Conversation and Composition

Sixteen lessons of forms, and one of numbers. This lesson spends them. You will describe people and places, ask questions and answer them, tell a story in the narrative past, and write a short story that is yours. Almost nothing here is new grammar. What is new is putting the pieces together the way Hebrew storytellers did.

Speak everything aloud. This course uses modern Israeli pronunciation (lesson 3), which is how most people who speak Hebrew today read the classical texts. Nobody speaks the Hebrew of Genesis as a mother tongue, but the language of Genesis is still the base of the language spoken in Israel, and many of the sentences in this lesson would be understood on a street in Jerusalem. Where a phrase is modern and not classical, the lesson says so.

Describing: the verbless clause

Hebrew does not need a verb for "is" or "are" in the present. Put a subject next to a predicate and the clause is complete (Gesenius, section 141). You met this in lessons 8 and 9. Here are the patterns you will use most when you describe something.

The rule from lesson 8 is the one to watch: an adjective with no article next to a noun with the article is a statement (טוֹב הָאִישׁ "the man is good"); an adjective that copies the article is a description inside a noun phrase (הָאִישׁ הַטּוֹב "the good man"). Hebrew possession works the same way: there is no verb "to have." You say "there is to me": יֶשׁ־לִי, or simply put לְ on the owner.

Genesis describes people in exactly these short clauses. Here are two brothers and two sisters.

וַיִּגְדְּלוּ הַנְּעָרִים וַיְהִי עֵשָׂו אִישׁ יֹדֵעַ צַיִד אִישׁ שָׂדֶה וְיַעֲקֹב אִישׁ תָּם יֹשֵׁב אֹהָלִים׃

Genesis 25:27, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"The boys grew up. Esau was a man who knew hunting, a man of the field, and Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents." The second half, וְיַעֲקֹב אִישׁ תָּם, has no verb at all: "and Jacob, a quiet man." The participles יֹדֵעַ "knowing" and יֹשֵׁב "sitting, living" describe what each man habitually did (lesson 14).

וּלְלָבָן שְׁתֵּי בָנוֹת שֵׁם הַגְּדֹלָה לֵאָה וְשֵׁם הַקְּטַנָּה רָחֵל׃

Genesis 29:16, Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְעֵינֵי לֵאָה רַכּוֹת וְרָחֵל הָיְתָה יְפַת־תֹּאַר וִיפַת מַרְאֶה׃

Genesis 29:17, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were soft (or weak), and Rachel was beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance." Notice הַגְּדֹלָה "the big one" for "the older" and הַקְּטַנָּה "the small one" for "the younger": the article turns the adjective into a noun. יְפַת־תֹּאַר is the construct of יָפָה "beautiful" bound to a noun, "beautiful of form." Here the past tense הָיְתָה "was" is written, because the narrator is describing the past.

Useful describing words

Asking questions

Yes or no: הֲ and הֲלֹא

A yes/no question can be marked only by tone of voice: Isaac asks Jacob אַתָּה זֶה בְּנִי עֵשָׂו "Are you really my son Esau?" (Genesis 27:24) with no question word at all. More often the question gets the prefix הֲ on its first word (Gesenius, section 100 and section 150).

• Usually הֲ [ha]: הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ "Is he well?" (Genesis 29:6); הֲשֹׁמֵר אָחִי אָנֹכִי "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9).
• Before a guttural it is often הַ: הַעוֹד אָבִי חָי "Is my father still alive?" (Genesis 45:3).
• Before a consonant with shewa it is also הַ: הַיְדַעְתֶּם "Do you know?" (Genesis 29:5).
• Do not confuse the question הֲ with the article הַ. The article doubles the next letter with a dagesh; the question prefix does not.

