# BBH Chapter 8 — Hebrew Pronouns

## Files

### Exercises

Exercise | Description
--- | ---
exercises/ch8-pronoun-identification/ | 25-item identification drill — classify, parse, and translate Hebrew pronouns (Personal / Demonstrative / Relative / Interrogative)

### Flashcards

File | Format | Description
--- | --- | ---
ch8-vocab-deck.md | Markdown | Vocabulary deck — personal/demonstrative/interrogative pronouns, relative pronouns, and כִּי with OT frequency
ch8-vocab-deck.txt | Anki import | Vocabulary deck — tab-separated, ready for Anki File → Import (20 cards)
ch8-vocab-deck-fd.txt | Flashcards Deluxe | Vocabulary deck — tab-separated, ready for Flashcards Deluxe import (20 cards)

### Notebooks

Notebook | What it shows
--- | ---
OT Noun Morphology | Pronoun frequency by type (personal/demonstrative/interrogative) in the Hebrew OT corpus

Basics of Biblical Hebrew, Pratico & Van Pelt

## 1. Introduction

Hebrew pronouns include independent personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative pronouns, and interrogative pronouns. This chapter focuses on these four classes.

The independent personal pronouns are less common than pronominal suffixes (Ch9), because verb forms already carry person/number/gender information built into their conjugation. A verb like כָּתַבְתִּי already means "I wrote" — the independent pronoun אֲנִי would be added only for emphasis or in a verbless (copulative) clause.

## 2. Independent Personal Pronouns

The full paradigm of independent personal pronouns. Every pronoun must be memorized with its person, gender, and number.

Person | Gender | Number | Hebrew | Transliteration | Meaning
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
1 | c | sg | אֲנִי / אָנֹכִי | ʾanî / ʾānōkî | I
2 | m | sg | אַתָּה | ʾattāh | you (ms)
2 | f | sg | אַתְּ | ʾatt | you (fs)
3 | m | sg | הוּא | hûʾ | he, it
3 | f | sg | הִיא | hîʾ | she, it
1 | c | pl | אֲנַחְנוּ | ʾănaḥnû | we
2 | m | pl | אַתֶּם | ʾattem | you (mp)
2 | f | pl | אַתֶּן | ʾatten | you (fp)
3 | m | pl | הֵם / הֵמָּה | hēm / hēmmāh | they (m)
3 | f | pl | הֵן / הֵנָּה | hēn / hēnnāh | they (f)

Notes on form:

- אֲנִי and אָנֹכִי are synonymous. אָנֹכִי is the older, more archaic/literary form; it appears frequently in poetry and the Decalogue (Exo 20:2) but is less common in prose. Both are 1cs.
- הוּא is sometimes written הִוא in the Pentateuch as a Ketiv/Qere variant. The written text (Ketiv) preserves the archaic spelling הִוא; the reading tradition (Qere) normalizes it to הִיא for the 3fs. This is one of the most common Ketiv/Qere pairs in the Torah.

## 3. Uses of Independent Personal Pronouns

Because the verb already encodes person/number/gender, an independent pronoun adds one of the following functions:

Use | Description | Example
--- | --- | ---
Subject Emphasis | Emphasizes the subject against an implied contrast | אֲנִי יְהוָה — "I (myself) am the LORD" (Exo 6:2)
Predicate Nominative | Links subject to predicate in a verbless clause | הוּא הָאִישׁ — "He is the man"
Copula Substitute | Hebrew lacks a conjugated "to be" in the present; the pronoun stands in its place | אַתֶּם עֵדַי — "You are my witnesses" (Isa 43:10)
Casus Pendens | A "hanging nominative" — the pronoun introduces a topic, then a resumptive clause follows | הוּא הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה — "As for him — that man…"

> Key principle: An independent personal pronoun where a verb already stands always signals emphasis. When the pronoun alone forms the sentence with a noun or adjective (verbless clause), it serves as the copula.

## 4. Demonstrative Pronouns/Adjectives

Demonstrative pronouns point to persons or objects. In Biblical Hebrew, the demonstratives agree with their antecedent in gender and number, and when used attributively they also agree in definiteness.

### 4.1 Forms

Near demonstratives ("this / these"):

Gender | Number | Hebrew | Transliteration | Meaning
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
m | sg | זֶה | zeh | this (ms)
f | sg | זֹאת | zōʾt | this (fs)
c | pl | אֵלֶּה | ʾēlleh | these (cp)

Far demonstratives ("that / those"):

The far demonstratives share forms with the 3rd-person personal pronouns. In context, the article distinguishes them from simple pronouns:

Gender | Number | Without Article | With Article | Transliteration | Meaning
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
m | sg | הוּא | הַהוּא | hahûʾ | that (ms)
f | sg | הִיא | הַהִיא | hahîʾ | that (fs)
m | pl | הֵם / הֵמָּה | הָהֵם / הָהֵמָּה | hahēm | those (mp)
f | pl | הֵן / הֵנָּה | הָהֵן / הָהֵנָּה | hahēn | those (fp)

### 4.2 Attributive Use

The demonstrative follows the noun and agrees in gender, number, and definiteness. Both noun and demonstrative carry the article:

> הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה — "this man" (ms + ms, both definite)
> הָאִשָּׁה הַזֹּאת — "this woman" (fs + fs, both definite)
> הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה — "these words" (mp + cp, both definite)

### 4.3 Predicate / Substantival Use

When the demonstrative stands without the article before or after a definite noun, it functions as a predicate ("this is…") or independently as a substantive:

> זֶה הָאִישׁ — "This is the man"
> זֹאת הָאָרֶץ — "This is the land"

## 5. The Relative Pronoun אֲשֶׁר

אֲשֶׁר is indeclinable — it never changes form regardless of the gender, number, or case of its antecedent. It introduces relative clauses and can serve as subject, object, possessive, or object of a preposition within its clause.

