# shevet



## chaya

in the song 'shevet achim gam yachad'  I understand 'shevet ' to mean 'sit'  (which has a TAV)  and not 'tribe'  (which has a  TET).  If this is correct I am puzzled as to why this differs from 'shvu'  or 't-shevu' - grammatical  explanation please.


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## Nunty

_Shevet_ (שבת) is a noun that might be translated as "sitting". A sit-down strike, for example, is a _shvitat shevet_ (שביתת-שבת) in Hebrew.

A literal translation of _shevet ahim_ might be something like "brothers sitting".

_Shvu _(שבו) is the imperative form of the verb.

I hope this is helpful.


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## chaya

once again thank you nun translator


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## chaya

re SHEVET
thank you for the example SHVITAT SHEVET- where 'shevet' acts  as an adjective.   I cannot find an English translation for SHEVET except the inadequate ' a sitting-down-meeting ' as 'assembly 'is not always sitting down .
Could one use 'shevet' (noun = a sitting-down, a seated gathering)   in another modern context?

( Of course I know that 'YESHIVA'  is the every-day word for a MEETING  eg:business,  and P'GISHA for meeting eg: friends.)I am curious.  Chaya.


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## amikama

chaya said:
			
		

> thank you for the example SHVITAT SHEVET- where 'shevet' acts as an adjective.


No, it acts as a noun. שביתת שבת is a _smichut_, and it's why the ה of שביתה changes to ת. If שבת was an adjective, it wouldn't be a smichut and the expression would be שביתה שבת. 



> Could one use 'shevet' (noun = a sitting-down, a seated gathering) in another modern context?


As far as I know, שבת in modern Hebrew is found only in fixed expressions, one of them is שביתת שבת. Another expression is כוכב שבת (_kochav shevet_) = fixed star, as opposite to כוכב לכת (_kochav lechet_) = planet. For a noun meaning "sitting" we use ישיבה.


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## chaya

RE AN ADJECTIVE AND A SMICHUT
Can you tell me what is the FUNCTIONAL difference between an adjective and a smichut, as they both describe the noun? How would you differentiate these in translation? would it be correct for example to say that smichut would require a hyphen in English?   eg: Kupat cholim- a fund for the sick would then become 'sick-fund'.


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## Nunty

chaya said:
			
		

> RE AN ADJECTIVE AND A SMICHUT
> Can you tell me what is the FUNCTIONAL difference between an adjective and a smichut, as they both describe the noun? How would you differentiate these in translation? would it be correct for example to say that smichut would require a hyphen in English?   eg: Kupat cholim- a fund for the sick would then become 'sick-fund'.


 Smichut does not actually describe the noun, so there is no problem of differentiating it from adjectives. It is a noun form, two nouns that together mean something more than each of them together. Some examples:
 בית ספר is house + book (school)
בני ישראל is sons (of) + Israel
פגישת עבודה is meeting + work
הנהלת חשבונות is management (of) + accounts (bookkeeping)

Adjectives that modify the smichut noun form take number and gender from the first of the two nouns. It is also the first of the two that changes form to indicate plurals. 

As you can see from the examples, smichut is not usually translated literally, though it may be. In the example of kupat cholim, sick fund would usually not be hyphenated, as far as I know.


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## aries44

Isn't there something like smichut in latin grammer??


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## chaya

toda  N.T.


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