Yiddish grammar

The morphology and syntax of the Yiddish language bears many similarities to that of German, with crucial elements originating from Slavic languages, Hebrew, and Aramaic.

Nouns

Gender

Yiddish nouns are classified into one of three genders: masculine (זכר zokher), feminine (נקבה nekeyve) and neuter (נײטראַל neytral). To a large extent, the gender of a noun is unpredictable, though there are some regular patterns:

Case

There are three cases in Yiddish: nominative, accusative and dative. The nominative case generally refers to the subject, the accusative to the direct object and the dative to an indirect object. Nouns themselves are normally not inflected for case, and case is indicated by the inflection of a related definite article or adjective. In a few situations, case inflection of the noun is optional or obligatory, including certain kinship terms (טאַטע tate 'father', מאַמע mame 'mother') and the words ייִד yid 'Jew' and האַרץ harts 'heart'. In those cases, masculine nouns take the ending ן- -n in the accusative and dative singular, and feminine and neuter nouns take ן- -n only in the dative singular.

Yiddish does not have a genitive case. However, when the possessor is a human or occasionally other living beings, possession may be indicated with a suffixed ס- -s (like English possessive -'s). Otherwise, possession is normally indicated by the preposition פֿון fun 'of'.

Another genitive-like construction, the quantitative, is used to describe quantities of objects: אַ פֿול גלאָז הייסע טיי a ful gloz heyse tey (a full cup of hot tea); אַ גרופּע יונגע מענטשן a grupe yunge mentshn (a group of young people). The quantity is simply followed by the object described. This construction may not be used if the object has a definite article: אַ פֿול גלאָז פֿון דער הייסער טיי a ful gloz fun der heyser tey (a full cup of the hot tea).

Plural

There are a very large number of nouns with irregular plural forms, including -es (these are usually nouns of Slavic origin), and -er with umlaut (eg., מאַן man 'man', cf מענער mener 'men'; קינד kind 'child', cf קינדער kinder 'children'), or umlaut alone (eg., האַנט hant 'hand', cf הענט hent 'hands'). Some words do not change in the plural (eg., פֿיש fish 'fish'). Many words of Hebrew origin form plural with -im and plural words of Hebrew origin which end in ות- are pronounced -es. Many plural forms of words are accompanied with a stem vowel mutation.

Article

The definite article agrees in gender, number and case with the noun it is used with, and in some cases indicates the gender, number and case of the noun.

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural
Nominative דער‎ der דאָס‎ dos די‎ di די‎ di
Accusative דעם‎ dem
Dative דעם‎ dem דער‎ der

The indefinite article is אַ a, which becomes אַן an before a word (e.g. a noun or adjective) beginning with a vowel. Yiddish, like English, does not have a plural indefinite article.

Adjectives

Attributive adjectives—that is, those that directly modify a noun—are inflected to agree with the gender, number and case of the noun it modifies, while predicate adjectives remain uninflected. For example, one says דער גוטער מאַן der guter man 'the good man', but דער מאַן איז גוט Der man iz gut 'The man is good'. When an adjective is used absolutively—that is, to stand as the head of a noun phrase as if it were itself a noun—its ending changes as if it were followed by a noun: דער מאַן איז אַ גוטער Der man iz a guter 'The man is a good [one].' Neuter singular attributive adjectives have no case ending unless their noun phrase is introduced by the definite article.

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural
Definite Absolutive
Nominative גוטער‎ guter גוטע‎ gute גוטס‎ guts גוטע‎ gute גוטע‎ gute
Accusative גוטן‎ gutn
Dative גוטן‎ gutn גוטער‎ guter

The ending -n becomes -en after a stressed vowel, m, ng, or nk; and it becomes -em after n. Yiddish is slightly simpler than German in that German -m and -n are both -n in Yiddish (or, in the case of the definite article, dem), and Yiddish does not have a genitive case. The "definite" and "absolutive" versions of the neuter gender are a relic of the strong vs. weak adjective endings of German (das gute Bier vs. gutes Bier).

A class of pronominal adjectives, including אײן eyn 'one', קײן keyn 'none', and possessive pronouns such as מײַן mayn 'my, mine' and זײַן zayn 'his', display behavior opposite to that of ordinary adjectives: they are inflected for gender, number and case when used predicatively but not when used attributively. (Absolutively, they behave as normal adjectives).

Adjectives normally precedes the nouns, but they may follow the nouns for stylistic purposes: אַ שיינע פֿרוי a sheyne froy or אַ פֿרוי אַ שיינע a froy a sheyne ('a beautiful woman').

