8.11 Near and Far Demonstratives

Demonstratives indicate distance: there are “near” and “far” demonstratives

• Hebrew has three words to indicate nearness
  • MS - זֶה - “this”
  • FS - זֹאת - “this”
  • (M/F)P - אֵ֫לֶּה - “these”
• The Hebrew words for farness are the same as the subject pronouns
  • MS - הוּא -“that”
  • FS - הִיא - “that”
  • MP - הֵם ,הֵ֫מָּה - “those”
  • FP - הֵן ,הֵ֫נָּה - “those”

POTENTIAL AMBIGUITY

הוּא הָאִישׁ can mean either “he is the man,” (personal pronoun) or “that is the man” (demonstrative pronoun)