Differences Between Ancient and Modern Hebrew

  1. Ancient and Modern Hebrew are closer than Shakespearean and contemporary English (and much closer than Homeric and Modern Greek). Someone familiar with Modern Hebrew can make a good deal of sense out of Old Testament Hebrew.

  2. The structure (syntax--word order, etc.) of Modern Hebrew is now more similar to that of Indo-European (i.e., Western) languages than to Ancient Hebrew.

  3. Ancient Hebrew had no true tense system (no past, present, and future tense--only aspects). Modern Hebrew does have a past, present, and future tense--the aspects were changed to tenses.

  4. There is no "waw-consecutive" in Modern Hebrew. This has completely disappeared.

  5. The relative pronoun 'asher is no longer used in Modern Hebrew. The shorter prefix sheh-i s used instead (this form does occur in Scripture).

  6. The possessive suffixes are less frequently used, and have been supplanted by the possessive word shin, lamed + pronominal suffix. Example: instead of saying malkam ("their king"), people more commonly say ha-melek she-la-hem (the king which is to them).

  7. The pronunciation of Modern Hebrew is more Westernized, while originally it sounded more like Arabic does today.
    Prounciation differences:

    1. The 'w' sound in Ancient Hebrew became a 'v' sound in Modern Hebrew--like the German 'w'.
    2. Two different 'a' sounds (long and short) are now one and the same in Modern Hebrew. This is also true for two different 'e' sounds and 'i' sounds.
    3. The 't' and 'th' sounds are both pronounced 't' in Modern Hebrew.

  8. Modern Hebrew is still usually written without vowels. The exception to this is the prayerbook and religious literature which uses the vowel system that the Massorites developed for the Old Testament Scriptures.