הֲלֹא (also spelled הֲלוֹא) [ha-LO] expects the answer yes, like English "isn't it?": Abram says to Lot הֲלֹא כָל־הָאָרֶץ לְפָנֶיךָ "Isn't the whole land before you?" (Genesis 13:9), and Boaz says to Ruth הֲלוֹא שָׁמַעַתְּ בִּתִּי "You hear, don't you, my daughter?" (Ruth 2:8). A double question, "this or that?", puts הֲ on the first half and אִם on the second.

Question words

Notes on the table. מָה usually joins the next word with a maqaf and doubles its first letter: מַה־שְּׁמֶךָ, מַה־זֹּאת. Before a guttural it keeps qamets: מָה אַרְצֶךָ "what is your country?" (Jonah 1:8; Gesenius, section 37). The word for "where" can take a suffix: אַיֶּכָּה "where are you?" is God's question to the man in Genesis 3:9, and Reuel asks his daughters about Moses וְאַיּוֹ "and where is he?" (Exodus 2:20). The table gives the classical stress, which the Masoretic accents mark: on the last syllable of אֵיפֹה, on the first syllable of לָמָּה. In everyday Israeli speech you will hear [EI-fo] and [LA-ma]; careful modern Hebrew says [ei-FO] and [la-MA].

וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו הַגִּידָה־נָּא לָנוּ בַּאֲשֶׁר לְמִי־הָרָעָה הַזֹּאת לָנוּ מַה־מְּלַאכְתְּךָ וּמֵאַיִן תָּבוֹא מָה אַרְצֶךָ וְאֵי־מִזֶּה עַם אָתָּה׃

Jonah 1:8, Westminster Leningrad Codex

The sailors fire five questions at Jonah in one breath: "Tell us, please, on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your work? Where do you come from? What is your country? And from which people are you?" Count the question words: לְמִי, מַה־, מֵאַיִן, מָה, אֵי־מִזֶּה. Jonah's answer in 1:9 begins עִבְרִי אָנֹכִי "I am a Hebrew," a verbless clause.

Answering

Classical Hebrew has no all-purpose word for "yes." (Modern כֵּן "yes" means "so, thus, right" in the classical texts.) To answer yes, you repeat the key word of the question in the right form. To answer no, use לֹא.

• הַיְדַעְתֶּם אֶת־לָבָן "Do you know Laban?" יָדָעְנוּ "We know (him)." (Genesis 29:5)
• הֲתֵלְכִי עִם־הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה "Will you go with this man?" אֵלֵךְ "I will go." (Genesis 24:58)
• הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ "Is he well?" שָׁלוֹם "Well." (Genesis 29:6)
• הֲיֵשׁ בָּזֶה הָרֹאֶה "Is the seer here?" יֵּשׁ "He is." (1 Samuel 9:11 to 12)
• When someone calls your name, the answer is הִנֵּנִי [hi-NE-ni] "Here I am" (Genesis 22:1).
• Sarah denies laughing, לֹא צָחַקְתִּי "I did not laugh," and is answered לֹא כִּי צָחָקְתְּ "No, but you did laugh." (Genesis 18:15)

Telling a story in the narrative past

A classical Hebrew story has a shape you can learn and reuse. Lesson 12 taught you the waw-consecutive imperfect, the form that carries the main line of events. Here is how a whole story is built around it (Gesenius, section 111).

1. The setting: וַיְהִי

Stories often open with וַיְהִי [vay-HI] "and it was, and it happened," followed by a time phrase or a person.

וַיְהִי בִּימֵי שְׁפֹט הַשֹּׁפְטִים וַיְהִי רָעָב בָּאָרֶץ וַיֵּלֶךְ אִישׁ מִבֵּית לֶחֶם יְהוּדָה לָגוּר בִּשְׂדֵי מוֹאָב הוּא וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וּשְׁנֵי בָנָיו׃

Ruth 1:1, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"It happened in the days when the judges judged: there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live as a stranger in the fields of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons." Two וַיְהִי in a row: the first sets the time, the second states the problem. Then the action begins with וַיֵּלֶךְ.

