Interactive Learning Module

Stress

• This is the second module discussing the Hebrew vowel system. The previous module introduced the ten vowels, the reduced vowels such as the sheva and chatafs, and several other diacritic marks.
• This module will l.
• Stress – We will learn how to determine which syllable of a word is to be accented and how to classify syllables in relationship to a word's stress.
• Vowel preferences – We will see that closed, unstressed syllables tend to take short vowels, while open syllables or closed but stressed syllables prefer long vowels.
• Kamatz katan – The above will help us identify when a kamatz is long or short.
• Makkaf – We will look at how a makkaf, equivalent to a hyphen, joins words into a word pair, eliminating the stress on the first word, and how this affects vocalization.
• Vowel reduction – We will explore the concept of vowel reduction (the tendency of certain vowels to reduce to shorter ones when they find themselves removed from a word's stress).

• In this unit we will discover answers to the following questions:
• Given that both a kamatz katan and a regular kamatz look the same, how is one to differentiate between the two? In general, is there any way to anticipate when a vowel will be short or long?
• The direct object marker "את" is one of the most prevalent words in Tanakh. Sometimes it is vocalized as "אֶת" and sometimes as "אֵת". What accounts for the difference? Similarly, the common word "כל" (all) is sometimes pointed as "כׇּל" and sometimes as "כֹּל"; why?
• When suffixes are added to certain words, the vocalization of their base form changes (שׁוֹפֵט becomes שֹׁפְטִים, with the tzere reducing to a sheva), while other words retain their base form (זְאֵב becomes זְאֵבִים, with no change). Why do the words behave differently?

• Knowing the placement of a word's stress is important not only for proper pronunciation, but also for understanding vocalization patterns.
• מלרע – Most Hebrew words are accented on the final syllable. Their stress is referred to as being "מלרע", Aramaic for "below".
• מלעיל – A minority of words are accented on the second to last (penultimate) syllable.Some examples include: מֶלֶךְ, יֶלֶד, נַעַר, בַּעַל. These are referred to as being "מלעיל", Aramaic for "above".Loanwords in modern Hebrew might be stressed on earlier syllables as well. For example, the word "טלפון" is accented on the first syllable.
• טעמים –To determine the stress of any given word, one can look at the טעמים (the cantillation marks) in the Biblical text.The טעמים are a series of signs created by the Masoretes in the 6th-9th centuries to indicate stress, to mark pauses or conjoin phrases, and to serve as musical notes for chanting the Torah. They are found either below or on top of the syllable which is to be stressed.If the vowel and cantillation mark are both below the letter, the cantillation mark will be placed to the left of the vowel.
• For example, the two dots on top of the "נ" in the word "הַנַּ֔עַר" (Bereshit 18:7) signal that this word is stressed on the second to last syllable.
• Possible confusion – There are certain cantillation signs which always appear on either the first or final consonant of a word, regardless of where the stress is, and, thus, cannot be used to determine stress.The signs זרקא, סגול, פשטא and תלישא קטנה always appear on the final consonant, while the תלישא גדולה and יתיב always appear on the first consonant. On AlHaTorah, such words will have two cantillation marks if the stress is not where the mark naturally appears.
• For example, the word "למַעַן" (Bereshit 18:19) has a mark on both the final consonant (where this cantillation mark, known as a תלישא קטנה, always appears) and on the "מ" to signal that this word has penultimate stress.

• Finding Stress – Open Bereshit 1:1. For each word in the verse, check on which syllable the cantillation sign appears, and mark the word as having ultimate (מלרע) or penultimate (מלעיל) stress.
• Homographs – Some words look identical except that their stress is different. See Divrei HaYamim II 6:38 and find the two occurrences of the word "שבו". Where is each accented? What does each mean? [In this case, the two words actually have different roots; click on each to see them in the dictionary.]When the accent is on the first syllable the verb means "they returned", from the root "שוב"; when it is on the last syllable it means "they took captive", from the root "שבה", to take captive.
• Homographs II – Compare the phrase "וְרָחֵל... בָּאָה עִם הַצֹּאן" in Bereshit 29:6 and Bereshit 29:9.
• Which word is identical except for the placement of the stress?
• What is the difference in meaning when the word "באה" is stressed on the last syllable rather than on the second to last?
• See Rashi on verse 6 who explains the difference. [Click on the E button to display English.]

