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Hints For Finding The Root: Suffixes Prefixes

This document provides hints for finding the root of Hebrew and Aramaic words. It states that roots usually have 3 letters and outlines steps to eliminate prefixes, infixes, suffixes and weak letters to isolate the root. The steps include 1) eliminating prefixes, infixes and suffixes, 2) disregarding weak letters like he, vav, aleph, yod and nun that often fall out, especially from certain positions, and 3) looking up unclear words in reference texts to find the marked root to then look up.

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Frederick Paulo Tomacder
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56 views

Hints For Finding The Root: Suffixes Prefixes

This document provides hints for finding the root of Hebrew and Aramaic words. It states that roots usually have 3 letters and outlines steps to eliminate prefixes, infixes, suffixes and weak letters to isolate the root. The steps include 1) eliminating prefixes, infixes and suffixes, 2) disregarding weak letters like he, vav, aleph, yod and nun that often fall out, especially from certain positions, and 3) looking up unclear words in reference texts to find the marked root to then look up.

Uploaded by

Frederick Paulo Tomacder
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Hints for Finding the Root 
Roots usually have 3 letters. Eliminate prefixes, infixes and/or suffixes to find your 3-letter root. These 
letters are always root no matter where they appear in the word: ​ ​‫ ט ​( ​ר ​צ​ ​פ​ ​ע​ ​ס​ ​ט​ ​ח​ ​ז‬is very rarely an infix) 
 
1. Eliminate prefixes, infixes, suffixes: 

Suffixes    Prefixes 
‫א‬- past or present tense marker (Aramaic)    on, about (Aramaic)  -‫א‬
‫ה‬- past or present tense marker    marker of binyan a ​ fel​ (Aramaic)  -‫א‬

‫ה‬- her, hers    I, future   -‫א‬

‫הם‬- them, their (masc.)    marker of binyanim i​ tpa'el​ and i​ tpe'al​ (Aramaic)  -‫אי‬

‫הן‬- them, their (fem.)    marker of binyanim i​ tpa'el​ and i​ tpe'al​ (Aramaic)  -‫את‬

‫ו‬- past or future tense marker    in, with  -‫ב‬

‫ו‬- him, his    that, of (Aramaic)  -‫ד‬

‫ות‬- noun and present tense plural (fem.)    the (Hebrew)  -‫ה‬

‫י‬- past or future tense marker    marker of binyan h ​ ifil​ (Hebrew)  -‫ה‬

‫י‬- me, my    marker of binyan h ​ itpa'el​ (Hebrew)  -‫הת‬

‫י‬- masculine plural noun in construct state    and  -‫ו‬

‫י‬- masculine plural noun (Aramaic)    future tense marker  -‫י‬

‫יה‬- him, his (Aramaic)    like, as  -‫כ‬

‫יו‬- him    when  -‫כש‬

‫ים‬- noun and present tense pl., masc.    marker of binyan n ​ ifal​ (Hebrew)  -‫נ‬

‫ין‬- noun and present tense pl., masc. (rabbinic Heb.)    we, future   -‫נ‬

‫ך‬- you, your (singular)    to, for  -‫ל‬

‫כם‬- you, your (plural, masc.)     infinitive marker  -‫ל‬

‫כן‬- you, your (plural, fem.)    future or jussive marker (Aramaic)  -‫ל‬

‫נא‬- I, present (Aramaic)    from  -‫מ‬

‫נו‬- we, past (Hebrew)    marker of binyan p ​ i'el​ or h ​ ifil​ (Hebrew)  -‫מ‬

‫נו‬- him, direct object (Hebrew)     marker of binyan a ​ fel​ (Aramaic)  -‫מ‬

‫ני‬- me, direct object (Hebrew)    marker of binyan h ​ itpa'el​ (Hebrew)  -‫מת‬

‫ת‬- you (singular), past    emphasis marker (Aramaic)  -‫ק‬

‫ת‬- construct form of fem. singular noun    that, of (Hebrew)  -‫ש‬

‫תי‬- I, past    future tense marker  -‫ת‬


‫תם‬- you (plural, masc.), past     

‫תן‬- you (plural, masc.) past     


 
Infixes 
–‫––ו‬ ––‫–ו‬ –‫––י‬ ––‫–י‬
 
 
 
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2. Only two letters left? The following letters are weak and tend to fall out: ​‫ה ​ו​ ​א​ ​י​ ​נ‬. They typically fall 
out from the following positions: 

3rd position  2nd position  1st position 


  ‫– – ​י‬   – ​‫– ​ו‬   – – ​‫נ‬
‫– – ​ה‬    – – ​‫י‬
‫– – ​א‬    – – ​‫א‬
(only in Aramaic) 
 

3. Still stuck? Look up the word as you find it in the text. If you find your word, make note of its root 
(Jastrow marks the root with a √ ), which you should then look up as well. 

   

 
 
 
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