# Nominal Clauses



## htims

Hi, I'm not getting the idea/concept of nominal clauses.  Can someone please help?/point me to a web-site with examples.

Toda Raba


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## scriptum

Could you be a little more specific? It seems that people here do not understand your question.


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## htims

OK.  I will have to revise the subject.  It's kind of difficult to explain where I am having problems.


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## hadronic

I guess you're talking about sentences "without verb 'to be' ", like "ha-yeled katan" or "ha-yeled ha-katan ba-bayit".
What don't you quite understand precisely ?


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## htims

Yes hadronic.  For example:
תלמידים / התלמידים
______ פה.

שאלה / השאלה
י. התלמיד שואל   ______מצוינת.​

What will the answer be for each one?  How do we work this out?
Thanks

​


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## hadronic

Your question doesn't seem to be about nominal clauses, but rather about definiteness (presence or absence of the article ה).
1. Here (are) pupils. ==> without
2. The pupil asks an excellent question ==> without


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## htims

According to the answers it should be: התלמיד שואל שאלה מצוינת. and התלמידים פה 
but you're saying talmida po and not hatalmida po.


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## htims

I think what the lesson is getting at is whether it's a noun + adjective or a sentence.
do we say the boy the good or the boy good for example


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## scriptum

htims said:


> According to the answers it should be: התלמיד שואל שאלה מצוינת. and התלמידים פה
> but you're saying talmida po and not hatalmida po.


התלמיד שואל שאלה מצוינת
is a verbal clause, of course.

התלמיד פה
is a nominal one.

The normal structure of a nominal clause is
article - substantive - adjective (האבן גדולה; היא גדולה)
article - substantive - substantive (האיש אידיוט; חיים אידיוט; הוא אידיוט)
article - substantive - adverb / adjunct (המסיבה מחר)
Of course, if the subject is a pronoun or a proper noun, there is no article.


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## scriptum

htims said:


> I think what the lesson is getting at is whether it's a noun + adjective or a sentence.
> do we say the boy the good or the boy good for example


הילד טוב = the boy is good
הילד הטוב = the good boy


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## htims

thanks scriptum!!


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## hadronic

htims said:


> According to the answers it should be: התלמיד שואל שאלה מצוינת. and התלמידים פה
> but you're saying talmida po and not hatalmida po.


 
Note that here it could be either "hatalmi*dim *po" or "talmidim po".
The first one answers the question "Where are the pupils? The pupils are here", the seconde answers "Who/what kind of person is here? "


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## hadronic

scriptum said:


> התלמיד שואל שאלה מצוינת
> is a verbal clause, of course.


 
Not so easy.
Strictly speaking, from a diachronic point of view, this one is also a nominal clause. Indeed, שואל is not a conjugated verb, but a participle that acts like a verbal adjective.
In the same way we have :
הילד קטן / הילד הקטן
we also have :
הילד שואל / הילד השואל


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