A Basic Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (review)

The principle goal of Hackett's grammar is to provide a one-semester introduction to Biblical Hebrew grammar. Toward that end, it is brief and basic, nicely laid out with very readable prose, and supplemented by a CD with PDF resources that include simple navigation and audio supplements. The intent is to have a second semester of reading Biblical Hebrew texts during which students can learn grammar more in depth. For that purpose, Dr. Hackett is planning to produce a graded reader.

Concerned that the writing system is a main hurdle for students, Dr. Hackett reserves six of the thirty chapters for the alphabet, vowels, and syllables. The strong verb in all stems is spread over chapters 12 to 24. The final six chapters are dedicated to weak verbs, though a few weak verb issues, principally gutturals, are interspersed earlier. As a result, the first and last sets of six chapters are not equally balanced in terms of content. To fit the constraints of a single semester, one would likely choose to accelerate the initial chapters.

Hackett employs a mixture of terminology for describing the verb. She opts for the "prefix" and "suffix" conjugations, employs the form based title "ve-qatal" (sometimes in Hebrew characters), and offers the new title "consecutive preterite" rather than simply preterite or vayyiqtol, the form based complement to ve-qatal. Avoiding the out-dated term "converted" is appreciated. She distinguishes stative and non-stative roots, but does not call the latter either fientive or dynamic. When explaining the function of the Piel, she properly describes it as relating to plurality, yet continues the traditional term "intensive."

Helpfully, she gives the pronoun and verb paradigms in the same sequence, unlike many or most Hebrew grammars. Hackett uses the order of first, second, and then third persons, as is normal when studying any other foreign language. Teachers who learned the old way can safely set aside reservations about not having the third person first. To new students, first person first makes sense; the fact that many lexical forms are based on the 3 masculine singular perfect is easily assimilated with no detriment. But although having aligned the order of pronoun and verb, the book does not capitalize on it by comparing the endings of the suffix conjugation to the pronoun.

Another variation from the more common presentation of the verb is the order of presenting conjugations: prefix conjugation, volitives, consecutive preterite, suffix conjugation and ve-qatal, infinitive construct and absolute, and finally participles. The motivation was to get to the preterite as quickly as possible, but desiring to compare it to the jussive, which itself would be previously compared to the imperfect.

The files on the CD require Adobe Reader 9 or higher to make full use of the features embedded in the PDFs. Three groups of files may be accessed through a home page: audio files, printable files, and an answer key to the exercises. Here Hendrickson invested in producing a quality product, with an impressive look and hundreds of audio files embedded for the pronunciation of words. The audio files are documents with embedded sound, which is activated by passing the cursor over words underlined in blue. The exercises in the printed textbook are repeated in these documents with the audio pronunciation supplied for all the Hebrew exercises in chapters 1-15 and then the first two Hebrew sentences in exercises 16-30. Additional audio files include the paradigms from the textbook, the vocabulary lists, and a reading of Genesis 22. The printable files consist of the appendices in the printed textbook. Lastly, there is an answer key for the exercises.

There are a number of trade-offs inherent in selecting different approaches and aims to teaching Hebrew grammar. As a basic one-semester introduction, it is sparse on details. The upside is that the students are not bogged down with fine points or exceptions; the downside is that the rapid overviews often cannot serve as a...