The Article, the Conjunction and the Prepositions

Look at the first verse of the Hebrew Bible and count the words.

בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ׃

Genesis 1:1, Westminster Leningrad Codex

Seven words in Hebrew, ten in English: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The difference is that English "in," "the" and "and" are separate words, while Hebrew writes them as prefixes. בְּרֵאשִׁית [be-re-SHIT] is בְּ "in" + רֵאשִׁית "beginning." הַשָּׁמַיִם is הַ "the" + שָׁמַיִם "heavens." וְאֵת is וְ "and" + אֵת, a word English does not translate at all. And הָאָרֶץ is "the" + "earth," with the article spelled differently than in הַשָּׁמַיִם.

This lesson is about those small pieces. They are the most frequent forms in the language, and their spelling changes follow a handful of rules you already half know from lesson 2: some letters cannot be doubled, two shewas cannot start a word, and vowels adjust to their neighbors. Learn the rules once and you can take apart almost any word in Genesis 1.

The article הַ "the"

Hebrew has a definite article, "the," but no indefinite article. אוֹר [OR] is "light" or "a light"; הָאוֹר [ha-OR] is "the light."

The basic form is הַ (he with patah) joined to the word, plus a dagesh forte in the first letter of the word: the article doubles it (Gesenius, section 35).

Notice הַכּוֹכָבִים and הַגָּן: the dagesh in a begadkefat letter after the article is a dagesh forte (doubling), not just the hardening dagesh of lesson 2. In modern speech the doubling is not heard; you hear only [ha-].

Two small changes in the noun itself: גַּן becomes הַגָּן with qamets, and a few common short words do the same: אֶרֶץ becomes הָאָרֶץ, הַר mountain becomes הָהָר (Exodus 3:12), עַם people becomes הָעָם (Exodus 3:12). Learn these with the article as you meet them.

Before gutturals and resh

The gutturals א, ה, ח, ע and the letter ר do not take a dagesh forte (lesson 2). So the article cannot double them. Hebrew handles this in two ways.

1. Compensatory lengthening: הָ before א, ע, ר. The doubling is simply lost, and the article's short patah lengthens to qamets to keep the syllable full.

• הָאָרֶץ [ha-A-rets] the earth (Genesis 1:1); הָאוֹר [ha-OR] the light (Genesis 1:4); הָאָדָם [ha-a-DAM] the man (Genesis 1:27)
• הָעִיר [ha-IR] the city (Genesis 4:17); הָעֶבֶד [ha-E-ved] the servant (Genesis 24:65)
• הָרָקִיעַ [ha-ra-KI-a] the expanse (Genesis 1:7); הָרֹמֶשֶׂת [ha-ro-ME-set] the creeping (Genesis 1:21)

2. Virtual doubling: הַ before ה and ח. Here the article keeps its patah, with no dagesh. The letter is treated as if it were doubled even though the dagesh cannot be written. Grammarians call this virtual doubling.

• הַחֹשֶׁךְ [ha-KHO-shekh] the darkness (Genesis 1:4)
• הַחַיִּים [ha-kha-YIM] (the) life (Genesis 2:9)
• הַהֵיכָל [ha-hei-KHAL] the temple (Isaiah 6:1)

3. הֶ before an unstressed הָ, עָ, and before חָ. When the guttural itself has a qamets that is not stressed, the article becomes הֶ (segol). This avoids two qamets-like vowels in a row.

• הֶהָרִים [he-ha-RIM] the mountains (Genesis 7:19), but הָהָר [ha-HAR] the mountain, where the qamets of הָ is stressed (Exodus 3:12)
• הֶעָרִים [he-a-RIM] the cities (Genesis 19:25), but הָעָם [ha-AM] the people, stressed (Genesis 14:16)
• הֶעָנָן [he-a-NAN] the cloud (Exodus 13:22)
• הֶחָכָם [he-kha-KHAM] the wise man (Ecclesiastes 2:14): before חָ the article is הֶ whether stressed or not

One more detail: when the first letter has a shewa, the dagesh of the article is often left out, especially in יְ and מְ: הַיְלָדִים [ha-ye-la-DIM] "the children" (Genesis 33:5). It is not always left out: Genesis 1:16 has הַמְּאֹרֹת with the dagesh. Either way you can recognize the article by the הַ.

What the article does

• Makes a noun definite: אוֹר "light," הָאוֹר "the light."
• Points to the present: הַיּוֹם is "the day" and also "today." Naomi asks Ruth אֵיפֹה לִקַּטְתְּ הַיּוֹם, "where did you glean today?" (Ruth 2:19).
• Marks a class or kind: Hebrew often uses the article where English uses none, for a whole kind of thing: הַבְּהֵמָה "the cattle," that is, cattle in general (Genesis 1:25).
• Does not go on a construct noun (lesson 6), and does not go on proper names, which are definite already.

Watch out for the look-alike: the question prefix הֲ (lesson 5) usually has hateph patah and no doubling after it, as in הֲשָׁלוֹם. Before a guttural it becomes הַ, as in הַעוֹד אָבִי חָי (Genesis 45:3); then only the sense tells you it is a question.

