Modern Hebrew grammar


Modern Hebrew grammar is partly analytic, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than morphological cases.
On the other hand, Modern Hebrew grammar is also fusional synthetic: inflection plays a role in the formation of verbs and nouns and the declension of prepositions.

Note on the representation of Hebrew examples

Examples of Hebrew are represented using the as well as native script. Although most speakers collapse the phonemes into, the distinction is maintained by a limited number of speakers and will therefore be indicated here for maximum coverage. In the transcriptions, is used for the rhotic, which is more commonly a lax voiced uvular approximant.

Syntax

Every Hebrew sentence must contain at least one subject, at least one predicate, usually but not always a verb, and possibly other arguments and complements.
Word order in Modern Hebrew is somewhat similar to that in English: as opposed to Biblical Hebrew, where the word order is Verb-Subject-Object, the usual word order in Modern Hebrew is Subject-Verb-Object. Thus, if there is no case marking, one can resort to the word order. Modern Hebrew is characterized by an asymmetry between definite Objects and indefinite Objects. There is an accusative marker, et, only before a definite Object. Et-ha is currently undergoing fusion and reduction to become ta. Consider ten li et ha-séfer "give:2ndPerson.Masculine.Singular.Imperative to-me ACCUSATIVE the-book", where et, albeit syntactically a case-marker, is a preposition and ha is a definite article. This sentence is realised phonetically as ten li ta-séfer.

Sentences with finite verbs

In sentences where the predicate is a verb, the word order is usually subject–verb–object, as in English. However, word order can change in the following instances:
Generally, Hebrew marks every noun in a sentence with some sort of preposition, with the exception of subjects and semantically indefinite direct objects. Unlike English, indirect objects require prepositions and semantically definite direct objects are introduced by the preposition את .

Nominal sentences

Hebrew also produces sentences where the predicate is not a finite verb. A sentence of this type is called משפט שמני, a nominal sentence. These sentences contain a subject, a non-verbal predicate, and an optional copula. Types of copulae include:
  1. The verb הָיָה :
While לֹא precedes the copula in the past and future tenses, it follows the copula in the present tense.
  1. The verbs הָפַךְ, נֶהֱפַךְ and נִהְיָה :
  2. Possession / existence: יש/אין :

    Sentence types

Sentences are generally divided into three types:

Simple sentence

A simple sentence is a sentence that contains one subject, one verb, and optional objects. As the name implies, it is the simplest type of sentence.

Compound sentences

Two or more sentences that do not share common parts and can be separated by comma are called מִשְפָּט מְחֻבָּר /miʃˈpat meħuˈbar/, a compound sentence. In many cases, the second sentence uses a pronoun that stands for the other's subject; they are generally interconnected. The two sentences are linked with a coordinating conjunction. The conjunction is a stand-alone word that serves as a connection between both parts of the sentence, belonging to neither part.
Like English, Hebrew allows clauses, פְּסוּקִיּוֹת , to serve as parts of a sentence. A sentence containing a subordinate clause is called משפט מרכב, or a complex sentence. Subordinate clauses almost always begin with the subordinating conjunction -ש , which attaches as a prefix to the word that follows it. For example, in the sentence יוֹסִי אוֹמֵר שֶׁהוּא אוֹכֵל , the subordinate clause שֶׁהוּא אוֹכֵל serves as the direct object of the verb אוֹמֵר . Unlike English, Hebrew does not have a large number of subordinating conjunctions; rather, subordinate clauses almost always act as nouns and can be introduced by prepositions in order to serve as adverbs. For example, the English As I said, there's nothing we can do in Hebrew is כְּפִי שֶׁאָמַרְתִּי, אֵין מָה לַעֲשׂוֹת .
That said, relative clauses, which act as adjectives, are also formed using -ֶׁש. For example, English Yosi sees the man who is eating apples is in Hebrew יוֹסִי רוֹאֶה אֶת הָאִישׁ שֶׁאוֹכֵל תַּפּוּחִים . In this use ש sometimes acts as a relativizer rather than as a relative pronoun; that is, sometimes the pronoun remains behind in the clause: הִיא מַכִּירָה אֶת הָאִישׁ שֶׁדִּבַּרְתִּי עָלָיו, which translates to She knows the man I talked about, literally means She knows the-man that-I-talked about him. This is because in Hebrew, a preposition cannot appear without its object, so the him יו- could not be dropped. However, some sentences, such as the above example, can be written both with relativizers and with relative pronouns. The sentence can also be rearranged into הִיא מַכִּירָה אֶת הָאִישׁ עָלָיו דִבַּרְתִּי, literally She knows the-man about him I-talked., and translates into the same meaning. In that example, the preposition and its object עָלָיו also act as a relative pronoun, without use of -ֶׁש.

