# שם-הפועל vs. שם-פועל



## dannypdarc13

I have been studying Hebrew for four days and now I have some queries. I was trying to get the correct translations for the following words: "noun", "adjective", "verb (infinitive)" and "adverb". And after looking them up and asking some Israelis, this is what I got:

שם-עצם = noun
שם-תואר/תואר השם = adjective
שם-הפועל = infinitive
תואר-הפועל = adverb.

So my questions are: 

1) What are the correct translations for those terms in Hebrew?
2) If the translations I was told are proper, why does the translations for infinitive, adverb and even adjective include a ה and why the translation for noun does not?
3) Wouldn't that ה make those translations "the infinitive", "the adverb" and "the adjective" instead of just "infinitive", "adverb" and "adjective"?

Thank you so much in advance. 

PostScript: I would really appreciate that you clearly explain the ה issue, because I can't tell the difference of its usage. I mean, I don't know if it indicates the presence of the definite article, the possive construct or if that is just part of the set phrase (in this case, would the "the form" be the same as the "no article form" or how would we notice its definiteness?)

Thank you again.


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## airelibre

First to explain construct nouns a bit:
Bayit = house = בית
Beit = house (of) = בית
(A) school = בית ספר  (beit sefer)
literally "(a) house (of) (a) book"
The school = בית הספר (beit hasefer)
literally "(a) house (of) the book"

The בית never takes ה in a construct (in proper Hebrew, since in colloquial Hebrew you can often hear things like הבית ספר)
However, בית is still seen as being definite. So in בית הספר הגדול, the big school, gadol refers to beit: the big house of the book. I hope I've explained that okay, it's hard for me to explain but actually very simple once you understand.

Noun = שם עצם "name of thing"
(The noun would שם העצם, "the name of the thing")
Adjective = שם תואר "name of a description"
Verb = שם פועל (note you wrote שם פועך) "name of an action"
Adjective = תואר פועל "description of an action".

So 
שם העצם
שם התואר
שם הפועל
And
תואר הפועל
Are all also correct, and make the construct definite ("the").

Saludos.


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## arbelyoni

I second airelibre. One correction though:
Verb Infinitive = שם פועל
The infinitive is also called צורת מקור (or צורת המקור, "the infinitive")


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## dannypdarc13

Thank you so much. 

I asked the question because I asked Israelis and even look the words up in the Even-Shoshan Hebrew Dictiionary. And I also found the example of בית-ספר in the dictionary, but the difference is that the words for "infinitive" and "adverb" do have the ה included in the dictionary, which makes me think the ה is parte of the set phrase. I mean, why would the term for "school" not have it, but the terms for "infinitive" and "adverb" do? 

Another thing that gets me so confused is the term תואר-השם, which also seem to be used to say "adjective".

PS: And yes, I misspelled שם-פועל.


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## dannypdarc13

These are excerpts from the Even-Shoshan Hebrew Dictionary which may illustrate a little bit my queries.


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## ystab

Maybe a better way to answer your query is that in different languages, concepts are sometimes expressed in their definite form. For example, in English you would write Nature (with a capital N) to describe the world outside, while in Hebrew you say הטבע (definite). This is why many Israelis translate הטבע to "the nature". If I am not mistaken, in Spanish you say la naturaleza (definite) as well.

In my occupation, some say אי-ספיקת לב (heart failure), while others אי-ספיקת הלב. I think this is because there is only one heart in the human body, so it is natural to make it definite. But, if you want to describe this condition, it is quite difficult to do so using the second form. Compare אי-ספיקת לב קשה (easy) with אי-ספיקת הלב הקשה (definite and not appropriate), אי-ספיקת הלב קשה (gramatically wrong) and אי-ספיקה קשה של הלב (gramatically correct but a bit complicated)

Regarding תואר-השם, sometimes a noun is simply called שם. This is why a nominal sentence is called משפט שֵׁמָנִי, because its predicate is often a noun.


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## dannypdarc13

I understand what you say about the usage of the definite article in some languages. I'll take your "la naturaleza" for instance. We say it that way when we refer to nature (animals, plants, rocks, etc.) but we can also use that noun with an indefinite article. For instance, "Ella tiene una naturaleza extraña" (She has a strange nature).

So my question is do you use שם-הפועל and תואר-הפועל either as definite and indefinite words (in other words is the ה part of the set expression)? Or is there the possibility that the ה just indicates it's definite and, that being said, you can use it without the ה as well (if so, why does the dictionary word it with the ה, and not like other similiar constructions like בית-ספר)?


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## ystab

And so in Hebrew: יש לה טבע מוזר, though in Hebrew we would use אופי - character.

Well, I don't think I can answer that. If I wanted to say: "Well" is an irregular adverb, I would say: ״היטב״ הוא תואר פועל חריג, but if I wanted to say that adverb forms are not conjugated, I would say צורות תואר הפועל אינן ניטות. I hope this helps and does not confuse you more.


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## sawyeric1

Which is the more common way to say "adjective" - שם תואר or just תואר by itself?


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## aavichai

it depends
i know (or remember) that in school the תואר refered to the noun
and the תיאור was for the verb

but basically
תואר can be תואר הפועל or תואר השם
so it is depend how you what is your way

i always say תואר השם and תואר הפועל
so תואר alone is not enough (for me)
but as i say - if you use תואר only to refer to the noun - so itdoesn't matter


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## sawyeric1

Do numbers like "שנות העשרה" (teens) and "שנות העשרים" (twenties) always use -ה?


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## aavichai

yes


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