Prefixes in Hebrew explained

There are several prefixes in the Hebrew language which are appended to regular words to introduce a new meaning. In Hebrew, the letters that form those prefixes are called "formative letters" (Hebrew: Hebrew: rtl=yes|אוֹתִיּוֹת הַשִּׁמּוּשׁ, Otiyot HaShimush). Eleven of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet are considered Otiyot HaShimush. These letters are Aleph (Hebrew: א), Bet (Hebrew: ב), He (Hebrew: ה), Vav (Hebrew: ו), Yud (Hebrew: י), Kaf (Hebrew: כ), Lamed (Hebrew: ל), Mem (Hebrew: מ), Nun (Hebrew: נ), Shin (Hebrew: ש), and Tav (Hebrew: ת). A mnemonic to remember these letters is Hebrew: rtl=yes|איתן משה וכלב (Eitan, Moshe, v'Kalev), which translates to "Ethan, Moses, and Caleb."

Otiyot HaShimush

Prefixes in Hebrew serve multiple purposes. A prefix can serve as a conjunction, preposition, definite article, or interrogative. Prefixes are also used when conjugating verbs in the future tense and for various other purposes.

Inseparable prepositions

Prefix	Meaning	Comments	Examples
(Lamed)	to, for	The Inseparable Prepositions are pointed: Normally with Sheva. Before a Sheva they take Chirik. Before they take Chirik, but the Sheva under the falls away. Before a T'nua Chatufa they assume the corresponding short vowel. Before they take Tzere and the T'nua Chatufa under the disappears.	l'melekh (to a king) lim'lokhim (to kings) lihudah (to Judah) la'ari (to the lion) lelohim (to God)
(Bet)	in, with, by		b'melekh (in a king) bim'lokhim (in kings) bihudah (in Judah) ba'ari (in a lion) belohim (in God)
(Kaf)	as, like		k'melekh (as a king) kim'lokhim (as kings) kihudah (Like Judah) ka'ari (Like a lion) kelohim (Like Gods)

Definite article

Prefix	Meaning	Comments	Examples
(He)	the	Before ordinary letters (i.e. excluding gutturals and) it is followed by a Dagesh Chazak.	hamelekh (the king)
		Before the weaker gutturals and, as well as, it is .	ha'or (the light) ha'ayin (the eye) harosh (the head)
		Before the harsh gutturals and it is .	hahod (the glory) hachoshekh (the darkness)
		Before an unaccented and and always before it is .	heharim (the mountains) he'afar (the dust) hechakham (the wise)
		Before an accented and it is .	hahar (the mountain) ha'az (the strong)
		When used with the Bet, Kaf or Lamed prepositional prefix it is omitted; instead the vowel on the preposition is changed. If He is used with other prefixes, the He is always the last prefix before the root.	uvayom^[3] (and on the day: note that the ve (on) combines with the ha (the) to become va (on the)).

Conjugation of verbs

See main article: Hebrew verb conjugation.

Prefix	Meaning	Comment	Examples
(Alef)	I will	When prefixed to a verb stem, indicates first person, singular, future tense. I will.	'osamak (I will uphold)
(Yud)	He/They will	When prefixed to a verb stem, indicates third person, future tense. (Number and gender depend on suffixes.) He will or They will.	yosamak (he will uphold) yosamaku (they will uphold)
(Nun)	We will	When prefixed to a verb stem, indicates first person, plural, future tense. We will.	nosamak (we will uphold)
(Tav)	She/You/They will	When prefixed to a verb stem, indicates one of the following: third person, singular, feminine, future tense. She will second person, future tense. (Number and gender depend on suffixes.) You will In biblical Hebrew, third person, plural, feminine, future tense. They will	tosamak (she/you will uphold) tosamaku (you (pl.) will uphold) tosamakna sarot^[5] (the women of the nobility will uphold)

Other uses

Prefix	Meaning	Comments	Examples
(Shin)	that, which, who, whom		*sheqara (which* happened) *she'asu ^[6] (who* performed)
(Vav)	changes past tense to future tense and vice versa	Used mostly in Biblical Hebrew as vav-consecutive (compare vav-conjunctive). Pronounced "va" when changing future tense to past tense. Usually pronounced "v'" or "u" when changing past tense to future tense.	vayomer ^[7] (and he said) compare yomar ^[8] (he will say) ve'ahavta ^[9] (you shall love) compare ahavta ^[10] (you loved)

Non Otiyot HaShimush

European languages had a large stock of prefixes for technical terminology mostly taken from Greek and Latin. While Hebrew traditionally did not use this kind of prefixes, professionals in the Yishuv who started to teach and work in Hebrew were used to this terminology, and incorporated most of these prefixes into Hebrew. Meanwhile, people working on revitalising the language coined some Hebrew parallels, so today those foreign and Hebrew prefixes are used interchangeably.

