less frequently than English — context and word order often do the work instead.

Connecting

Preposition

מִלַּת יַחַס

What it is: A word that shows the relationship between a noun and the rest of the sentence — usually involving location, direction, time, or means. Think of prepositions as arrows pointing to where, when, or how.

English examples: in, on, to, from, with, before, after

בְּ (be-) — "in" | לְ (le-) — "to" | מִן (min) — "from"

Three common Hebrew prepositions (בְּ, לְ, כְּ) attach directly to the front of a word as single-letter prefixes.

Connecting

Conjunction

מִלַּת חִבּוּר

What it is: A word that joins words, phrases, or sentences together. Conjunctions are the glue of language.

English examples: and, but, or, because, when, if

וְ (ve-) — "and" | כִּי (ki) — "because / that / when"

The vav (וְ) is by far the most common conjunction in Hebrew. It can mean "and," "but," "then," or "so" — and as the vav consecutive, it can even reverse a verb's tense.

Structure

Definite Article

הַ (ha-)

What it is: English has two articles: "a" (indefinite — any one) and "the" (definite — a specific one). Hebrew has only the definite article הַ, which attaches to the front of a noun. When there is no הַ, the noun is indefinite.

English: "a king" vs. "the king"

מֶלֶךְ — "a king" → הַמֶּלֶךְ — "the king"

Hebrew has no indefinite article — the absence of הַ is itself the signal that a noun is indefinite.

Unique to Hebrew

Direct Object Marker

אֵת (et)

What it is: A small word with no English translation. It appears before a definite direct object (the thing being acted upon) to mark it grammatically. English does not need this because word order tells us which noun is the object. Hebrew word order is more flexible, so אֵת provides the signal instead.

English equivalent: none — English uses word order instead

בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם — "God created [mark] the heavens"

You will see אֵת constantly in biblical text. It is one of the most common words in the Hebrew Bible.

Unique to Hebrew

Construct Chain

סְמִיכוּת (semikhut)

What it is: A way of linking two nouns to show possession or relationship — like English "of" phrases, but without a separate word for "of." The first noun changes its form slightly and leans into the second noun. The two become a single unit of meaning.

English equivalent: "the word of God" or "God's word"

דְּבַר יהוה (devar YHWH) — "the word of the LORD"

Construct chains appear everywhere in biblical Hebrew — names, titles, descriptions. Learning to spot them is one of the most practical skills in reading the text.

Parts of Speech — A Plain-Language Guide