# נא/אנא



## airelibre

Is there any difference whatsoever between אנא and נא?


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## rushalaim

אנא in the beginning.


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## airelibre

What do you mean by that?


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## rushalaim

אנא in the beginning of a sentence and נא in the middle and end. (Genesis 50:17; Psalms 118:25)


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## GeriReshef

In contemporary Hebrew they are both formal:
נא - A polite prefix before an order (נא לשבת = Sit down).
אנא - Please (אנא שב = please sit down).


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## airelibre

rushalaim said:


> אנא in the beginning of a sentence and נא in the middle and end. (Genesis 50:17; Psalms 118:25)



That's not true though. I see נא at the beginning of sentences all the time. נא לא להפריע for example.




GeriReshef said:


> In contemporary Hebrew they are both formal:
> נא - A polite prefix before an order (נא לשבת = Sit down).
> אנא - Please (אנא שב = please sit down).



This doesn't really answer my question if there is a difference between them.


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## GeriReshef

נא לא להפריע = Do not disturb. It is an order or an instruction, but not a kind request.
If they had opted to use אנא and convert it into a request, it would have probably been אנא אל תפריעו.

Wasn't this your question?


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## airelibre

So you think אנא has a politer-sounding quality to it than נא?


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## GeriReshef

They are both polite and quite formal, but אנא is softer and has a meaning of a request.
נא sounds more as a request or even as an order.


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## origumi

airelibre said:


> That's not true though. I see נא at the beginning of sentences all the time. נא לא להפריע for example.


In Biblical Hebrew נא (almost?) always modifies a preceding word, as rushalaim hinted.
In modern Hebrew נא can start a sentence, usually followed by an infinitive construct (the infinitive is possibly negated by לא).


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## origumi

BTW:
Strong's concordance suggests that אנא is an "apparent" contraction of אהבה + נא (sounds strange to me).
Brown-Driver-Briggs suggest that אנא is from אה + נא (this too is not apparent to me).

H577.


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## GeriReshef

Airelibre - I checked again in some resources, and was surprise to find that I was wrong, and that נא as a prefix for an order or an instruction is just my own interpretation; and its contemporary meaning is a request.
Still, though both words (נא & אנא) are prefixes of requests, I feel that אנא sound as a plea; but I'll be glad to hear other opinions.


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