2. Of the Hebrew letters five are vowels; viz. &, ,,, & y: all the reft are confonants."

3. Hebrew is read from the right hand to the left. 4. When two confonants come together, without any of the five vowels intervening, pronounce them, as if a fhort e ftood between themt: thus, is pronounced děběr ; p, pěqued.

5. The textual vowels must always be pronounced long and ftrong; but the fupplied one, fhort and quick; as,, åser ; 77, děbir.

6. A full stop, in Hebrew, is expreffed thus (:) §.

7. When two or more vowels come together, they are not to coalefce in diphthongs, but must be pronounced diftinctly ; as, 15, bēổ, not beu : ", Ïëổë, four diftinct fyllables.

8. Illuftration of the foregoing rules, in reading.

GENESIS, Chap. I. Verses 1, 2, & 3.

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ: והארץ היתה תהו ובהו וחשך על פני תהום ורוח אלהים מרחפת על פני המים : ויאמר אלהים יהי אור ויהי אור :

Pronounced thus:

Brâsit brâ Aleim ât esmim ôât cârězh. Ôēârězh eite teô ôbēô ôhěsk ōl pěni teôm ôrôh Aleim mĕrhěpět ōl pěni emim. Ôiâměr Alēim iei âôr ôiei aer.

* To write the Hebrew letters frequently is the best way to make them familiar to the learner.

+ When two confonants, joined with a vowel either preceding or following, will form an eafy found, it is beft to run them both into one fyllable: for instance, pronounce 27, ōrb; 872, brâ. This is nearly the fame as to pronounce the supplied vowel very

fhort.

The textual vowels are the five mentioned, No. 2.

No other flop is ufed in moft unpointed books.

A, with this (^) placed over it, is pronounced broad, as in

all: O, with it, like oo, or as in tûmb.

PROVERBS, Chap. I. Verses 1, 2, 3, 4. ́

משלי שלמה בן דוד מלך ישראל : לדעת חכמה ומוסר להבין אמרי בינה : לקחת מוסר השכל צדן ומשפט ומשרים : לתת לפתאים ערמה לנער דעת ומזמה :

Pronounced thus:

Měsli Sělme ben Dôd mělk Isrâl. Lědōt hekmē ômôsher lebin âmri bine. Lequěhět môshěr ëskěl zhěděk ôměspěth ôměsrim. Lětět lěptàim örme lenōr dōt ômězmē.

ZEPHANIAH, III. 8.

לכן חכו לי נאם יהוה ליום קומי לעד כי משפטי לאסוף גוים לקבצי ממלכות לשפך עליהם זעמי כל חרון אפי כי באש קנאתי תאכל כל הארץ :

Pronounced thus:

Lěkěn hèkô lĩ nam iôẽ liôm quômi lod kì měspěthi lâshop gôim lequěbzhi měmělkôt lěspěk ōljem zōmi kěl hĕrôn âpi ki bâs quenâti tâkěl kěl ēârězh.

SECTION II.

OF THE DIVISION OF LETTERS.

1. Befide the common divifion of letters into vowels and confonants, they are, in Hebrew, divided into radicals and ferviles.

2. A ràdix or root is a fimple word, ufually confifting of three letters, from which other words are derived; as p, he visited; y, he ferved,

3. Radical letters are those which always make part of a radix or root.

4. Servile letters are thofe which ferve for the va riation of the root, by gender, number, perfon, &c. and for particles.

5. The fervile letters are eleven, viz. N, 7, 7, 7, 5, 7, 1, 1, v, n.

6. The other eleven letters are radical; except and when used for n.*

7. Although the radical letters are never fervile,t yet the fervile letters are often radical, or make part of a root.

SECTION III.

OF WORDS AND THEIR DIVISION.

1. Words in Hebrew may be divided into three kinds, viz. Nouns, Verbs, and Particles.

2. A noun is the name of a fubftance, or of a quality; as, y, a tree;, good."

3. A verb expreffes the action or state of a being, or thing; as, ", and God faid; Down 1951, and the heavens were finished.

4. Particles denote the connexion, relation, diftinction, emphafis, oppofition, &c. or, in a word, the circumstances of one's thoughts; as, and, but, with, or, although.

*See Sect. VIII. No. 12. + Except v, &c. as in No. 6.

SECTION IV.

OF NOUNS; REGIMEN; COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES; THE DECLENSION OF NOUNS, &c.

1. A noun is either fubftantive, or adjective. 2. A noun fubftantive is the name of a substance; as, jv, a tooth; vx, a man; spy, Jacob or of a quality, action, paffion, or state of a being, or thing, confidered abstractedly; as, 35, glory;

.Jbame ,כלמה

3. A noun adjective, so called because adjectitious, or added to a fubftantive, denotes fome quality or accident of the fubftantive to which it is joined; as, , great;, good. Thus, in the phrafes, , a great book, and, a good man, great and good are adjectives.

D

4. Nouns, in Hebrew, as in English, are not declined by cafes, or by changes made upon their terminations, to exprefs the relation of one thing to another, as nouns in Latin and Greek are.

5. In Hebrew, nouns are of two genders, mafculine and feminine; and of two numbers, fingular and plural.

6. Most Hebrew nouns not ending in or n are mafculine; those which do end in are usually feminine.*

or

7. The feminine fingular may be formed from the

**Some mafculine nouns fingular, derived from verbs Lamed He, end in . N. B. They always throw away before '

masculine, by suffixing or ; as,, good, mafc.

*.fem ,טובת or טובה

8. Names of females, proper names of places, cities, countries; and of parts or members of the human body, &c. are feminine, though of a masculine termination.

9. Cardinal numerals from three to ten are masculine with a feminine termination, and feminine with a mafculine termination.

10. Nouns ending in taken only for the feminine; as,, an Egyptian man;, an Egyptian woman: also, when a letter is dropped, the feminine ends in ; as, , a fon, n, a daughter, (1 being dropped); 8, one, x, feminine, (being dropped.)

11. The plural of mafculine nouns is formed by adding, and fometimes only, to the fingular; as, fing.

kings.t

מלכם or מלכים .a king ; plur ,מלך

12. The plural of feminine nouns is formed by adding or to the fingular; as, a land; plur.

ות into ה lands : or by changing ארצת or ארצות : laws תורת or תורות .a law ; plur תורה,or ; as

.letters אגרות or אגרת .a letter ; plur אגרת,as ;ות into

or by retaining of the fingular, or by changing it

13. Feminine nouns fingular in or ; as, fing.

ral by

form the plu8, a fifter; plur,

.Jters אחית or אחיות

*Not only feminine fubflantives fingular, but feminine adjectives and participles fing. often end in n, in the abfolute state. For the definition of the abfolute ftate, fee No. 19.

It is matter of notoriety, that, by means of the points, Vau and Yod have been often dropped from the plural: they ought, however, to be reftored, where the analogy of the Hebrew language requires them.