וַיְהִי אִישׁ אֶחָד מִן־הָרָמָתַיִם צוֹפִים מֵהַר אֶפְרָיִם וּשְׁמוֹ אֶלְקָנָה

1 Samuel 1:1 (first part), Westminster Leningrad Codex

"There was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah." This is the classic "once upon a time." אִישׁ אֶחָד "one man" means "a certain man," and וּשְׁמוֹ "and his name (was)" gives the name in a verbless clause.

2. The actions: a waw-consecutive chain

Once the story starts, each new event gets a new waw-consecutive verb at the head of its clause. Hebrew prose does not like to stack two main verbs without a וַ. Jonah's flight is a good model:

וַיָּקָם יוֹנָה לִבְרֹחַ תַּרְשִׁישָׁה מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה וַיֵּרֶד יָפוֹ וַיִּמְצָא אָנִיָּה בָּאָה תַרְשִׁישׁ וַיִּתֵּן שְׂכָרָהּ וַיֵּרֶד בָּהּ לָבוֹא עִמָּהֶם תַּרְשִׁישָׁה מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה׃

Jonah 1:3, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the LORD. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid its fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the LORD." Five events, five waw-consecutive verbs: וַיָּקָם "he got up," וַיֵּרֶד "he went down," וַיִּמְצָא "he found," וַיִּתֵּן "he gave," וַיֵּרֶד "he went down." The infinitives לִבְרֹחַ "to flee" and לָבוֹא "to go" give the purpose. The ending ָה on תַּרְשִׁישָׁה means "toward Tarshish."

Common narrative verbs to have ready, all attested in Genesis or Samuel:

Watch the pair וַיָּשָׁב "and he returned" (Qal) and וַיָּשֶׁב "and he brought back" (Hiphil): one vowel tells them apart (lesson 16). Many short waw-consecutive forms pull the stress back to the next-to-last syllable, which is why וַיֵּלֶךְ is [va-YE-lekh] and not [va-ye-LEKH].

3. Speech: וַיֹּאמֶר

Hebrew has no quotation marks. A speech starts after וַיֹּאמֶר [va-YO-mer] "and he said" (feminine וַתֹּאמֶר [va-TO-mer], plural וַיֹּאמְרוּ [va-yo-me-RU]) and runs until the narrator speaks again, usually with the next waw-consecutive verb. The person addressed comes with אֶל or לְ: וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו "and he said to him." After other verbs of speaking, a speech is introduced with לֵאמֹר [le-MOR] "saying," which works like a colon. In a conversation the speakers often are not named at all, only וַיֹּאמֶר ... וַיֹּאמֶר; the content tells you who is talking (see Genesis 27:18 and 27:24).

4. Breaking the chain

When the narrator wants to describe, contrast or step back, the chain stops. The clause begins with וְ and a noun, and the verb, if there is one, is a perfect or a participle: וְיוֹנָה יָרַד אֶל־יַרְכְּתֵי הַסְּפִינָה "but Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship" (Jonah 1:5). וְהִנֵּה "and look!" switches to what a character sees: וְהִנֵּה רָחֵל בִּתּוֹ בָּאָה עִם־הַצֹּאן "and look, Rachel his daughter is coming with the flock" (Genesis 29:6). Lesson 19 treats these clauses in detail.

Example: the Siloam inscription tells a story too

Hebrew storytelling is not only in the Hebrew Bible. The workmen who cut the Siloam tunnel left a short account in stone. It is unpointed and its spelling is older, but its style is familiar. It tells how the two crews, digging toward each other from opposite ends, heard each other: while there were still three cubits to cut, "the voice of a man calling to his fellow" was heard. In square letters, unpointed as on the stone, that phrase is קל אש קרא אל רעו. Compare אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ "each to his fellow" in Jonah 1:7. The account goes on with a time phrase, "and on the day of the breakthrough" (וביום הנקבה), and a string of clauses joined with ו, much like the stories in Genesis. The spelling is older and leaves out many vowel letters: קל for קוֹל, אש for אִישׁ.