Impersonal sentences

A sentence may lack a determinate subject, then it is called מִשְפָּט סְתָמִי, an indefinite or impersonal sentence. These are used in order to put emphasis on the action, and not on the agent of the action. Usually the verb is of the 3rd person plural form.
When a sentence contains multiple parts of the same grammatical function and relate to the same part of the sentence, they are called collective parts. They are usually separated with the preposition וְ- , and if there are more than two, they are separated with commas while the last pair with the preposition, as in English. Collective parts can have any grammatical function in the sentence, for instance:
  1. Subject: אָדָם, אַיָּה וַאֲנִי אָכַלְנוּ יַחַד בְּמִסְעָדָה.
  2. Predicate: מִיכַל אָכְלָה וְשָׁתְתָה הַרְבֵּה אֶתְמוֹל.
  3. Direct object: בִּשַּׁלְתִּי אֶת הַגֶּזֶר, אֶת הַבָּטָטָה וְאֶת תַּפּוּחַ הָאֲדָמָה שֶׁקְּנִיתֶם שָׁבוּעַ שֶׁעָבַר לַאֲרוּחַת הָעֶרֶב הַיּוֹם.
  4. Indirect object: הַמּוֹרָה תִּתֵּן לְתֹמֶר וְלִי אִשּׁוּר.
When a collective part is preceded by a preposition, the preposition must be copied onto all parts of the collective.

Verbs

The Hebrew verb serves essentially the same functions as the English verb, but is constructed very differently. Hebrew verbs have much more internal structure. Every Hebrew verb is formed by casting a three- or four-consonant root into one of seven derived stems called . Most roots can be cast into more than one binyan, meaning more than one verb can be formed from a typical root. When this is the case, the different verbs are usually related in meaning, typically differing in voice, valency, semantic intensity, aspect, or a combination of these features. The "concept" of the Hebrew verb's meaning is defined by the identity of the triliteral root. The "concept" of the Hebrew verb assumes verbal meaning by taking on vowel-structure as dictated by the binyan's rules.

Conjugation

Each binyan has a certain pattern of conjugation and verbs in the same binyan are conjugated similarly. Conjugation patterns within a binyan alter somewhat depending on certain phonological qualities of the verb's root; the alterations are defined by the presence of certain letters composing the root. For example, three-letter roots whose second letter is ו or י are so-called hollow or weak roots, losing their second letter in binyan, in, and in much of. The feature of being conjugated differently because the second root-letter is ו or י is an example of a gizra. These verbs are not strictly irregular verbs, because all Hebrew verbs that possess the same feature of the gizra are conjugated in accordance with the gizra's particular set of rules.
Every verb has a past tense, a present tense, and a future tense, with the present tense doubling as a present participle. Other forms also exist for certain verbs: verbs in five of the binyanim have an imperative mood and an infinitive, verbs in four of the binyanim have gerunds, and verbs in one of the binyanim have a past participle. Finally, a very small number of fixed expressions include verbs in the jussive mood, which is essentially an extension of the imperative into the third person. Except for the infinitive and gerund, these forms are conjugated to reflect the number, person and gender of its subject, depending on the form. Modern Hebrew also has an analytic conditional~past-habitual mood expressed with the auxiliary haya.
In listings such as dictionaries, Hebrew verbs are sorted by their third-person masculine singular past tense form. This differs from English verbs, which are identified by their infinitives. Further, each of the seven binyanim is identified by the third-person masculine singular past tense form of the root פ-ע-ל cast into that binyan:,,,,,, and.

Binyan ''paʕal''

Binyan paʕal, also called binyan קַל or qal , is the most common binyan. Paʕal verbs are in the active voice, and can be either transitive or intransitive. This means that they may or may not take direct objects. Paʕal verbs are never formed from four-letter roots.
Binyan paʕal is the only binyan in which a given root can have both an active and a passive participle. For example, רָצוּי is the passive participle of רָצָה .
Binyan paʕal has the most diverse number of gzarot, and the small number of Hebrew verbs that are strictly irregular are generally considered to be part of the pa'al binyan, as they have some conjugation features similar to paʕal.

