Hebrew (Modern)

Afro-Asiatic family · Semitic branch · Eurasia

Hebrew (Modern) is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

On Position of Case Affixes, WALS codes Hebrew (Modern) as “Prepositional clitics”, a value held by 17 of the 1,031 languages coded, Coptic and French among them.

On Indefinite Pronouns, 12 of 13 other Afro-Asiatic languages coded have the value “Generic-noun-based indefinites”; Hebrew (Modern) has “Interrogative-based indefinites”.

On Expression of Pronominal Subjects, WALS codes Hebrew (Modern) as “More than one of the above types with none dominant”, a value held by 32 of the 711 languages coded, Finnish and Yaqui among them.

The order Hebrew (Modern) uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Hebrew (Modern) with Arabic (Egyptian) or with any other language

Uncommon values

Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Hebrew (Modern), rarest first.

Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood InflectionTAM+agreement+diathesis4 of 160
Fusion of Selected Inflectional FormativesAblaut/concatenative5 of 165
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsGender distinctions in 3rd person plus 1st and/or 2nd person18 of 378
Action Nominal ConstructionsMixed: Several patterns in the same language14 of 168
Reciprocal ConstructionsMixed16 of 175

Inside the Afro-Asiatic family

Hebrew (Modern) matches the most frequent Afro-Asiatic value on 81 of the 126 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (64%). Among the 24 Afro-Asiatic languages profiled here, that rate ranks 14th from the top.

Where Hebrew (Modern) breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Hebrew (Modern)	Most relatives
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion according to tense	No suppletion in tense or aspect (4 of 4, Semitic branch)
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)	Imperative (4 of 4, Semitic branch)
Fixed Stress Locations	Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) (11 of 13, Semitic branch)

Closest profiles

Languages that share the most coded values with Hebrew (Modern); the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.

Arabic (Egyptian) Afro-Asiatic83 of 114
Breton Indo-European31 of 41
Latvian Indo-European65 of 99
Irish Indo-European56 of 91
Coptic Afro-Asiatic26 of 40

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Hebrew (Modern) for 126 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 114 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Hebrew (Modern) shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Rhythm Types	Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong	153 of 323
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	No weight, or weight factor unknown	261 of 500
Weight-Sensitive Stress	Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity)	281 of 500
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels absent	180 of 244

Word structure 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Moderate preference for suffixing	123 of 969
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is dependent-marked	63 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is syncretic	60 of 198
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	4-5 categories per word	52 of 145
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is dependent-marked	98 of 236
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	No case	75 of 162
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Inconsistent marking or other type	121 of 236
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
Reduplication	Productive full and partial reduplication	278 of 368
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 25

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Definite Articles	Definite affix on noun	92 of 620
The Associative Plural	Associative plural absent	37 of 236
Number of Genders	Two	50 of 257
Indefinite Articles	Numeral for 'one' is used as indefinite article	112 of 534
Person Marking on Adpositions	Person marking for pronouns only	83 of 378
Systems of Gender Assignment	Semantic and formal assignment	59 of 257
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related for all demonstratives	52 of 225
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Identity	76 of 322
Distributive Numerals	No distributive numerals	62 of 251
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers	Formally similar, not involving interrogative expression	33 of 116
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	No morphological case-marking	81 of 261
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	Sex-based gender system	84 of 257
Ordinal Numerals	First, two-th, three-th	110 of 321
Number of Cases	No morphological case-marking	100 of 261
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive suffixes	355 of 902
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always obligatory	133 of 291
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Two-way contrast	126 of 234
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical	94 of 168
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction	136 of 207
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Same forms	143 of 201

Noun phrases 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses	Highly differentiated	77 of 138
Noun Phrase Conjunction	AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical	131 of 234
Adjectives without Nouns	Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking	73 of 124
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Combination of tense-aspect strategies with none primary	146 of 1,131
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	Overlap for both possibility and necessity	36 of 207
Epistemic Possibility	Verbal constructions	65 of 240
The Prohibitive	Special imperative + special negative	146 of 496
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one	133 of 375
The Past Tense	Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction	94 of 222
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
The Future Tense	Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	110 of 222
The Perfect	No perfect	114 of 222
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular and second plural	292 of 548
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	121 of 222
Situational Possibility	Verbal constructions	158 of 234
Verbal Number and Suppletion	No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples	159 of 193
The Optative	Inflectional optative absent	271 of 319

Word order 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Both orders occur with neither order dominant	62 of 481
Position of Polar Question Particles	Question particle at beginning of sentence	129 of 884
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial	264 of 902
Order of Genitive and Noun	Noun-genitive (NGen)	468 of 1,249
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral precedes noun (NumN)	479 of 1,154
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase	Prepositions	511 of 1,184
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem)	562 of 1,225
Order of Object and Verb	Object follows verb (VO)	705 of 1,518
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Initial subordinator word	398 of 659
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)	879 of 1,367
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause follows noun (NRel)	579 of 824
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 24

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	Zero realization of all third person singular S forms	45 of 380
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin	40 of 297
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of only the A argument	73 of 378
Predicative Possession	Locational Possessive	48 of 240
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Nominative - accusative (standard)	46 of 190
Nominal and Locational Predication	Identical	117 of 386
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding	132 of 386
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Nominative - accusative (standard)	61 of 172
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	502 of 1,157
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy	130 of 297
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is possible	175 of 386
Comparative Constructions	Locational Comparative	78 of 167
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb	187 of 379
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Indirect-object construction	189 of 378
Applicative Constructions	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Periphrastic Causative Constructions	Purposive type but no sequential type	68 of 118
Polar Questions	Question particle	585 of 955
Antipassive Constructions	No antipassive	146 of 194
Productivity of the Antipassive Construction	no antipassive	146 of 186
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions	Morphological type but no compound type	254 of 310
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation	Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation	170 of 206

Complex sentences 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Purpose Clauses	Balanced/deranked	30 of 170
Relativization on Obliques	Pronoun-Retention Strategy	20 of 112
'When' Clauses	Balanced	84 of 174
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is left implicit	144 of 283
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Tea	Words derived from Min Nan Chinese te	84 of 230
Hand and Arm	Different	389 of 617
Numeral Bases	Decimal	125 of 196
M in Second Person Singular	No m in second person singular	152 of 230
M in First Person Singular	No m in first person singular	177 of 230
N-M Pronouns	No N-M pronouns	194 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593

Other 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks	Clicks may express logical meanings ('yes' and/or 'no')	47 of 143