• Stress – Syllables are often classified with reference to their proximity to the accent:
• The accent which is stressed is called the tonic syllable (the syllable with the "tone").
• The syllable right before the stress is called the pretonic syllable ("before the tone").
• The syllable two stops before the stress is called the propretonic syllable (before the pretonic syllable).
• Example – The word "דְבָרִים" can be broken into syllables as follows: דְ|בָ|רִים. The syllable "רִים" is in the tonic position, "בָ" is pretonic, and "דְ" is propretonic.
• Open or Closed – Syllables are also defined as being either open or closed:
• As we learned in the previous module, an open syllable ends with a vowel; a closed one ends with a consonant or a silent sheva.
• Example – The word "דְבָרִים" (broken, as above, into: דְ|בָ|רִים) contains, from right to left, two open syllables and one closed.

• The stress (מלעיל vs. מלרע) and type of syllable (open vs. closed) will often impact the length of the vowel that the syllable will take.
• Unstressed syllables – In unstressed syllables, the following rules apply (see the footnotes for exceptions):
• Closed, unstressed syllables take a short vowel.
• Open unstressed syllables will usually take long vowels.There are some exceptional cases where they nonetheless take a short vowel. For example, since a guttural cannot take a dagesh, when a dagesh is required, normally the vowel of the previous letter will be lengthened to compensate. At times, though, there is no compensatory lengthening and the previous vowel remains short, despite being in an open, unstressed syllable. Thus, the "ה" in הַחִצִּים takes a patach. Another exception involves letters that precede a chataf; these often take the short vowel that corresponds to the chataf even if the syllable is open and unstressed, as in the words:בַּחֲלוֹם ,וַעֲבֹדָה and תַּעֲמֹד.
• A vocal sheva or chataf will always be in an unstressed, open syllable.
• Stressed syllables – Stressed syllables will generally take long vowels, but there are many exceptions, so this should be viewed as a preferences rather than a set rule.
• A closed, stressed syllable will prefer long vowels. Some common exceptions include: a) Verbs that make the "ah" sound nonetheless take a patach (כָּתַב, כָּתַבְתָּ etc.). b) The "ay" sound is vocalized with a patach (אוּלַי,בָּנַי, לַיְלָה). c) Monosyllabic geminates (words with a doubled root letter) will take a patach (רַע, עַז, הַר, חַג). d) The suffix "תן" has a segol.
• An open, stressed syllable will prefer long vowels. The most prevalent exceptions are the many words with penultimate stress that take either a double segol (גֶּפֶן, יֶלֶד), double patach (נַעַר, בַּעַל) or segol-patach (ֶֶזֶרַע, מֶלַח).Such nouns are called segolates. See the appendix to the noun module for further discussion of such nouns and why they might have exceptional stress-vowel patterns.
• Note: When a segol is followed by a vowel letter (אהו"י), it is considered a long vowel. Thus words such as "חוֹלָה" (stressed on the final syllable) and "בָּנֶיךָ" (stressed on the second syllable) are not exceptions to the rule, but examples of a long vowel in an open, stressed syllable.
• Exercise – Open Shemot 2:1 and click on the א֣ symbol to display the cantillation marks. For each word, determine which syllables are open or closed, stressed or unstressed, and why the vowels are thus long or short.

• As the same vowel sign is used to represent both the regular kamatz (the kamatz gadol, the long vowel which corresponds to the patach) and the kamatz katan, (the short vowel which corresponds to the cholam), it is hard to distinguish between the two.
• Differentiating – AlHaTorah uses two different forms of the vowel to disambiguate. A kamatz katan is slightly elongated.
• For example, open Vayikra 1:2 and compare the two vowel signs in the word "קׇרְבָּן". The first is a kamatz katan; the second is a kamatz gadol
• A rule – Knowing the vocalization preferences discussed in the previous slide, a simple rule can be used to disambiguate between the two vowels even without the elongated sign: A kamatz in a closed, unstressed syllable will be a kamatz katan.Though the inverse is almost always true as well, there are several exceptional cases where a kamatz katan will unexpectedly be found in an open, unstressed syllable. See, for example, the first kamatz in the words "אׇהֳלוֹ" (Bereshit 26:25), שׇׁרָשָׁיו (Hoshea 14:10), קׇדָשִׁים (Shemot 29:37) and "צׇהֳרָיִם" (Yirmeyahu 20:16). [In all these cases, the base form of the noun had an original cholam which was reduced to a kamatz katan].
• Thus, for example, in the word "וַיָּקׇם", which has penultimate stress (see Shemot 1:8), the first kamatz is long, but the second is short.
• Ambiguity – At times these is still ambiguity, for one might not be able to easily determine if a syllable is open or closed (when, for instance, one does not know if the sheva at the end of a syllable is silent or vocal).On AlHaTorah, where vocal shevas are bolded, this is not an issue. Elsewhere, though, it might be, as the rules to determine the length of the kamatz and the status of the following sheva are somewhat circular. To determine that a kamatz is long, one needs to know whether the sheva that follows it is silent or vocal, yet to determine the status of the sheva, one needs to know if it follows a long or short vowel. In such cases, often a cantillation mark known as a meteg (a short vertical line) will be placed after the kamatz to signify that it is a long vowel (and hence, too, that the sheva afterwards is vocal).
• Exercise – In each of the following words, determine if the kamatz is long or short. Check yourself by finding the words in the linked verses and seeing which of the kamatzes are elongated (a sign that they are a kamatz katan): אֲנָשִׁ֨ים (Bereshit 37:28), וַיָּ֤שׇׁב (Bereshit 37:29), בַּדָּֽם (Bereshit 37:31), וַיָּ֣רׇם (Hoshea 13:6) and אָֽכְל֣וּ (Bereshit 14:24).

