Interrogative sentences and their structure

Understanding Interrogative Sentences in Biblical Hebrew

Basic Definition

Interrogative sentences are used to ask questions in Biblical Hebrew.
Unlike English, the word order in Hebrew interrogative questions often remains the same as in statements, and the intonation changes instead.
The key markers for interrogative sentences include specific interrogative particles and the use of certain pronouns or adverbs.

Interrogative Particles

The primary interrogative particle in Biblical Hebrew is הֲ (ha) which precedes the verb in a sentence.
It is the equivalent of the English ‘do’ or ‘does’.
It can be also expressed as הִ or הַ, depending on the first vowel of the verb it precedes.
Another interrogative particle, אִם (im), is used less frequently than הֲ. It has a similar use to ‘if’ or ‘whether’ in English.

Pronouns and Adverbs

Interrogative sentences can also be formed by using interrogative pronouns and adverbs like מִי (mi, ‘who’), מָה (mah, ‘what’), אֵי (ey, ‘where’), מָתַי (matay, ‘when’) at the start of the sentence.
These words are used with a verb- subject order, unlike declarative sentences which typically follow the subject-verb order.

Particle-less Questions

In many cases, questions in Biblical Hebrew are implied without the use of explicit interrogative particles or pronouns.
The context of a sentence and intonation are relied upon to interpret these as questions.

Emphatic Questions

For emphasis, the interrogative particle הֲלוֹא (halo) is used. This corresponds to the English ‘is it not’ or ‘does it not’.
This particle is often used in rhetorical questions where the speaker assumes an affirmative answer.

Remember to be mindful of context and intonation when interpreting interrogative sentences. Biblical Hebrew does not follow the rigid syntactical changes we see in English to denote a question. This can make interpretation of grammatical structure challenging for new learners. Always look out for the interrogative particles, adverbs, and pronouns as markers of questions.