Pratico, Gary D. and Miles V. Van Pelt, Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar, Zondervan, 2007 (pg. 15).

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.

Hatuf

Patach Segol Qamets

Pro/pre/tonic

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.

מ� ל� כ�ים

מ�ל�כ�ים

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: ל�ם(plural) עול�מ�ים (singular) עו

If the propretonic syllable is a closed syllable, it will not reduce.

For example: ט� ש��פ� �ט�ם (singular) מ� ש��פ� (plural) מ�

If the propretonic syllable is open and has a qamets (not a qamets hatuf) or tsere, it will reduce to a shewa.

For example: ב�ר�� ��ב�רים (singular) ד (plural) ד

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: ח��� �ב ז �ב��חו�ת (singular) מ� ז (plural) מ�

An example where the pretonic vowel is not a tsere:

�ט �ט�ים (singular) מ�ש��פ� (plural) מ�ש��פ�

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.

ב�ור ב�ו�רו�ת�ס י סו �ס� סו

�ב�יא ם י נ �ב�יא� נ צ�ב�או�ת צ�ב�א ם

ר�חו�בו�ת ר�חו�ב

�ק�ן �ים ז �ק�נ זל�ב�ב ל�ב�בו�ת

מ"ל"ך � מ�ל�ך

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Wait! How come the vowels changed??

� ל"ך � מ" �"ר"ך "פ"ש ד נ

The masculine plural form always has the vowel pattern of shewa-qamets

��ר�כ�ים מ�ל�כ�ים �פ�ש�ים ד נ

Unless the first consonant is a guttural (remember, they are a pain), then the pattern is khatef patakh-qamets

For example: א$ר�צ�ים א"ר"ץ

*Whew* Time for a Scooby Snack!

Just remember:

When a new syllable is addedthe vowels may or may not reduce.

There are all sorts of exceptions to the basic rules and you will startto pick up on what’s happeningthe more you practice your Hebrew.

Don’t worry, you’ll never have to actuallyreduce 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!