• Some words look identical except that one has a kamatz katan in a closed syllable, and the other a long kamatz in an open syllable. A well-known example is the word "אׇכְלָה".
• Find the two occurrences of the word in Yechezkel 15:4. What is the difference in vocalization between the two? What is the difference in meaning? Which is a noun? Which is a verb? [Click on each word to see their definitions in the dictionary.]
• Now, access Shemuel I 1:9. How would you translate the word "אכלה" in this verse? Why?
• See R"Y Kara on the verse. How does he prove from both the context and the vocalization that the word cannot mean "she ate"?
• How does Abarbanel refute R"Y Kara's contextual argument? What does he think the word means?
• R"Y of TraniClick on the "Show Additional Commentaries" button to view his comments. offers a compromise reading, viewing the word as a noun, but nonetheless suggesting that it expresses that Channah ate. How does he translate "אׇכְלָה"? What argument does Radak make against this reading?
• Given all the above, which reading of the verse do you find most convincing?

• A makkaf is a sign which looks and functions much like a hyphen in English. [See the line between the two words כׇּל־הַיּֽוֹם in Shemot 10:13]. It serves to connect two (or more) words, treating them in some respects as one new word. This affects the stress and vocalization of the new word pair.
• Effect on stress – Were each word to stand alone, they would each get their own stress; yet, when combined, the word before the makkaf loses its stress, and acts as if it prefixed to the next word which receives the stress.
• For example, see the word pair אֶל־הָאִ֛ישׁ in Bereshit 24:29. There is a cantillation mark on the word "הָאִ֛ישׁ" indicating stress, but none on the word "אֶל". The pair of words is treated to some extent as if it were one word with three syllable (אֶל|הָ|אִ֛ישׁ). The first syllable is closed and unstressed, the second is open and unstressed, while the third is closed and stressed.
• Effect on vocalization – As discussed in the previous slides, this shift in stress can affect vocalization. Since letters in closed unstressed syllables prefer to take short vowels, if a closed syllable which originally had a long vowel loses its stress, that vowel will reduce. Some examples follow
• "אֵת" vs. "אֶת" – When the word "אֵת" stands alone, the "א" is in a closed, stressed syllable, and thus takes a tzere, a long vowel. When the word is attached to another with a makkaf, it loses its stress, becoming a closed unstressed syllable, which must take a short vowel. Thus the tzere reduces to a segol (אֶת). Compare the phrase "אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ" in Bereshit 1:1 with the same phrase in Shemot 20:10 "אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם וְאֶת־הָאָ֗רֶץ".
• כׇּל vs.כֹּל – Here, too, when the word "כֹּל" stands alone, the "כֹּ" is in a closed, stressed syllable, and thus takes a cholam, a long vowel. When the word is attached to another word with a makkaf, it loses its stress, becoming a closed unstressed syllable, which must take a short vowel. Thus the cholam reduces to a kamatz katan. Compare "מִכֹּל הָעַמִּים" and "מִכׇּל־הָעַמִּים" in Devarim 7:6-7.
• Exercise – Contrast the pointing of the word "בן" in "וַתֵּלֶד שָׂרָה לְאַבְרָהָם בֵּן" in Bereshit 21:2 with "בֶּן־הָגָר" in Bereshit 21:9, and explain why each is vocalized as it is.In verse 2, the word stands alone, in a closed, stressed syllable and thus takes a long vowel. In verse 9, due to the makkaf, the word is found in a closed unstressed syllable, and thus takes a short vowel.
• Exception – Vowels written with a vowel letter (א,ה,ו,י) are considered "unchangeable long vowels" and do not reduce even when stress is lost.
• Thus, for example, the word "בֵּין" in the phrase "בֵּין־קָדֵ֖שׁ" takes a long vowel despite the makkaf and having lost its stress.

