Ch. 3 Supplements

Requirements

Others

• Dagesh Lene and Forte:
• Dagesh Lene only appears in the begadkephat letters and only affects the pronunciation.
• Dagesh Forte is the duplication of the letter.
• To spell out the Dagesh Forte:
• אִשָּׁה is אִשְׁשָׁה
• גִּבּוֹר is גִּבְּבּוֹר
• Notice the duplication of the letter.
• Dagesh Lene does not have the duplication.
• מַלְכָּה is just מַלְכָּה. It is not מַלְכְּכָּה.
• Metheg
• Metheg is useful for distinguishing a Qamets and a Qamets Hatuph.
• In most first year grammar books, a Metheg is always present to mark a Qamets: כָּֽתְבָה.
• However, in the BHS (the most popular Hebrew Bible), Metheg might not be present to mark a Qamets.
• In the BHS, sometime, the Metheg is used to mark a Qamets Hatuph!
• See Exod 29:37:
• ‏ שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֗ים תְּכַפֵּר֙ עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ וְקִדַּשְׁתָּ֖ אֹת֑וֹ וְהָיָ֤ה הַמִּזְבֵּ֙חַ֙ קֹ֣דֶשׁקָֽדָשִׁ֔ים כָּל־הַנֹּגֵ֥עַ בַּמִּזְבֵּ֖חַ יִקְדָּֽשׁ׃ ס
• Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.
• Therefore, we need to remember that the function of Metheg is NOT to mark a Qamets (although it is in most first year grammar books); it is essentially a "bridle", indicating a short pause after the vowel. (see page 21 of the textbook.)
• In most cases, they are easy to distinguish, because a closed, unaccented syllable requires a short vowel.