A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew

We have used many books over the years in our Hebrew for Torah group. We don't use this to teach the letters, but when people can read the Torah in Hebrew, althou the pronouciation is Ancient and we use Synagogue pronouciation it is still the best to teach with and get to grips with the grammer.

I love this book and have had a good amount of success with it. I think that if you already have a little experience learning languages and are dedicated enough to study with this book every day, Weingreen will give you a solid foundation in Biblical Hebrew. It might seem at first that the lessons are short, but every comment the author makes on each topic is meaningful... there is no filler in this book. I am halfway through the book, and work all the lessons after studying each topic. It would be nice to have answers for the lessons, but they are not included, so it is necessary to have someone knowledgeable who can answer any questions you have and maybe check your work. If you are the kind of person who likes to learn quickly and doesn't need a lot of hand-holding as far as linguistic terms, this book would be good for you.

If you are serious about learning Biblical Hebrew, this book will give you a solid grammatical foundation on which to build in your further studies. Weingreen presents the mass of Hebrew grammar in an orderly, systematic fashion, starting with the simple patterns of nouns and pronominal suffixes and gradually moving through ever more complicated verb systems. Almost the entire second half of the book is devoted to irregular verbs. Although this section could have been briefer, its very fullness provides the student with repeated drill in paradigms and allows the author to introduce longer and longer sentences in the translation exercises. Because of this book's emphasis on grammatical forms, vocabulary content is limited, as is coverage of syntax. The student who completes Weingreen will not be ready to read the Hebrew Bible fluently but he or she will be prepared to approach it with the aid of reference materials. Adult learners without a teacher may be able to get by provided they have a strong grasp of grammar. That's how I did it. To other independent learners, I would make the following recommendations. Learn Hebrew script (consult other grammars or search the Internet). Get hold of Gesenius as soon as you can, to answer any questions that may occur and to clear up any confusion you may have about forms. Weingreen occasionally slips an unexplained bit of syntax into the exercises and you'll want Gesenius to make sure you are translating it correctly. Also, have a copy of the Hebrew text close by. You can use it for practice in sight reading and for comparing sentences in the exercises with the actual narrative. Next, get a Hebrew lexicon (like Brown-Driver-Briggs)--you'll need it sooner or later. Finally, don't give up! Try to do a little everyday, don't rush, and review frequently. Eventually everything will click and you'll find yourself actually looking forward to tackling things like "doubly weak" verbs.

At last I have found a solid book! This is the way I want to learn Hebrew. It methodically introduces each key concept in small paragraphs and then reinforces the concepts using English to Hebrew and Hebrew to English exercises. I am able to remember and understand much better. Even Menachem Mansoor in his "Biblical Hebrew step-by-step" has heartily recommended the study of this book and now I can appreciate why.

weingreen's book is great, because it does not overload you with vocabulary and gives a good collection of verb charts. Some may say that there is extra info in the book, but you know you don't have to read the entire book to get the idea of it. The verb charts are great because although many of the forms are predictable (many of the piel, pual, and hithpael forms are almost entirely alike), he still gives full charts. The weak verbs section is yet another of these. Where he could have just said that certain letters take certain vowel points, and essentially condensed the 2nd half of his book into 4-5 pages, he gives great charts that show all of it in action.this book is really better than kitel's Yale Univ Press Hebrew book because the indexing and layout of the book is easier to understand. This is just another older book (like J. Gresham Machen's Greek grammar) that is a classic in its field.