• Another example where a makkaf will affect pronunciation relates to the בגדכפ"ת letters.
• We learned that the בגדכפ"ת letters are pronounced as fricatives (with the sounds v, kh, f) when following a vowel, but will be plosives (pronounced b, k, p, and marked by a dagesh kal) at the beginning of a word or after a closed syllable.For review, see the module which discusses the roles of the Dagesh.
• If, however, two words are closely connected by a makkaf, they are treated as one word. Thus if the first of two words joined by a makkaf ends with a vowel and the second starts with one of the בגדכפ"ת letters, it will be a fricative and not take a dagesh kal.
• See, for example, the word pair מִֽי־כָמֹכָה in Shemot 15:11 (and compare it with the non hyphenated "מִי כָּמֹכָה" later in the verse).
• The same often (though not always) applies when two words are closely bound by conjunctive cantillation marks (those which serve to connect two words, such as a מונח or מרכא).
• Compare, for example, Bereshit 12:12 "וְהָיָ֗ה כִּֽי" (where the cantillation mark is disjunctive) with Shemot 13:5 "וְהָיָ֣ה כִֽי" (where the cantillation mark is conjunctive).

• This slide will explore another example in which a shift in stress affects vocalization.
• When the base form of a word is inflected (i.e. the form changes due to the addition of prefixes or suffixes), the ensuing shift in stress often causes certain vowels to reduce. There are two patterns of vowel reduction that are particularly common: propretonic reduction and pretonic reduction.
• Propretonic reduction – When the base form of a multisyllabic word containing a long kamatz or a tzere is inflected, causing the kamatz or tzere to shift to an open propretonic position (two syllables before the stress), these vowels tend to reduce to a sheva.
• For example, when one adds the plural suffix marker "ים" to the adjective גָּדוֹל, the kamatz under the "ג" finds itself two syllables away from the stress (ג|דו|לים) and reduces to a sheva, resulting in "גְּדוֹלִים".
• Similarly, when one add the plural suffix marker "ות" to the noun "לֵבָב", the tzere under the "ל" finds itself two syllables away from the stress (ל|ב|בות) and reduces to a sheva, resulting in: לְבָבוֹת.
• If the letter with the kamatz or tzere is a guttural which cannot take a sheva, it will reduce to a chataf patach.
• For example, חָבֵר becomes חֲבֵרִים and עֵנָב becomes עֲנָבִים.

• Pretonic reduction in nouns – When the base form of a word containing a tzere or segol is inflected, causing the vowel to shift to an open pretonic position (one stop before the stress), these vowels tend to reduce to a sheva. If the letter with the tzere or segol is a guttural, it will reduce to a chataf patach.
• For example, when one inflects the word "שׁוֹפֵט" to become plural, the tzere under the "פ" finds itself one syllable away from the stress (in a pretonic position) and reduces to a vocal sheva resulting in "שֹׁפְטִים"
• Similarly, when the plural suffix "ים" is added to the word "כֹּהֵן", the tzere under the "ה" finds itself one syllable away from the stress and it reduces to a chataf becoming: כֹּהֲנִים.
• Pretonic reduction in verbs – In many verbal conjugations, regardless of the original vowel, there is pretonic reduction when inflected.
• Thus, for example: a) "יִּקְרָא" becomes "יִקְרְאוּ" b) "שָׁמֵעַ" becomes "שָׁמְעוּ" c) "תִּכְתֹּב" becomes "תִּכְתְּבוּ".
• Exceptions – Despite the tendency towards pretonic reduction, there are many cases where it nonetheless does not occur:
• If a bisyllabic word contains a tzere or kamatz in the first syllable (requiring propretonic reduction when inflected) and a tzere in the second (requiring pretonic reduction), only the vowel of the first syllable will reduce. Otherwise, one would have two consecutive vocal sheva's which cannot exist.
• Thus "זָקֵן" becomes "זְקֵנִים" (and not: "זְקְנִים"), undergoing propretonic reduction but not pretonic reduction.
• If a word opens with a vocal sheva in the first syllable followed by a tzere in the second, there will similarly be no reduction of the tzere. Here, too, otherwise there would be two consecutive shevas.
• Thus, "זְאֵב" becomes "זְאֵבִים" and "בְּאֵר" becomes "בְּאֵרֹת", with no pretonic reduction of the tzere.
• At times there is no apparent reason why in one word the vowel reduces and in another it does not, for at times even words with the same vocalization pattern will not behave in the same way.
• Thus, even though the tzere of "מַסְמֵר" reduces in the plural to become "מַסְמְרוֹת", in the similarly patterned "אַבְנֵט" and "פַּרְדֵּס", the tzere does not reduce and the plurals become "אַבְנֵטִים" and "פַּרְדֵּסִים".

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