The conjunction וְ "and"

"And" is the commonest word in Hebrew narrative. Genesis 1 strings its sentences together with it. Its basic form is וְ [ve], joined to the next word, but its vowel changes with its surroundings (Gesenius, section 104). Here are all the forms, with real examples.

The logic of each change:

• וּ before labials. The lip sounds b, m, p make a w sound turn into the vowel u. Memory word: bumaf, the letters ב ו מ פ. Genesis 1:4 ends בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ, "between the light and between the darkness." Notice that the ב of וּבֵין has no dagesh: it now follows a vowel.
• וּ before a shewa. Two vocal shewas cannot begin a word (lesson 2), so the וְ turns into the vowel u. Genesis 1:22 and 1:28: פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ, "be fruitful and multiply and fill."
• וִי before יְ. The same two-shewa problem, but here the וְ takes hireq and the yod's shewa disappears into the vowel: וְ + יְהִי gives וִיהִי "and let there be" (Genesis 1:6).
• Before a hateph vowel, the conjunction takes the matching full short vowel: וַאֲ, וֶאֱ, and וָאֳ (rare). So וַאֲנִי "and I," חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת "kindness and faithfulness" (Genesis 24:49).
• Before אֱלֹהִים the alef goes silent and the conjunction takes tsere: וֵאלֹהֵי "and the God of" (Genesis 24:3; 1 Samuel 1:17). Before the divine name the conjunction is pointed for the reading Adonai: וַיהוָה [va-do-NAI], as in וַיהוָה עִמּוֹ "and the LORD is with him" (1 Samuel 16:18).
• וָ in pairs. In fixed pairs of words, especially before a stressed first syllable, "and" is often וָ: תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ "formless and void" (Genesis 1:2), טוֹב וָרָע "good and evil" (Genesis 2:9), בְּהֵמָה וָרֶמֶשׂ "cattle and creeping things" (Genesis 1:24), לֶחֶם וָיָיִן "bread and wine" (Genesis 14:18), שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ "heaven and earth" (Genesis 14:19), וְיוֹם וָלַיְלָה "and day and night" (Genesis 8:22).

What וְ means

Not only "and." Hebrew uses one conjunction where English chooses among several: "and," "but," "so," "then," "while," "now." Genesis 1:2 opens וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, and most translations say "Now the earth was" or "The earth was," not "And the earth." Joseph's brothers say לֹא אֲדֹנִי וַעֲבָדֶיךָ בָּאוּ לִשְׁבָּר־אֹכֶל, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food" (Genesis 42:10). Translate by sense.

The inseparable prepositions בְּ, כְּ, לְ

Three prepositions are always written joined to the next word (Gesenius, section 102):

Their vowel changes follow the same logic as the conjunction:

Why hireq before a shewa? בְּ + רְקִיעַ would put two vocal shewas at the start of a word, which Hebrew does not allow. The first becomes hireq and the second goes silent, closing the syllable: בִּרְ-קִיעַ [bir-KI-a]. Teachers often call this the rule of shewa (Gesenius, section 102). The same rule made דִּבְרֵי out of דְּבְרֵי in lesson 6.

With the article: בַּ, כַּ, לַ

When בְּ, כְּ or לְ comes before a word with the article, the ה of the article drops out. The preposition takes the article's vowel, and the dagesh stays in the next letter (Gesenius, section 35). So בְּ + הַיּוֹם is not בְּהַיּוֹם but בַּיּוֹם, "on the day."

Because the preposition copies the article's vowel, it also copies the article's rules: לָ with qamets before א and ר (לָאוֹר, לָרָקִיעַ), לַ with no dagesh before ח (וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ).

The test for "the." Compare לָאוֹר "to the light" (Genesis 1:5) with לְאוֹר "for a light" in לְאוֹר גּוֹיִם, "for a light of nations" (Isaiah 42:6). The shewa under לְ means no article; the qamets (or patah plus dagesh) means the article is hiding there. But careful: לַחֲמוֹתָהּ also has לַ, and there is no article, just the hateph rule. Before a hateph vowel, a patah under the preposition tells you nothing about the article; look at the meaning.

The meanings of לְ

לְ is the busiest preposition in Hebrew. Besides "to" and "for," it shows possession, the way English uses "have":

• וּלְרִבְקָה אָח, "and to Rebekah (there was) a brother," that is, Rebekah had a brother (Genesis 24:29).
• וּלְלָבָן שְׁתֵּי בָנוֹת, "and Laban had two daughters" (Genesis 29:16).
• בֵּן לְיִשַׁי, "a son of Jesse" (1 Samuel 16:18). This is how Hebrew says "a son of," with an indefinite first noun. The construct בֶּן־יִשַׁי would mean "the son of Jesse" (lesson 6).
• With "call" or "name": וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם, "and God called the light Day," literally "called to the light, Day" (Genesis 1:5).

