A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew [Hardcover]

Jacob Weingreen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With all the Hebrew grammars out there this one is still the essential. Not only is it a fine teaching tool, it is the best reference grammar for both the student and minister who employs Hebrew studies in his biblical considerations."--Randall Pannell, Regent University

"At our seminary, we have been constantly using this excellent textbook."--Paul Y. Tashiro, Wesley Biblical Seminary

"Best explanations on the market for Biblical grammar. Realistic amount of difficulty of exercises."--Joseph Knight, University of North Carolina-Asheville

"The most distinguished and excellent of the traditional introductions to classical Hebrew. Based on sound linguistic and didactic principle, it will be the most important of the grammars of its kind for many years to come."--Fred Horton, Wake Forest University

"The standard by which all other Hebrew texts are judged."--Joel Heck, Concordia College of Wisconsin

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (December 31, 1959)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198154224
• ISBN-13: 978-0198154228
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Hebrew > Instruction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Romance of Paradigms, October 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew (Hardcover)

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.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars concise, definitive hebrew grammar, September 5, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (tampa, fl) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew (Hardcover)

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.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Old Standard, August 8, 2001

By 

"speusippus" (Meadville, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew (Hardcover)

Weingreen's grammar has been an invaluable textbook to several generations of Hebrew students. It is still sometimes used at seminaries, though it has for the most part been replaced by newer grammars.

This grammar is very good if you have the stomach for its method. This definitely comes from an old-school grammarian who has you memorizing a good number of paradigms. It is very thorough, which is something that many grammars lack. It must be said though that due its age, this primer has a greatly differing methodology than most people today are used to.

I would suggest that unless you believe in the 'good old days' of education that you try a different grammar, such as Gary Pratico's 'The Basics of Biblical Hebrew'. On the other hand if you learned Greek from J. Gresham Machen's 'New Testament Greek for Beginners' and liked it, this is the grammar for you.