Begin reading from your Hebrew Bible. You should be able to distinguish the similarity of the Hebrew letters and vowels with the sounds below.

Sound (Psalm 119:2)

ashray

notseray

aydotav

be

hol-

(pronounced as long o)

qawmayts katoof: notice the difffernce between the “ah” sound of the qawmayts gadol

kamayts katoof is between two consonants: a closed syllable, not an open syllable

layv

(notice the vet, a bet without a dagesh, pronounced “v” at the end of the word for “heart”)

Yidreshuhu

new vowel, shoorek-- “oo” sound, vav is not a consonant in this case: it is a vowel. The shoolrek looks similar to a vav with a dagesh in it (see the 4^th word) but it is different. Supposedly it stands a little higher than the dagesh. See Ges. § 12, footnote 2. Notice also the vav is much longer than the yud.

Meaning:

My reading (voice) in modern Israeli style is only good enough to get you started. You will have to refine that part elsewhere at the present or preferably later. However, start now using my readings... you can always improve yourself as you go.)

blessed

interjection

(not properly pronounced with 3 syllables, only 2 in first verse)

they who guard

verb,

qal,

participle,

masculine,

plural,

construct

his testimonies

noun,

feminine,

plural,

construct,

3^rd person,

masculine,

singular,

suffix

with

preposition

whole

noun,

common,

masculine,

singular,

construct

maqqeph, “binder”, makes one accent—see Gesenius § 16; the”§” symbol means “section” , see the first paragraph,one accent, also a sign of the construct: “the whole of”

heart

noun,

common,

masculine,

singular,

absolute

they seek him

verb,

qal,

imperfect,

3^rd person, masculine, plural

with

3rd person, masc. sing. suffix

See your grammar for:

interjection

Verbs (type is listed above)

Nouns (construct) and suffixes

Prepositions

It generally means “with” in this sentence. You don't need a long discussion for these as at p. 540, § 119, or many other subjects.

Nouns(construct) and maqqeph

Nouns (absolute)

Verbs (type is listed above)

and suffixes

see below for paradigm

Gesenius has no information on Ps 119:2 in the Index of Passages. So we must search for parts of speech.

We had this in verse 1.

Qal participle, (Ges. § 50), we had this in v. 1

There is an accent over tav in this word. We will pronounce that syllable with stress on it. Look up the accent as you did in v 1. Get used to pronouncing stressed syllables also.

Part of Speech

Verb

yidreshuhu

Root

dah-rash

You will need to learn the imperfect qal paradigm.

Go to Paradigms, p. 510 in your Gesenius grammar. Write out the imperfect qal for yiq-tol (3^rd person, masc) for the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd person for both genders, singular and plural. You can see this word under the fifth horizonatal line. It will help you get an idea of person, gender and number of the verb. YouTube has free, easy to learn videos concerning Hebrew verbs, afformatives and suffixes.

Example: Qal, Imperfect

Masculine

Root

dah-rash

Meaning

he seeks

Gesenius Paradigms, P. 510

Root

qa-tal

Meaning

he kills

1^st person, sing., common

ed-rosh

(Gn. 9:5)

I will require

eq-tol

Sound

I will kill

2^nd person, sing. masc.

tid-re-shen-nu

(Dt. 4:29)

you seek

(with 3^rd person, sing. masc. suffix—don't be concerned with this now)

teek-tol

Sound

you (male) kill

3^rd person, sing. masc.

yid-rosh

(2 Chr. 15:13)

“he would seek” in this verse

yeek-tol

Sound

he will kill

1^st person, pl., common

ve-nid-re-sha

(1 Kings 22.7)

we...

neek-tol

Sound

we will kill

2^nd person, pl. masc.

tid-re-shu

(Dt. 12:5)

you...

teek-te-lu

Sound

you (as to a group) will kill

3^rd person, pl. masc.

yid-ro-shu

(Jer. 30:14)

they...

yeek-te-lu

Sound

they will kill

  Masculine Gender

Gesenius Paradigms, P. 510

Root

qa-tal

Meaning

he kills

Right to left

1. 1^st common, singular ___ ___ ___ aleph

Meaning “I...”, generally expressing incompletion in relative comparison to the perfect

eq-tol

Sound

I will kill

2. 2^nd person, singular ___ ___ ___ tav

Meaning generally “you...”

teek-tol

Sound

you (male) kill

3. 3^rd person, singular ___ ___ ___ yud

Meaning generally “he...”

yeek-tol

Sound

he will kill

4. 1st common, plural ___ ___ ___nun

Meaning generally “we...”

neek-tol

Sound

we will kill

5. 2^nd person, plural vav ___ ___ ___tav

Meaning generally “you...”

teek-te-lu

Sound

you (as to a group) will kill

yidreshu

6. 3rd person, plural vav ___ ___ ___ yud

Meaning generally “they...”

yeek-te-lu

Sound

they will kill

  Feminine Gender

7. 1^st common, singular ___ ___ ___ aleph

Meaning “I...”

eq-tol

Sound

I (female) will kill

8. 2^nd person, singular yud ___ ___ ___tav

Meaning generally “you...”

teek-te-lee

Sound

you (female) will kill

9. 3^rd person, singular ___ ___ ___tav

Meaning generally “she...”

teek-tol

Sound

she will kill

10. 1st common, plural ___ ___ ___nun

Meaning generally “we...”

neek-tol

Sound

We will kill

11. 2^nd person, plural hey ___ ___ ___tav

Meaning generally “you ”

teek-tol-na

Sound

you (females, as a group) will kill

12. 3^rd person, plural hey ___ ___ ___tav

Meaning generally “they...”

Practice Set 1 Set 2, Set 3

teek-tol-na

Sound

they (females) will kill

yidreshuhu

You will also have to learn the suffixes (hu is one) at some point. See p. 155 for this or § 58. Go to Column A and find the 4^th example, ending in hey, vav--hu (pronounced hoo). If you don't want to memorize that column at this time, at least remember it for future reference.

Translation:

Blessed are they who guard his testimonies, they seek him with their whole heart.

Go to verse 119:3