מִן "from"

The preposition מִן [MIN] "from" has three shapes (Gesenius, section 102):

The joined form is easy to explain once you know the article: the n of מִן assimilates to the next consonant and doubles it. מִן + בֵּית becomes מִבֵּית, mib-beit. Before a letter that cannot be doubled, the hireq lengthens to tsere: compensatory lengthening again, just like הָאָרֶץ. Before ח you sometimes find virtual doubling instead, with hireq and no dagesh: מִחוּץ "outside" (Genesis 6:14).

With the article, Hebrew usually writes מִן־ as a separate word (מִן־הַשָּׁמַיִם), though you will also see the joined form מֵהָאָרֶץ "from the land" (1 Samuel 28:3). Unlike בְּ, כְּ, לְ, the preposition מִן does not swallow the ה of the article.

Meanings of מִן:

• from, out of: מֵחָרָן אֲנָחְנוּ "we are from Haran."
• some of, part of: וַתִּקַּח מִפִּרְיוֹ "and she took (some) of its fruit" (Genesis 3:6).
• than: עָרוּם מִכֹּל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה "more cunning than any animal of the field" (Genesis 3:1). Lesson 8 covers comparison.
• because of, away from: מִפְּנֵי "from before, from the presence of" (Genesis 3:8).

Independent prepositions

Most other prepositions are separate words, often joined to the next word by a maqaf. Many are nouns in the construct state that have become prepositions: לִפְנֵי is literally "to the face of," בְּתוֹךְ "in the middle of."

Two ways to say "between"

Hebrew can repeat בֵּין before each item: בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ, "between the light and (between) the darkness" (Genesis 1:4). Or it can use בֵּין ... לְ: בֵּין מַיִם לָמָיִם, "between water and water" (Genesis 1:6). Both are classical.

עִם and אֵת: two words for "with"

Both mean "with." עִם is more common for being together. The preposition אֵת "with" is spelled exactly like the object marker you will meet next, which makes it confusing. Context sorts it out: in וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ חֲנוֹךְ אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים, "and Enoch walked with God" (Genesis 5:22), "walked" takes no object, so אֶת־ must mean "with." With pronoun endings the two words separate clearly: the preposition becomes אִתּ-, as in הַמְּלָכִים אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ, "the kings who were with him" (Genesis 14:17).

A first look at prepositions with endings

Prepositions take pronoun endings for "to me," "with him," "from it" and so on. Lesson 9 teaches the full system, but you have already met several of these forms in lessons 5 and 6, and they are too common to ignore until then. Here are the ones with לְ, all from verses you have read or will read soon:

A few more you will see constantly: בּוֹ [BO] "in it, in him" (אֲשֶׁר־בּוֹ פְרִי־עֵץ, "in which is the fruit of a tree," Genesis 1:29); עִמּוֹ [i-MO] "with him" (וַיהוָה עִמּוֹ, 1 Samuel 16:18); מִמֶּנּוּ [mi-ME-nu] "from it, from him" (לֹא תֹאכַל מִמֶּנּוּ, "you shall not eat from it," Genesis 2:17); and כָּמוֹךָ [ka-MO-kha] "like you" (כִּי כָמוֹךָ כְּפַרְעֹה, "for you are like Pharaoh," Genesis 44:18). Notice that כְּ and מִן use longer bases before endings, כָּמוֹ- and מִמֶּ- (Gesenius, section 103). Notice too the pair in Genesis 44:18: כָמוֹךָ כְּפַרְעֹה, "like you, like Pharaoh," which in Hebrew idiom means "you are as Pharaoh himself."

כְּ "about"

With numbers, כְּ means "about, approximately." After Naomi's sons marry, the family stays in Moab כְּעֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים [ke-E-ser sha-NIM], "about ten years" (Ruth 1:4). Lesson 17 has more numbers. Keep the meaning in mind: a כְּ before a number is almost never "like."

The object marker אֵת / אֶת־

In Genesis 1:1, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ, the word אֵת stands before each thing that God created. It has no English translation. It is the definite direct object marker: it tells you that the next noun is the direct object of the verb and is definite (Gesenius, section 117). With a maqaf it is usually pointed אֶת־ [et], with segol, because it loses its stress.

Rules of use:

1. Only before a direct object. Never before the subject (in ordinary prose) or after a preposition.
2. Only when the object is definite: with the article (אֶת־הָאוֹר, Genesis 1:4), a proper name (נִסָּה אֶת־אַבְרָהָם, "tested Abraham," Genesis 22:1; הַיְדַעְתֶּם אֶת־לָבָן, Genesis 29:5), a definite construct chain (אֶת־שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת, "the two lights," Genesis 1:16), or a pronoun ending.
3. Not before an indefinite object. תַּדְשֵׁא הָאָרֶץ דֶּשֶׁא, "let the earth sprout vegetation" (Genesis 1:11): "vegetation" is indefinite, so no אֵת.
4. Repeated before each object in a list: אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.
5. Often missing in poetry, where it is used much less than in prose.

With pronoun endings the marker becomes אֹת- (or אוֹת-), and then it is translated as an object pronoun:

So אֹתוֹ "him" and אִתּוֹ "with him" look alike but differ in the first vowel and the dagesh. Lesson 9 gives the full set of endings.

Putting it together: Genesis 1:7

Updated October 28, 2026.