Binyan ''nifal''

Verbs in binyan nifal are always intransitive, but beyond that there is little restriction on their range of meanings.
The nifal is the passive-voice counterpart of paal. In principle, any transitive paal verb can be rendered passive by taking its root and casting it into nifal. Nonetheless, this is not nifʕal's main use, as the passive voice is fairly rare in ordinary Modern Hebrew.
More commonly, it is paal's middle- or reflexive-voice counterpart. Ergative verbs in English often translate into Hebrew as a paal–nifal pair. For example, English he broke the plate corresponds to Hebrew הוּא שָׁבַר אֶת הַצַּלַּחַת, using paa'al; but English the plate broke corresponds to Hebrew הַצַּלַּחַת נִשְׁבְּרָה, using nifal. The difference is that in the first case, there is an agent doing the breaking, while in the second case, the agent is ignored. Other examples of this kind include פָּתַח /נִפְתַּח and גָּמַר /נִגְמַר .
Other relationships between a paa'al verb and its nifa'al counterpart can exist as well. One example is זָכַר and נִזְכַּר : both mean to remember, but the latter implies that one had previously forgotten, rather like English to suddenly remember. Another is פָּגַשׁ and נִפְגַּשׁ : both mean to meet, but the latter implies an intentional meeting, while the former often means an accidental meeting.
Finally, sometimes a nifal verb has no pa'al counterpart, or at least is much more common than its paʕal counterpart; נִדְבַּק is a fairly common verb, but דָּבַק is all but non-existent by comparison.
Like pa'al verbs, nifal verbs are never formed from four-letter roots.
Nifal verbs, unlike verbs in the other passive binyanim, do have gerunds, infinitives and imperatives.

Binyan ''pi'el''

Binyan pi'el, like binyan pa'al, consists of transitive and intransitive verbs in the active voice, though there is perhaps a greater tendency for piʕel verbs to be transitive.
Most roots with a pa'al verb do not have a piʕel verb, and vice versa, but even so, there are many roots that do have both. Sometimes the pi'el verb is a more intense version of the paʕal verb; for example, קִפֵּץ is a more intense version of קָפַץ , and שִׁבֵּר is a more intense version of שָׁבַר . In other cases, a piʕel verb acts as a causative counterpart to the pa'al verb with the same root; for example, לִמֵּד is essentially the causative of לָמַד . And in yet other cases, the nature of the relationship is less obvious; for example, סִפֵּר means to tell / to narrate or to cut hair, while סָפַר means to count, and פִּתֵּחַ means to develop, while פָּתַח means to open.

Binyan ''puʕal''

Binyan puʕal is the passive-voice counterpart of binyan piʕel. Unlike binyan nifʕal, it is used only for the passive voice. It is therefore not very commonly used in ordinary speech, except that the present participles of a number of puʕal verbs are used as ordinary adjectives: מְבֻלְבָּל means mixed-up, מְעֻנְיָן means interested, מְפֻרְסָם means famous, and so on. Indeed, the same is true of many piʕel verbs, including the piʕel counterparts of two of the above examples: מְבַלְבֵּל, confusing, and מְעַנְיֵן, interesting. The difference is that piʕel verbs are also frequently used as verbs, whereas puʕal is much less common.
Puʕal verbs do not have gerunds, imperatives, or infinitives.

Binyan ''hifʕil''

Binyan hifʕil is another active binyan. Hifʕil verbs are often causative counterparts of verbs in other binyanim; examples include הִכְתִּיב , הִדְלִיק , transitive; the causative of נִדְלַק, , and הִרְשִׁים . Nonetheless, not all are causatives of other verbs; for example, הִבְטִיחַ .

Binyan ''huf'al''

Binyan huf'al is much like binyan pu'al, except that it corresponds to hif'il instead of to pi'el. Like pu'al, it is not commonly used in ordinary speech, except in present participles that have become adjectives, such as מֻכָּר and מֻגְזָם . Like puʕal verbs, hufʕal verbs do not have gerunds, imperatives, or infinitives.

