3.2 Hebrew Word Accents

Words are only accented on the last or next-to-last syllable

Figure 3.3: Words are only accented on the last or next-to-last syllable

Biblical Hebrew words either accented on the last syllable or, less frequently, on the next-to-last syllable; never anywhere else47.

  • In the graphic above, דָּבָר is stressed on the last syllable
  • סֵפֶר (pronounced “SAY-pher” and means book, scroll, or document) is stressed on the next to last syllable
    • Whenever the accent is NOT on the final syllable, you may see a mark over the syllable to be stressed48
  • The last two examples would be pronounced yuh-sim-CHA and uh-vad-TA-ni
    • These are verbs with pronominal suffixes that we will stuy in Lesson 19

Sheva/Reduced vowels NEVER take an accent

  1. Modern Hebrew has words (mostly borrowed from other languages) that don’t always follow this rule↩︎

  2. Hebrew also has a very elaborate system of cantillation marks that also serve to indicate where the accent of the word is. are used for chanting and singing. A study of these marks is beyond the scope of this book.↩︎