Model dialogues

Dialogue 1: on the road (classical)

Every line in this dialogue is built from phrases that occur in Genesis or Samuel; the source is given in parentheses. Two travelers, A and B, meet. Practice it with a partner or by yourself, switching voices.

Notes. לְמִי־אַתָּה "whose are you?" asks which household or master you belong to; in a modern conversation you would ask מִי אַתָּה. אָנֹכִי and אֲנִי both mean "I" (lesson 9); אָנֹכִי is common in Genesis and gone from modern speech. To a woman, the forms change: מַה־שְּׁמֵךְ "what is your name?", לְכִי לְשָׁלוֹם "go in peace" (1 Samuel 1:17).

Dialogue 2: in a classroom today (modern)

Look at how much is old: שָׁלוֹם, טוֹב מְאֹד (Genesis 1:31 has טוֹב מְאֹד), אֲנִי, עִיר, קְטַנָּה, לָמָּה, כִּי, לִקְרֹא. תַּנַ״ךְ is made from the initials of Torah, Neviim (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). The gershayim mark ״ shows it is an abbreviation, the same mark you used for numbers in lesson 17. The words בְּסֵדֶר "in order, fine" and לְהִתְרָאוֹת "to see one another" are modern coinages made from old roots.

A guided composition

Now you write. The plan gives the content in English and the key Hebrew words. Write each sentence in Hebrew, in classical style, then read the whole story aloud. Do not look at the model answer in the writing drill until you have a full draft. A mistake you catch yourself teaches more than a correct sentence you copy.

Plan: "The Lost Lamb" (a made-up story)

1. There was a certain man in Bethlehem, and his name was Eliav. (וַיְהִי אִישׁ אֶחָד; בְּבֵית לֶחֶם; וּשְׁמוֹ)
2. He was a shepherd. (verbless clause: וְהוּא + רֹעֵה צֹאן, as in Genesis 4:2)
3. He got up early in the morning and went out to the field with the flock. (וַיַּשְׁכֵּם; בַּבֹּקֶר; וַיֵּצֵא; הַשָּׂדֶה; עִם־הַצֹּאן)
4. In the evening he looked, and one lamb was missing. (וַיְהִי בָעֶרֶב; וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה; שֶׂה אֶחָד; אֵינֶנּוּ "he is not there")
5. He went to look for the lamb. (וַיֵּלֶךְ; לְבַקֵּשׁ)
6. He found it under the tree. (וַיִּמְצָאֵהוּ; תַּחַת הָעֵץ)
7. He brought the lamb back to the flock. (וַיָּשֶׁב, Hiphil; אֶל־הַצֹּאן)
8. The man was very happy and said, "Blessed be the LORD." (וַיִּשְׂמַח; מְאֹד; וַיֹּאמֶר; בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה, as in Genesis 24:27)

Practicing out loud

• Shadow a verse. Read a verse aloud, then cover it and say it again from memory. Genesis 29:4 to 6 is short enough to learn whole in a week.
• Change one thing. Take a sentence you know and change the person: מֵאַיִן אַתֶּם "where are you (plural) from?" becomes מֵאַיִן אַתָּה to a man, מֵאַיִן אַתְּ to a woman. Say each one aloud.
• Answer the Hebrew way. When you practice yes/no questions, never answer with a bare "yes." Repeat the verb.
• Narrate your day. In the evening, tell your day in four or five waw-consecutive verbs: וָאָקוּם ... וָאֵלֵךְ ... "and I got up ... and I went ..." (וָאֵלֵךְ is in 1 Samuel 15:20). The first person forms are in lesson 12.
• Record yourself. Listen back for the stressed syllables. Most words are stressed on the last syllable; segolates like בֹּקֶר and עֶרֶב and short waw-consecutive forms like וַיֵּלֶךְ are stressed on the one before.

Updated October 28, 2026.