Binyan ''hitpa'el''

Binyan hitpa'el is rather like binyan nif'al, in that all hitpa'el verbs are intransitive, and most have a reflexive sense. Indeed, many hitpa'el verbs are reflexive counterparts to other verbs with the same root; for example, הִתְרַחֵץ is the reflexive of רָחַץ , and הִתְגַּלֵּחַ is the reflexive of גִּלֵּחַ . Some hitpaʕel verbs are a combination of causative and reflexive; for example,הִסְתַּפֵּר is the causative reflexive of סִפֵּר , and הִצְטַלֵּם is the causative reflexive of צִלֵּם .
Hitpa'el verbs can also be reciprocal; for example, הִתְכַּתֵּב is the reciprocal of כָּתַב .
In all of the above uses, the hitpa'el verb contrasts with a pu'al or huf'al verb in two ways: firstly, the subject of the hitpa'el verb is generally either performing the action, or at least complicit in it, whereas the subject of the pu'al or huf'al verb is generally not; and secondly, pu'al and huf'al verbs often convey a sense of completeness, which hitpa'el verbs generally do not. So whereas the sentence אֲנִי מְצֻלָּם means something like there exists a photo of me, implying that the photo already exists, and not specifying whether the speaker caused the photo to be taken, the sentence אֲנִי מִצְטַלֵּם means something like I'm having my picture taken, implying that the picture does not exist yet, and that the speaker is causing the picture to be taken.
In other cases, hitpa'el verbs are ordinary intransitive verbs; for example, התנהג , structurally is the reciprocal of נהג , as in נְהַג בְּחָכְמָה . However, it is used sparsely, only in sayings as such, and the more common meaning of nahaɡ is to drive; for that meaning, הִתְנַהֵג is not a reciprocal form, but a separate verb in effect. For example: in talking about a car that drives itself, one would say מְכוֹנִית שֶׁנּוֹהֶגֶת אֶת עַצְמָהּ , not מְכוֹנִית שֶׁמִּתְנַהֶגֶת .

Nouns

The Hebrew noun is inflected for number and state, but not for case and therefore Hebrew nominal structure is normally not considered to be strictly declensional. Nouns are generally related to verbs, but their formation is not as systematic, often due to loanwords from foreign languages. Hebrew nouns are also inflected for definiteness by application of the prefix ַה before the given noun. Semantically, the prefix "ha" corresponds roughly to the English word "the".

Gender: masculine and feminine

Every noun in Hebrew has a gender, either masculine or feminine ; for example, סֵפֶר is masculine, while דֶּלֶת is feminine. There is no strict system of formal gender, but there is a tendency for nouns ending in ת or ה to be feminine and for nouns ending in other letters to be masculine. There is a very strong tendency toward natural gender for nouns referring to people and some animals. Such nouns generally come in pairs, one masculine and one feminine; for example, אִישׁ means man and אִשָּׁה means woman.

Number: singular, plural, and dual

Hebrew nouns are inflected for grammatical number; as in English, count nouns have a singular form for referring to one object and a plural form for referring to more than one. Unlike in English, some count nouns also have separate dual forms, for referring to two objects; see below.
Masculine nouns generally form their plural by adding the suffix ים :
The addition of the extra syllable usually causes the vowel in the first syllable to shorten if it is Kamatz:
Many common two-syllable masculine nouns accented on the penultimate syllable of them have the vowel in the last syllable), undergo more drastic characteristic vowel changes in the plural:
Feminine nouns ending in or generally drop this ending and add, usually without any vowel changes:
Nouns ending in also replace this ending with, with an in the preceding syllable usually changing to :
Nouns ending in and replace these endings with and, respectively:
A large number of masculine nouns take the usually feminine ending in the plural:
A small number of feminine nouns take the usually masculine ending :
Many plurals are completely irregular:
Some forms, like אָחוֹת ← אֲחָיוֹת or חָמוֹת ← חֲמָיוֹת reflect the historical broken plurals of Proto-Semitic, which have been preserved in other Semitic languages.

