Hebrew Consonants - |
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Common Grammatical Functions of the Hebrew Letters |
Four grammatical categories of letters can be made of the twenty two consonants of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet:
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Though all letters of the Hebrew alphabet can be used to form the shoresh or root of a word, 12 letters (indicated in the table below as shaded items) can ONLY be used as root letters: |
Root Letters |
Example: |
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The four highlighted letters can serve two functions: they may be either a root letter (see above) or they may be a prefix before the first letter of a root letter: |
Prefix Letters |
Prefix Meanings: |
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The five green-highlighted letters can serve two functions: they may be either a root letter (see above) or they may be either prefix before the first letter of a root letter or a suffix: |
Prefix or Suffix Letters |
Prefix/Suffix Meanings: |
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Vav and Yod are undoubtedly the most flexible letters of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet, functioning as root letters, prefixes, suffixes, and infixes. |
Vav and Yod |
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