Prefix	Origin	Hebrew	Meaning	Examples
ex-	Latin	-	former	eqspozitzya exposition
un-/non- /	English/ Latin	i^[11] al	negation	i-alimut non-violence nonqonformizm nonconformism al-matechet nonmetal
in-/il-/im-/ir-	Latin	i	not, opposite of	iratzyonali irrational
a-	Greek	-	lacking in, lack of	apoliti apolitical a-mini asexual
prae-	Latin	trom qdam	before	prehistori prehistoric terom-ledati (pre-birth/delivery of a baby) prenatal qedam-soqratit Pre-Socratic
post-	Latin	aḥar batar	after	batar-miqra'i post-old-testamental
pro-	Greek	-	for, on the side of	prognoza prognosis
inter-	Latin	ben	between, among	internatzyonal international benle'umi international internet internet
intra-	Latin	tokh pnim	inside	intranet intranet
para-	Greek	-	beside, beyond	parapleg paraplegic
homo-	Greek	-	same	homoseqsualiyut homosexuality
hetero- (often shortened hetro)	Greek	-	different	heteroseqsualiyut heterosexuality
di-/bi-	Greek/Latin	du	two	du-tachmotzet (means: di-oxide) dioxide du-leshoni (means: bi-lingual) bilingual biseksual (means: bi-sexual) bisexual
geo-	Greek	-	relating to the earth or its surface	geotermi geothermal
retro-	Latin	-	backwards	retroaqtivi retroactive
semi-	Latin	dmui- ḥatsi-	half, similar to-	semitreyler semitrailer
hemi-	Greek	ḥatsi-	half	hemisfera hemisphere ḥatsi-sfera hemisphere haḥlafat ḥatsi mifrak hemi-arthroplasty
electro-	Greek	-	electric, electricity	eleqtroentzfalograf electroencephalograph (EEG)
anti-	Greek	-	opposite	antikrist Antichrist anti-chomer antimatter
infra-	Latin	tat	below, beneath	infra-adom infrared
mono-	Greek	chad	one, sole, only	monolog monologue chad-leshoni monolingual
uni-	Latin	chad	one, whole	chad-ofan (lit. uni-wheel) unicycle
poly-	Greek	rav	many	poligamya polygamy
multi-	Latin	rav	many	multimedya multimedia rav-leshoni multilingual
tele-	Greek	-	at a distance	telesqop telescope
super-	Latin	al	over, above, more than, better	supernova supernova al-tiv'i supernatural
hyper- (soft i)	Greek	-	extra specially, over, high	hiperaqtivi hyperactive
tri- (soft i)	Greek	tlat	three	triatlon triathlon tlat-Ofan (lit. three-wheel) tricycle
re-	Latin	-	again, back	reorganizatzya reorganization re-irgun reorganization revizya revision
sub-	Latin	tat	under, lower than, less than	tat-muda subconscious
extra-	Latin	chutz	outside	chutz-tai extracellular eqstrateritoryali extraterritorial
neo-	Greek	-	new	neologizm neologism
proto-	Greek	av qedam	first, original, father	avtipus prototype
socio- sots'io	French	-	society, social, sociological	sotzyolingvistiqa sociolinguistics
hydro-	Greek	-	relating to water, or using water	hidroeleqtri hydroelectric
hypo-	Greek	-	under or below something, low	hipogliqemya hypoglycemia
iso- / izo/iso	Greek	-	equal	izotop isotope
meta-	Greek	-	after, along with, beyond, among	metabolizm metabolism
mega-	Greek	-	very large, million	megahertz megahertz
micro-	Greek	-	minute size, 1/1,000,000	miqrosqop microscope
trans-	Latin	-	across	transatlanti transatlantic
idio-	Greek	-	individual, personal, unique	idyomati idiomatic
pyro-	Greek	-	fire	pirometer pyrometer piroman pyromaniac
re-		she	again	shechtuv rewrite
auto-	Greek	-	self	otomati automatic

External links

Hebrew Language: Root Words

Notes and References

Genesis 3:16.
Exodus 12:16.
Exodus 12:16.
Jeremiah 31:19.
Esther 1:18.
Ecclesiastes 2:11.
Genesis 1:6.
Genesis 31:8.
Leviticus 19:18.
Genesis 22:2.
1 Samuel, 4:21