Relative Function | Example | Translation
--- | --- | ---
Subject | הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר בָּא | "the man who came"
Object | הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתִי | "the man whom I saw"
Possessive (resumptive pronoun) | הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר גָּנַבְתִּי אֶת־סוּסוֹ | "the man whose horse I stole"
Prepositional object | הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר בָּאתָ שָׁמָּה | "the land to which you came"

> Resumptive pronoun: When אֲשֶׁר functions as a possessive or as the object of a preposition, a pronoun within the relative clause "resumes" the antecedent. In הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר גָּנַבְתִּי אֶת־סוּסוֹ, the suffix ־וֹ on סוּסוֹ ("his horse") refers back to הָאִישׁ.

Short form שֶׁ: The prefixed relative particle שֶׁ- (vocalized with various vowels) is an alternative to אֲשֶׁר. It is rare in classical prose but frequent in Psalms, Song of Songs, Qoheleth, and post-exilic texts. It functions identically to אֲשֶׁר.

> שֶׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי — "whom my soul loves" (Song 1:7)

## 6. Interrogative Pronouns

### 6.1 מִי — "Who?" (persons)

מִי is invariable (no gender/number inflection). It always refers to persons.

> מִי אַתָּה — "Who are you?"
> מִי הָאִישׁ — "Who is the man?"

### 6.2 מָה / מֶה / מַה — "What?" (things)

The interrogative מַה refers to things. Its vowel changes depending on the following consonant:

Following consonant | Form | Example
--- | --- | ---
Dagesh Forte possible (non-guttural) | מַה + Dagesh Forte | מַה־זֶּה — "what is this?"
Guttural (א ה ח ע) or ר | מֶה or מָה | מֶה־עָשִׂיתָ — "what have you done?"
Pause (end of clause) | מָה | מָה — "what?"

Both מִי and מָה can also function as exclamations:

> מַה־טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ — "How good are your tents…" (Num 24:5)
> מָה־גָּדוֹל שִׁמְךָ — "How great is your name!"

## 7. Key Terms

Term | Definition
--- | ---
Independent personal pronoun | A free-standing pronoun (not a suffix) that stands alone as subject or predicate
Demonstrative pronoun | A pronoun pointing to a specific noun — near (this/these) or far (that/those)
Relative pronoun | An indeclinable particle (אֲשֶׁר / שֶׁ) introducing a relative clause
Interrogative pronoun | A question word — מִי (who) or מַה (what)
Copula | A linking word ("is/are") — Hebrew uses the pronoun in verbless clauses
Casus pendens | "Hanging nominative" — a fronted noun/pronoun reintroduced by a resumptive element
Ketiv/Qere | Textual tradition where the written text (Ketiv) differs from the reading tradition (Qere)
Resumptive pronoun | A pronoun inside a relative clause that refers back to the head noun

## 8. Example Passages

### Independent Personal Pronoun — Subject Emphasis

Exo 6:2 — אֲנִי יְהוָה
"I am the LORD."
→ אֲנִי: 1cs independent personal pronoun. The verbless clause uses the pronoun as copula; the emphasis "I myself" is the defining divine self-introduction formula throughout Leviticus and Ezekiel.

Gen 22:12 — עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי יְרֵא אֱלֹהִים אַתָּה
"Now I know that you fear God."
→ אַתָּה: 2ms independent personal pronoun, predicate of the verbless relative clause. Emphatic focus on the identity of the subject.

### Predicate Nominative / Copula

Gen 42:11 — כֻּלָּנוּ בְּנֵי אִישׁ אֶחָד אֲנָחְנוּ
"We are all sons of one man — we."
→ אֲנַחְנוּ: 1cp pronoun; functions as the copula in the verbless clause.

1 Sam 17:43 — הֲכֶלֶב אָנֹכִי
"Am I a dog?"
→ אָנֹכִי: archaic/emphatic 1cs form; copula in a rhetorical question.

### Demonstrative — Attributive

Gen 2:11 — שֵׁם הָאֶחָד פִּישׁוֹן הוּא הַסֹּבֵב אֵת כָּל אֶרֶץ הַחֲוִילָה
"The name of the first is Pishon — it is the one that winds through the whole land of Havilah."
→ הוּא: here functions as a relative/copulative pronoun, not strictly demonstrative, showing the overlap.

Deut 1:25 — טוֹבָה הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ נֹתֵן לָנוּ
"The land that the LORD our God is giving us is good."
→ Demonstrates attributive relative clause with אֲשֶׁר; compare to attributive demonstrative: הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת ("this land").

### Relative Pronoun — אֲשֶׁר

Gen 2:8 — וַיָּשֶׂם שָׁם אֶת הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר יָצָר
"And he placed there the man whom he had formed."
→ אֲשֶׁר: introduces a relative clause where the antecedent הָאָדָם is the object of יָצָר.

Gen 24:7 — אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לִי
"who swore to me"
→ אֲשֶׁר: subject relative; the LORD is the antecedent.

### Interrogative Pronoun

Gen 3:9 — אַיֶּכָּה
"Where are you?" (not a pronoun but a locative — compare:)

Gen 3:13 — מַה זֹּאת עָשִׂית
"What is this you have done?"
→ מַה: interrogative "what?" before a demonstrative זֹּאת.

Exo 3:13 — מִי שְׁמוֹ
"What is his name?" / "Who is his name?"
→ מִי: strictly "who" but used here for identity: "Who [by name] is he?"

## 9. Practice

Resource | Description
--- | ---
Pronoun Identification Drill | 25-item drill — classify pronoun type, parse PGN (where applicable), and translate.