Although Hebrew is a Semitic language and very different in origin from Indo-European tongues, it has some features that look strikingly familiar compared with other languages.
Hebrew not only has the same concept of the infinitive, but it is even formed in the same way as in English: by adding the particle to/ל־ at the front. Just as English uses to + eat Hebrew uses ל + אכול (le’ekhol – to eat).
In Modern Hebrew, the verb form without ל־ (the infinitive absolute) still exists, but it is rarely used.
Hebrew and Russian verb conjugations are usually complex, with special forms for person and number (and in Hebrew also for gender). Surprisingly, present tense in Hebrew and past tense in Russian are much simpler, and are built using the same technique.
In both cases, these tenses are expressed using participial forms (verbal adjectives) in Hebrew and archaic participles in Russian, both agreeing with the subject in gender and number only (and not in person).
Although German has no such system like Hebrew binyanim, it possesses a small set of common verbs that also shift meaning through vowel alternation. Some of these pairs are transitive–intransitive (state vs. cause), others show shifted but related meanings, like in Hebrew:
The English expression I like him follows the standard pattern: the one who likes (I) is the subject. Surprisingly, in Hebrew, Italian, German, and Russian, the construction is reversed: the liked person is the subject, and the one who likes is expressed indirectly:
One interesting feature that Hebrew shares with several European languages is the way it links time and space. Across these languages, the same metaphor repeats: front = earlier and behind = later.
| Root | Spatial Meaning | Temporal Meaning | Spatial Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| ק־ד־מ | front, east | before, previous | קָדִימָה (kadima) – forward מוּקְדָּם (mukdam) – early הַקּוֹדֵם (hakodem) – the previous one קֶדֶם (kedem) – antiquity, east |
| א־ח־ר | behind, backwards | after, later | אָחוֹרָה (ahora) – backward מְאוּחָר (meuchar) – late אַחֲרוֹן (aharon) – last, final אַחֲרֵי (acharei) – after |
The letter ט (Tet) is one of the less commonly used letters in Hebrew, but interestingly, many words related to water and purity include this letter. While it may just be a coincidence, it’s a fun pattern to notice. I once heard a Hebrew teacher refer to ט as “a wet letter” 😊
| Hebrew | Meaning |
|---|---|
| טוֹב | good |
| טֶבַע | nature |
| טָרִי | fresh |
| טָעִים | tasty |
| טַל | dew |
| טיפה | drop |
| טָהוֹר | pure |
| רָטוֹב | wet |
| מָטָר | rain, shower |
| טִפְטוּף | slow water drops |
| לְשַׁייֵּט | to sail |
| לִשְׁטוֹף | to wash, rinse |
| לְהַטְבִּיעַ | to drown, sink |