# The definite article "ha-" and concord/agreement



## SaveTheManatees

Hello all,

I'm doing a little assignment on definiteness in Hebrew, and I'm currently trying to figure out concord in noun phrases. The reference grammar I have gives the examples:

ha-yéled ha-parúa          "The wild child"

and 

ha-yéled ha-ze    "This child"

but I was wondering if we could also have something like *"ha-yéled ha-parúa ha-ze"*, meaning "this wild child"? I'm looking to explain concord in NPs, and I just need some native speaker judgments. Thanks!


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## Egmont

Yes, that is exactly how you'd say "this wild child" in Hebrew. You can stack as many adjectives you want on the boy. Each of them gets a "ha."

The absence of a verb corresponding to the English "is" makes this necessary. "Ha-yeled ha-parua" is a phrase that means "the wild child." "Ha-yeled parua" is a sentence that means "the child is wild."


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## SaveTheManatees

Ah, thanks a million. My assignment will go so much easier this way.


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## arielipi

objection! it is not necessary due to the absence of a verb corresponding to the English "is". it is needed because thats how hebrew is.


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## SaveTheManatees

arielipi said:


> objection! it is not necessary due to the absence of a verb corresponding to the English "is". it is needed because thats how hebrew is.



Yes, I agree that the previous explanation was pretty anglo-centric. A lot of languages use stative verbs instead of copula + adjective.


Anyhow, when it comes to a sentence like 

"hu lavash et ha-svéder ha-yarok ha-ze  "


Is this just as good? I'm looking for more data that illustrates Hebrew concord to fill out my morphology assignment. 

Thanks!


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## arbelyoni

Demonstratives (זה, זו/זאת, אלה, אלו) are always definite, so they may or may not be preceded by a definite article - it's a matter of style. The noun they describe must agree with them in definiteness.
"This wild child":
1) הילד הפרוע הזה
2) ילד פרוע זה

"He wore this green sweater":
1) הוא לבש את הסוודר הירוק הזה
2) הוא לבש סוודר ירוק זה

In Modern (Israeli) Hebrew, the former is more common, the latter is of a higher register.


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## OsehAlyah

Egmont said:


> "Ha-yeled ha-parua" is a phrase that means "the wild child." "Ha-yeled parua" is a sentence that means "the child is wild."


I'm curious how this difference would manifest itself in Russian.


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## SaveTheManatees

arbelyoni said:


> Demonstratives (זה, זו/זאת, אלה, אלו) are always definite, so they may or may not be preceded by a definite article - it's a matter of style. The noun they describe must agree with them in definiteness.
> "This wild child":
> 1) הילד הפרוע הזה
> 2) ילד פרוע זה
> 
> "He wore this green sweater":
> 1) הוא לבש את הסוודר הירוק הזה
> 2) הוא לבש סוודר ירוק זה
> 
> In Modern (Israeli) Hebrew, the former is more common, the latter is of a higher register.



I'm sorry, but I can't read Hebrew orthography. I'm working out of a grammar that uses romanized Hebrew. Does my version of "He wore this green sweater" correspond to one of yours?


Thanks for your help!


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## arielipi

yes it does, though its not common to say it like this. id rather say hu lavash (et ha) sveder (ha)yarok without haze.. 
but really it depends on the meaning you want to pass.


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## arbelyoni

> I'm sorry, but I can't read Hebrew orthography. I'm working out of a grammar that uses romanized Hebrew. Does my version of "He wore this green sweater" correspond to one of yours?


"This wild child":
1) hayéled haparúa hazé
2) yéled parúa ze

"He wore this green sweater":
1) hu lavásh et hasvéder hayarók hazé
2) hu lavásh svéder yarók zé

Both versions mean the same thing. Your version is the first in each of these sentences, and it's more common than the second version, that we (in Israel) consider somewhat more poetic.


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## SaveTheManatees

Thanks to you both!


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