Pronouns

First Person Second Person Third Person
Singular Plural Singular Familiar Polite / Plural Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural
Nominative איך ikh מיר mir דו du איר ir ער er עס es זי zi זיי zey
Accusative מיך mikh אונדז undz דיך dikh אײַך aykh אים im
Dative מיר mir דיר dir אים im איר ir

Third person pronouns agree in gender with the noun they refer to. Thus even inanimate objects are sometimes referred to as er or zi if they are masculine or feminine respectively. Neuter nouns receive es.

Verbs

Yiddish verbs are conjugated for person and number (singular and plural).

Infinitive

The infinitive of a verb ends in ן- -n or, in some cases, ען- -en.

Compound verbs

Yiddish provides a mechanism that allows to use freely many Hebrew verbs and verbal constructions. Similar mechanisms exist in Persian and other Indo-European languages that incorporate heavily Semitic elements. Present tense forms of active Semitic verbs are followed by the auxiliary זײַן (zayn 'to be'), while present tenses of passive Semitic verbs are followed by the auxiliary ווערן (vern 'to become'). The reflective particle זיך (zikh) is added, when reflective Hebrew verbs are used. Several other auxiliary verbs are occasionally used in some cases:

מסכּים זײַן (to agree) קונה־שם זײַן (to gain popularity) נעלם ווערן (to disappear) זיך נתגלגל ווערן (to reincarnate) תּשובֿה טאָן (to repent) נקמה נעמען (to take revenge)


Present tense

The present tense of regular verbs is conjugated for person and number, as follows:

Person Number קויפֿן koyfn 'buy' פֿאַרלירן farlirn 'lose'
First Person Singular איך ikh קויף koyf פֿאַרליר farlir
Second Person Singular
Familiar		 דו du קויפֿסט koyfst פֿאַרלירסט farlirst
Third Person Singular ער er
זי zi
עס es		 קויפֿט koyft פֿאַרלירט farlirt
First Person Plural מיר mir קויפֿן koyfn פֿאַרלירן farlirn
Second Person Plural/
Polite		 איר ir קויפֿט koyft פֿאַרלירט farlirt
Third Person Plural זיי zey קויפֿן koyfn פֿאַרלירן farlirn

האָבן hobn 'to have' and זײַן zayn 'to be' are conjugated irregularly as follows:

Person Number האָבן hobn זײַן zayn
First Person Singular איך ikh האָב hob בין bin
Second Person Singular
Familiar		 דו du האָסט host ביסט bist
Third Person Singular ער er
זי zi
עס es		 האָט hot איז iz
First Person Plural מיר mir האָבן hobn זענען zenen
Second Person Plural/
Polite		 איר ir האָט hot זענט/זײַט zent/zayt
Third Person Plural זיי zey האָבן hobn זענען/זײַנען zenen/zaynen

Past participle

The past participle is used extensively in Yiddish. The majority of verbs (so-called weak verbs) form the past participle by adding -גע ge- and ט- -t to the stem, e. g. געקויפֿט gekoyft 'bought'. However, strong verbs form the past participle with -גע and ן- -n, accompanied by a vowel change, e. g. געהאָלפֿן geholfn 'helped' from the stem -העלפֿ helf- 'help'. The vowel change is unpredictable, and there is no way to tell from the infinitive whether a verb is weak or strong.

The prefix -גע is omitted in past participles of verbs whose first syllable does not bear primary stress. There are two classes of verbs for which this happens: verbs with one of several unstressed stem prefixes, such as -פֿאַר far- or -באַ ba-; and verbs built on the stressed suffix יר- -ir, usually used for loanwords. Thus the past participles of פֿאַרקויפֿן farkoyfn 'to sell' and אַבאָנירן abonirn 'to subscribe' are, respectively, merely פֿאַרקויפֿט farkoyft and אַבאָנירט abonirt.

Past tense

Like other varieties of High German and unlike literary German, Yiddish does not have the inflected past tense (preterite). Instead, the auxiliary verbs האָבן hobn 'to have' (or זײַן zayn 'to be') are used with the past participle of the verb. Most verbs take האָבן hobn, while about 30 verbs of motion or status and some of their derivatives take זײַן zayn. Transitive derivatives of these exceptional verbs usually take האָבן hobn: איך בין געגאַנגען ikh bin gegangen ('I went') vs. איך האָב איבערגעגאַנגען דעם טײַך ikh hob ibergegangen dem taykh (I walked across the river).

For example, the past tense of איך קויף ikh koyf 'I buy' is איך האָב געקויפֿט ikh hob gekoyft, and the past tense of איך קום ikh kum 'I come' is איך בין געקומען ikh bin gekumen 'I came'.

