# pronunciation of הגעת



## Ali Smith

שלום!

Is the formal pronunciation of הגעת (when speaking to a man) "higa'ata"? Similarly, when speaking to a woman is the formal pronunciation "higa'at"? I know the colloquial pronunciations are "higata" and "higat" respectively.

תודה!


----------



## Techref

I guess you pretty much answered the question yourself =)


----------



## Drink

I think this came up recently with השתגעת. No, it is not higa'ata, it is higa'ta. And while higa'at is a technically accepted alternative, since it is found in the Bible, more usually it's also higa't.



Techref said:


> I guess you pretty much answered the question yourself =)



Sorry, that is incorrect.


----------



## Techref

Drink said:


> Sorry, that is incorrect.



Thanks for highlighting


----------



## Ali Smith

I just heard a native speaker say it several times. Each time she clearly pronounced הגעת with a long a: _higaata_. She did _not_ pronounce it with a pause in between, i.e. _higa'ata_. Later she said נסעת, and once again she said _nasaata_, not _nasata_ or _nasa'ta_.


----------



## utopia

In colloquial ashkenazi Hebrew it's higata and higat.

Nasata and nasat (נסעת)


----------



## Drink

Modern Hebrew is a stress-timed language. That means (among other things) that stressed syllables are longer than unstressed ones. Perhaps that is why you heard the "a" as longer.


----------



## Ali Smith

That explains why Israelis pronounce מה, השתגעת?‎‎ (What, have you gone mad?) as "ma, hishtagata?" with a long "a". Or at least I think they do.


----------



## Drink

But the lengthened syllable could just be because of the combination of stress and intonation. What makes you think it has anything to do with the ע?


----------



## utopia

Both A in the preceding syllable and the ע combine to one long stressed A sound.


----------



## Drink

utopia said:


> Both A in the preceding syllable and the ע combine to one long stressed A sound.



I'm skeptical that the ע has anything to do with it.

Let's try to compare. Is it really longer than the vowel in קראת? Is it really longer than the vowel in היא מתה על זה? Is it really longer than the vowel in היא זזה משם?


----------



## utopia

sometimes it sounds longer and sometimes it sounds just as the rest of the vowels in the word.

The thing is that both א and ע have the same influence: there are people who tend to lengthen the vowel because of them.


----------



## Drink

That's why I brought up מתה and זזה. There is no ע or ע there.


----------



## utopia

On second thought - THE ע in נסעת can (sometimes) have a prolonging effect.

I hear people saying נסעת as NASAATA (ע is not pronounced, but it's almost as saying nasa-ata).


----------

