The Principle of Vowel Reduction

Hatuf Patach Segol Qamets Qamets Hatuf – considered a short vowel in closed, unaccented syllables; has an “o” sound as in “hope” Qamets – changeable long in all syllables except closed, unaccented; has an “a” sound as in “father” (a metheg helps identify these, for example pg. 9 vocabulary) Reduced Vowels – occur below gutturals since gutturals cannot take a full shewa. Pratico, Gary D. and Miles V. Van Pelt, Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar, Zondervan, 2007 (pg. 15).

"Propretonic Reduction"

Pro/pre/tonic מְלָכִים מְ לָ כִים Tonic Pretonic Propretonic Tonic – the syllable receiving the accent (usually the last syllable of the word). Pretonic – the syllable before the syllable receiving the accent. Propretonic – the syllable before the pretonic syllable. מְלָכִים מְ לָ כִים Tonic Pretonic Propretonic

When a suffix is added to a noun…. First: There is an attempt to reduce the vowel in the propretonic syllable to a shewa. If the propretonic syllable has a short vowel, it will not reduce. For example: עוֹלָם (singular) עוֹלָמִים (plural) If the propretonic syllable is a closed syllable, it will not reduce. For example: מִשְׁפָּט (singular) מִשְׁפָּטִם (plural) If the propretonic syllable is open and has a qamets (not a qamets hatuf) or tsere, it will reduce to a shewa. For example: דָּבָר (singular) דְּבָרים (plural)

מִשְׁפָּט (singular) מִשְׁפָּטִים (plural) If at first you don’t succeed…. First: There is an attempt to reduce the vowel in the propretonic syllable to a shewa. Second: If the reduction cannot take place in the propretonic syllable, reduction tries to take place in the pretonic syllable. Only if the pretonic vowel is a tsere, will it reduce to a shewa. For example: מִזְבֵּחַ (singular) מִזְבְּחוׂת (plural) An example where the pretonic vowel is not a tsere: מִשְׁפָּט (singular) מִשְׁפָּטִים (plural)

בּוֹר בּוׂרוׂת סוּס סוּסִים נָבִיא נְבִיאִים צָבָא צְבָאוׂת רְחוׂב Will the vowels of these nouns reduce? 1st Propretonic If the propretonic syllable has a short vowel or unchangeable long vowel, it will not reduce. If the propretonic syllable is a closed syllable, it will not reduce. If the propretonic syllable is open and has a qamets or tsere, it will reduce to a shewa. 2nd Pretonic Only if the pretonic vowel is a tsere, will it reduce to a shewa. בּוֹר בּוׂרוׂת No סוּס סוּסִים No נָבִיא נְבִיאִים Yes צָבָא צְבָאוׂת Yes רְחוׂב רְחוׂבוׂת No זָקֵן זְקֵנִים Yes לֵבָב לְבָבוׂת Yes מֶלֶך מְלֵךָ Yes Wait! How come the vowels changed??

Segolates ֶֶ מֶלֶךְ דֶּרֶךְ נֶפֶש מְלָכִים דְּרָכִים נְפָשִים מֶלֶךְ דֶּרֶךְ נֶפֶש The masculine plural form always has the vowel pattern of shewa-qamets מְלָכִים דְּרָכִים נְפָשִים Unless the first consonant is a guttural (remember, they are a pain), then the pattern is khatef patakh-qamets For example: אֶרֶץ אֲרָצִים

*Whew* Time for a Scooby Snack! Just remember: When a new syllable is added the vowels may or may not reduce. There are all sorts of exceptions to the basic rules and you will start to pick up on what’s happening the more you practice your Hebrew. Don’t worry, you’ll never have to actually reduce vowels on a test, you just need to understand what has happened to the original vowels.

PS. The rules are different for verbs…. ….so STAY TUNED! We’ll deal with those later!