Future tense

The future tense in Yiddish is formed with a special auxiliary verb followed by the indefinite form, not unlike English:

Person Number - (no standalone form)
First Person Singular איך ikh וועל vel
Second Person Singular
Familiar		 דו du וועסט vest
Third Person Singular ער er
זי zi
עס es		 וועט vet
First Person Plural מיר mir וועלן veln
Second Person Plural/
Polite		 איר ir וועט vet
Third Person Plural זיי zey וועלן veln

Example: איך וועל זאָגן ikh vel zogn (I will say)

Pluperfect and future past tense

The pluperfect is formed by the auxiliary verb האָבן hobn 'to have', followed by the participles of the past tense auxiliary and the participle of the verb in question: איך האָב געהאַט געזאָגט ikh hob gehat gezogt (I had said); איר זענט געהאַט געגאַנגען ir zent gehat gegangen (you had gone).

The future past tense is formed with the future tense auxiliary followed by the auxiliary verb האָבן and the participle of the verb: איך וועל האָבן געזאָגט ikh vel hobn gezogt (I will have said).

Both of these tenses are rarely used.

Habitual aspect

The habitual past aspect or tense is formed by a special auxiliary verb followed by the infinitive (or participle, in some dialects):

Person Number - (no standalone form)
First Person Singular איך ikh פֿלעג fleg
Second Person Singular
Familiar		 דו du פֿלעגסט flegst
Third Person Singular ער er
זי zi
עס es		 פֿלעגט flegt
First Person Plural מיר mir פֿלעגן flegn
Second Person Plural/
Polite		 איר ir פֿלעגט flegt
Third Person Plural זיי zey פֿלעגן flegn

Example: איך פֿלעג קומען ikh fleg kumen (I used to come).

Momental aspect

Two forms of the momental aspect, which expresses a one-time action, are formed by the auxiliary verbs טאָן (ton, to do) or געבן (gebn, to give) followed by an indefinite article and a verbal noun, similarly to such English expressions as 'have a look'. The verbal noun may be modified by adjectives, such as 'have a good look' in English. The form with געבן is more emphatic and requires the dative for the verbal noun. If the verb contains a separable prefix, it usually stands between the auxiliary and the noun.

Unlike English, such forms in Yiddish are highly systematic and may be used with virtually any verb. The nouns used sometimes appear only in the context of the verbal aspect. For example, אַ שרײַב געגעבן a shrayb gegebn, meaning 'hurriedly or suddenly wrote', contains a noun, which one would not normally used independently, and which may be translated as 'an act of writing'.

Examples: זי האָט אים געטאָן אַ כאַפּ אָן zi hob im geton a khap on (she gave him a grab on); מיר גיבן אַ שרײַ אויס mir gibn a shray oys (we give a scream out). Note that another form, אויסגעשרײַ oysgeshray (an out-scream), is usually used as an independent noun.

Perfective aspect

The perfective aspect—indicating a completed action in the past or one whose completion is contemplated in the future — can be formed by adding a prefix to many verbs. For example: איך האָב געלייענט ikh hob geleyent 'I read', 'I was reading' vs. איך האָב איבערגעלייענט or איך האָב דורכגעלייענט ikh hob ibergeleyent / ikh hob durkhgeleyent 'I read entirely', 'I read through'; ער וועט שרײַבן er vet shraybn 'he will write', 'he will do some writing' vs. ער וועט אָנשרײַבן er vet onshraybn 'he will write completely', 'he will write up', 'he will get (something) written'; מיר לערנען זיך פֿראַנצייזיש mir lernen zikh frantseyzish 'we are studying French', 'we are taking French' vs. מיר ווילן זיך אויסלערנען פֿראַנצייזיש mir viln zikh oyslernen frantseyzish 'we want to learn French thoroughly'. The most common perfectivizing prefixes are דורכ־ ,איבער־ ,אָנ־ ,אָפּ־ ,אויס־ and צו־, (oys-, op-, on-, iber-, durkh-, tsu-) but there are no definitive rules for determining which prefix(es) attach to which imperfective verbs. This notion of verbal aspect is a Slavic grammatical phenomenon. Though not as fully developed in Yiddish as in the coterritorial Slavic languages, it is nevertheless a vital feature of the Yiddish verb system.

Other aspects

Various other aspects, generally paralleling the complex aspect system of the Slavic languages, are formed by auxiliary verbs or prefixes, sometimes combined with the reflective particle זיך (zikh). Different aspects may be combined, if the logic of the sentence allows for it.

Examples: איך פֿלעג געבן אַ שרײַב אָן ikh fleg gebn a shrayb on (I used to suddenly start and complete writing); זיי נעמען זיך צעלאַכן zey nemen zikh tselakhn (they start bursting into laughter).[1]

Negative

The negative in a sentence with no object or predicate noun is formed by adding ניט nit or נישט nisht 'not' after the verb. If the verb is followed by an object preceded by an indefinite article, the indefinite article אַ a or אַן an is replaced by ניט קײן nit keyn. This also occurs when a linking verb, such as the verb זײַן zayn 'to be' is followed by a predicate noun preceded by an indefinite article. The same rule applies even though there is no plural of an indefinite article.

