# ואני vs ואנכי



## Ali Smith

שלום!

Why is it that when you say ואני you have to pronounce "and" as "va", but when you say ואנכי, which means exactly the same thing, you have to pronounce it as "ve"? They both mean "and me", don't they?

Thanks!


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## slus

Both ואני and ואנכי are pronounced with "va". It has nothing to do with their similar meaning, but with the Niqqud of the א.
In both words א has חטף-פתח:
אֲ 
which "forces" the ו to have פתח.

BTW, they both mean "and me", but ואני is much more common. ואנכי is very high register.


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## Ali Smith

Thank you! But I just checked Hebrew Wiktionary, and the vocalization it gives is אָנֹכִי. As you can see, the first letter has a קמץ, not a חטף פתח.


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## slus

You're correct - my bad. And that's your answer - different niqqud, different rules.


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## Drink

The vowel of the vav depends only on the first letter and vowel of the word. Since אני starts with an alef with chataf patach, you get va-. Since אנכי starts with an alef with a qamatz, you get the regular ve-.


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## Ali Smith

If even native speakers mix these things up, I can only assume that it is not very usual for them to change ve into va/vo according to the rules of formal Hebrew. I remember I heard a native speaker ask someone החתונה בקרוב? She pronounced the first word as "ha-khatuna", even though it should have been "he-khatuna" according to the rules of formal Hebrew. I remember my textbook said that "the festival" is הֶחָג "he-khag", _not_ "ha-khag".


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## Drink

While you're right that generally in colloquial Hebrew, these distinctions are not made at all, ve- is always ve-, ha- is always ha-, you're actually incorrect about the word החתונה. The correct form is ha-khatuna, not he-khatuna. The he- only occurs before a guttural with a qamatz vowel (while חתונה starts with a chataf-patach), and even then only under particular conditions that depend on which guttural it is, where the stress is, and which type of qamatz it is.


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## Abaye

Ali Smith said:


> I remember my textbook said that "the festival" is הֶחָג "he-khag", _not_ "ha-khag".





> ישנן שש מילים מקראיות אשר ניקודן משתנה כאשר מתווספת להן ה' הידיעה: אֲרוֹן ← הָאָרוֹן (היום: אָרוֹן-הָאָרוֹן), אֶרֶץ ← הָאָרֶץ, הַר ← הָהָר, חַג ← *הֶחָג* (היום: חַג-*הַחַג*), עַם ← הָעָם, פַּר ← הַפָּר.


השפה העברית - ה' הידיעה


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## Ali Smith

Thank you!

But what about ואלהיך in the following?

וַתֹּאמֶר רוּת אַל תִּפְגְּעִי בִי לְעָזְבֵךְ לָשׁוּב מֵאַחֲרָיִךְ כִּי אֶל אֲשֶׁר תֵּלְכִי אֵלֵךְ וּבַאֲשֶׁר תָּלִינִי אָלִין עַמֵּךְ עַמִּי וֵאלֹהַיִךְ אֱלֹהָי.

I would have expected וֶאֱלֹהַיִךְ because the letter following the ו has a חטף vowel (and the ו should get the same vowel minus the חטף).


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## Abaye

This too is kind of peculiarity.


> במקרא יש כמה כללים נוספים לניקוד ו' החיבור (כללים אלה תקפים גם היום אך אינם חובה):
> 
> 
> 
> הכללהניקודדוגמאותהערותלפני המילה אֱלֹהִיםבצירה ואחריו א' נחה*וֵאלֹהִים*
> (וֵאלֹהֵי וכו')היום מותר גם הניקוד בתנועת החטף
> (*וֶאֱלֹהִים*, וֶאֱלֹהֵי וכו')לפני המילה אֲדֹנִיבפתח ואחריו א' נחהוַאדֹנִי
> (וַאדֹנָי וכו')היום מותר גם הניקוד בתנועת החטף
> (וַאֲדֹנִי, וַאֲדֹנָי וכו')


השפה העברית - ו' החיבור


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## Drink

Abaye said:


> השפה העברית - ו' החיבור



And it's not only vav-hachibur, but also ב/כ/ל as well.


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## Abaye

Similarly also to the tetragrammaton.


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## Drink

Abaye said:


> Similarly also to the tetragrammaton.



That's because it takes the vowels of שם אדנות.


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