Dual

Hebrew also has a dual number, expressed in the ending, but even in ancient times its use was very restricted. In modern times, it is usually used in expressions of time and number, or items that are inherently dual. These nouns have plurals as well, which are used for numbers higher than two, for example:
SingularDoubleTriple
פַּעַם אַחַת פַּעֲמַיִם שָׁלוֹשׁ פְּעָמִים
שָׁבוּעַ אֶחָד שְׁבוּעַיִם שְׁלוֹשָׁה שָׁבוּעוֹת
מֵאָה מָאתַיִם שְׁלוֹשׁ מֵאוֹת

The dual is also used for some body parts, for instance:
In this case, even if there are more than two, the dual is still used, for instance .
The dual is also used for certain objects that are "inherently" dual. These words have no singular, for instance משקפים and מספרים . As in the English "two pairs of pants", the plural of these words uses the word זוּג , e.g. . Similarly, the dual can be found in some place names, such as the city גִּבְעָתַיִם Givatayim|.

Noun construct

In Hebrew, as in English, a noun can modify another noun. This is achieved by placing the modifier immediately after what it modifies, in a construction called סְמִיכוּת. The noun being modified appears in its construct form, or status constructus. For most nouns, the construct form is derived fairly easily from the normal form:
There are many words that have changes in vocalization in the construct form. For example, the construct form of is.
In addition, the definite article is never placed on the first noun.
However, this rule is not always adhered to in informal or colloquial speech; one finds, for example, הָעוֹרֵךְ דִּין .

Possession

Possession is generally indicated using the preposition של, of or belonging to:
In literary style, nouns are inflected to show possession through noun declension; a personal suffix is added to the construct form of the noun. So, סִפְרֵי can be inflected to form סְפָרַי ,סְפָרֶיךָ , סְפָרֵינוּ , and so forth, while דִּירַת gives דִּירָתִי , דִּירַתְךָ ,דִּירָתֵנוּ , etc.
While the use of these forms is mostly restricted to formal and literary speech, they are in regular use in some colloquial phrases, such as ?מָה שְׁלוֹמְךָ or לְדַעֲתִי .
In addition, the inflected possessive is commonly used for terms of kinship; for instance, בְּנִי , בִּתָּם , and אִשְׁתּוֹ are preferred to הַבֵּן שֶׁלִּי, הַבַּת שֶׁלָּהֶם, and הָאִשָּׁה שֶׁלּוֹ. However, usage differs for different registers and sociolects: In general, the colloquial will use more analytic constructs in place of noun declensions.

Noun derivation

In the same way that Hebrew verbs are conjugated by applying various prefixes, suffixes and internal vowel combinations, Hebrew nouns can be formed by applying various "meters" and suffixes to the same roots. Gerunds are one example.
Many abstract nouns are derived from another noun, or from a verb using the suffix :
The קַטְלָן ' meter applied to a root, and the suffix applied to a noun, indicate an agent or job:
  • שֶׁקֶר → שַׁקְרָן
  • פַּחַד → פַּחְדָן
  • חָלָב → חַלְבָן
  • סֵדֶר → סַדְרָן
The suffix usually denotes a diminutive:
  • מִטְבָּח → מִטְבָּחוֹן
  • סֵפֶר → סִפְרוֹן
  • מַחְשֵׁב → מַחְשְׁבוֹן
Though occasionally this same suffix can denote an augmentative:
  • חֲנָיָה → חַנְיוֹן
  • קֶרַח → קַרְחוֹן
Repeating the last two letters of a noun or adjective can also denote a diminutive:
  • כֶּלֶב → כְּלַבְלַב
  • קָצָר → קְצַרְצַר
The קָטֶּלֶת' meter commonly used to name diseases:
However, it can have various different meanings as well:
New nouns are also often formed by the combination of two existing stems:
רַמְזוֹר uses more strictly recent compound conventions, as the א aleph is dropped entirely from spelling and pronunciation of the compound.
Some nouns use a combination of methods of derivation:
In Hebrew, an adjective comes after the noun and agrees in gender, number, and definiteness with the noun which it modifies:
Adjectives ending in -i have slightly different forms:
Masculine nouns that take the feminine plural ending still take masculine plural adjectives, e.g. מְקוֹמוֹת יָפִים . The reverse goes for feminine plural nouns ending in, e.g. מִלִּים אֲרֻכּוֹת .
Many adjectives, like segolate nouns, change their vowel structure in the feminine and plural.