If the verb is followed by an object preceded by a definite article, singular or plural, only ניט nit is added after the verb and before the definite article. With a prepositional phrase, nit follows the verb and keyn replaces the indefinite article and precedes the noun. In most case, if no other words intervene, nit keyn sandwiches the preposition. With a prepositional phrase with a definite article, simply put nit before the preposition.

Yiddish allows and often requires double negation:קיינער איז דאָרטן נישט געווען keyner iz dortn nisht geven (literally: 'No one was not there') or איך האָב קיינעם נישט געזען ikh hob keynem nisht gezen (literally: 'I didn't see no one'). In colloquial speech even triple and multiple negations may occasionally be used: איך האָב נישט געוווּסט קיין גאָרנישט נישט ikh hob nisht gevusn keyn gornisht nisht (literally: 'I did not know no nothing not').

Diminutive and emphatic forms

Yiddish is rich in various emphatic and emotional forms, including several general diminutive, affectionate and emphatic suffixes may be added to Yiddish nouns and adjectives. Many other emotional suffixes are mainly used for personal names and for particular classes of nouns. Emphatic expression are also formed by reduplication of verbs, composite adjectives, various 'mood' particles and interjections.

Syntax

Like most Germanic languages, Yiddish generally follows the V2 word order: the second constituent of any clause is a finite verb, regardless of whether the first constituent is the subject, an adverb, or another topicalized element. The V2 grammar of Yiddish differs from that of German and other closely related languages, however: Yiddish uses V2 word order in subordinate clauses as well as main clauses, while in German only main clauses exhibit V2.[2]

However, verb-initial word order may be used to indicate a causal or other close contextual relationship between consecutive sentences, with a meaning similar to English so.[3]

It's customary to use freer word order in Yiddish poetry.

Clitics

Optional contractions are commonly used in both spoken and literary Yiddish. Some auxiliary verbs and personal pronouns are often contracted, especially in colloquial speech. For example, the phrase ער האָט מיר געזאָגט er hot mir gezogt (he told me) may be contracted to ער׳ט מיר געזאָגט er't mir gezogt or ר׳האָט מיר געזאָגט r'hot mir gezogt with the auxiliary almost disappearing, while זאָלן מיר אים דערציילן דאָס געהיימע וואָרט zoln mir im dertseyln dos geheyme vort (let's tell him the secret word) may be contracted to זאָל׳מיר׳ן דערציילן ס׳געהיימע וואָרט zol'mir'n dertseyln s'geheyme vort. The last phrase is more characteristic for the Central (Polish) dialect.

Dialectal Differences

The Northern or so-called Lithuanian dialect of Yiddish from the Baltic countries and Belarus is notable, among a number of other peculiarities, for its lack of the neuter gender and the simplified case system. Substantives which are neuter in standard literary Yiddish appear as masculine or feminine. Only two cases, nominative and accusative or oblique, exist in the Northern Yiddish, except for a few isolated remnants of the dative. The auxiliary verb האָבן hobn ('to have') may be used with any verb in the Northern Yiddish, including the cases when the literary Yiddish and other dialects require זײַן zayn ('to be').

The entire case and gender system seems gradually disappearing altogether in contemporary Yiddish-speaking Hasidic communities. The definite articles Der, Di and Dos are shifting to a single definite article De in the nominative, accusative, and dative cases (reserving "Di" as the plural definite article). For example, De gute mentsh ‘The good man’, De gute froy ‘The good woman’, and De gute kind ‘The good child’. There is also the emergence of a single demonstrative pronoun Dei, as in Dei mentsh/froy/kind ‘This man/woman/child’.[4] [5]

References

  1. ↑ History of the Yiddish Language, by Max Weinreich, Yale University Press, Jun 1, 2008, pp. 527-528
  2. ↑ Diesing, Molly (1990), "Verb Movement and the Subject Position in Yiddish", Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 8.1: 41–79
  3. ↑ Miner, Kenneth L. (1990), "Yiddish V/1 Declarative Clauses in Discourse", IPrA Papers in Pragmatics, 4.1/2: 122–149
  4. ↑ http://www.academia.edu/10278780/Language_change_in_a_bilingual_community_The_preposition_far_in_Israeli_Haredi_Yiddish Language change in a bilingual community: The preposition far in Israeli Haredi Yiddish*, by Dalit Assouline
  5. ↑ http://docserv.uni-duesseldorf.de/servlets/DerivateServlet/Derivate-23711/29_Leket_Krogh_How_Satmarish_is_Haredi_Satmar_Yiddish_A.pdf

Bibliography

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