Use of the definite article with adjectives

In Hebrew, unlike in English, each attributive adjective follows the noun and takes the definite article if it modifies a definite noun :
The case of a proper noun highlights the fact that all Hebrew adjectives can be interpreted as appositive nouns. For example, contrast the following:
Many adjectives in Hebrew are derived from the present tense of verbs. These adjectives are inflected the same way as the verbs they are derived from:
The Hebrew term for adverb is תֹּאַר הַפֹּעַל.
Hebrew forms adverbs in several different ways.
Some adjectives have corresponding one-word adverbs. In many cases, the adverb is simply the adjective's masculine singular form:
In other cases, the adverb has a distinct form:
In some cases, an adverb is derived from an adjective using its singular feminine form or its plural feminine form:
Most adjectives, however, do not have corresponding one-word adverbs; rather, they have corresponding adverb phrases, formed using one of the following approaches:
The use of one of these methods does not necessarily preclude the use of the others; for example, slowly may be either לְאַט , בְּאִטִּיּוּת or בְּאֹפֶן אִטִּי , as mentioned above.
Finally, as in English, there are various adverbs that do not have corresponding adjectives at all:
Like English, Hebrew is primarily a prepositional language, with a large number of prepositions. Several of Hebrew's most common prepositions, however, unlike any in English, are prefixes rather than separate words; for example, English in the room is Hebrew בַּחֶדֶר.

Direct objects

The preposition אֶת plays an important role in Hebrew grammar. Its most common use is to introduce a direct object; for example, English I see the book is in Hebrew אֲנִי רוֹאֶה אֶת הַסֵּפֶר . However, אֶת /ʔet/ is used only with semantically definite direct objects, such as nouns with the, proper nouns, and personal pronouns; with semantically indefinite direct objects, it is simply omitted: אֲנִי רוֹאֶה סֵפֶר ʔani roʔe sefer does not use את /ʔet/. This has no direct translation into English, and is best described as an object particle — that is, it denotes that the word it precedes is the direct object of the verb.
Finally, אֶת /ʔet/ has a number of special uses; for example, when the adjective צָרִיךְ takes a definite noun complement, it uses the preposition אֶת /ʔet/: הָיִיתִי צָרִיךְ אֶת זֶה . Here as elsewhere, the אֶת is dropped with an indefinite complement: הָיוּ צְרִיכִים יוֹתֵר . This is perhaps related to the verb-like fashion in which the adjective is used.
In Biblical Hebrew, there is possibly another use of /ʔet/. Waltke and O'Connor make the point: "......sign of the accusative... More recent grammarians regard it as a marker of emphasis used most often with definite nouns in the accusative role. The apparent occurrences with the nominative are most problematic... AM Wilson late in the nineteenth century concluded from his exhaustive study of all the occurrences of the debated particle that it had an intensive or reflexive force in some of its occurrences. Many grammarians have followed his lead. On such a view, /ʔet/ is a weakened emphatic particle corresponding to the English pronoun 'self'... It resembles Greek 'autos' and Latin 'ipse' both sometimes used for emphasis, and like them it can be omitted from the text, without obscuring the grammar. This explanation of the particle's meaning harmonizes well with the facts that the particle is used in Mishnaic Hebrew as a demonstrative and is found almost exclusively with determinate nouns."

Pronominal suffix

There is a form called the verbal pronominal suffix, in which a direct object can be rendered as an additional suffix onto the verb. This form allows for a high degree of word economy, as the single fully conjugated verb expresses the verb, its voice, its subject, its object, and its tense.
In modern usage, the verbal pronominal suffixes are rarely used, in favor of expression of direct objects as the inflected form of the separate word ʔet. It is used more commonly in biblical and poetic Hebrew.

Indirect objects

Indirect objects are objects requiring a preposition other than אֶת. The preposition used depends on the verb, and these can be very different from the one used in English. A good dictionary is required to look these up. In the case of definite indirect objects, the preposition will replace את.
The Hebrew grammar distinguishes between various kinds of indirect objects, according to what they specify. Thus, there is a division between objects for time תֵּאוּר זְמַן, objects for place תֵּאוּר מָקוֹם, objects for reason תֵּאוּר סִבָּה and many others.
In Hebrew, there are no distinct prepositional pronouns; if the object of a preposition is a pronoun, but the preposition contracts with the object, and the inflected preposition thus formed can be considered the indirect object of the sentence.
As mentioned above, the direct object is often rendered with the word את /ʔet/. /ʔet/ is excluded only when the direct object is a non-definite noun.