How Yiddish Functions
Basics of the language
1. The alphabet. Yiddish is written in the Hebrew alphabet,
which consists of the following 22 letters:
Yiddish has combined some of these letters, and added some
diacritics, to better represent the speech sounds of the language. Some of
these letters are:
Yiddish is read from right to left (as is Hebrew). In words
of more than one syllable, the accent usually falls on the next-to-the-last
syllable, as in <ah-LEE-yeh>, <pahs-KOOD-neh>.
2. Grammar. The following is a greatly simplified description of some of the
basic rules of Yiddish grammar. For serious study, we recommend Uriel Weinreich's
classic text, College Yiddish, published by the YIVO Institute for Jewish
Research.
Articles. The Yiddish indefinite article, a, an, is used the
same way as the English article a, an. But unlike in English, the Yiddish
definite article is distinguished by gender in the singular: der yingl (the
boy, masculine); di mame (the mother, feminine); dos kind (the child, neuter).
The plural has only one definite article, di: di kinder (the children).
Adjectives. Gender is important also in forming adjectives.
When modifying a masculine noun, the adjective ending is -er (masculine): a
guter fraynd (a good friend); with a feminine noun, the ending is -e: a gute
neshome (a good soul); with a neuter noun, the adjective ending is also -e when
it is preceded by a definite article; and regardless of gender, the plural
ending of an adjective is also -e: di sheyne hayzer (the beautiful houses).
Nouns. Yiddish nouns take chiefly the following plural
endings:
-n, -en, as in shuln (schools), nodlen (needles)
-er, as in kinder (children), hayzer (houses)
-s, -es, as in fishers (fishermen), zaydes (grandfathers)
-ekh, as in shtetlekh (towns)
-im, as in khaveyrim (friends)
Verbs. The infinitive of Yiddish verbs has the ending -n or
-en, as in esn (to eat), zingen (to sing). The past participle of Yiddish verbs
is formed by adding the prefix ge- and the ending -(e)n or -t to the base of
the verb. For example, the past participle of kumen (to come), is gekumen, and
of nitsn (to use), is genitst. The past tense of verbs is formed by adding the
past participle to the auxiliary verbs hobn (to have) or zayn (to be)--for
example, ikh hob gezen (I saw, I have seen); zey zaynen (or zenen) gekumen
(they came, they have come).
Yiddish vs. Hebrew
Contrary to what people might think, Yiddish and Hebrew are
very different languages. The reason why the two are often linked in people's
minds is that Yiddish speakers have usually learned how to read Hebrew in
childhood, since the Bible and Jewish .prayers are written in classical Hebrew.
But this form of Hebrew is very different from the modern Hebrew spoken and
written in Israel, which few Yiddish speakers speak or understand. The fact is
that linguistically Yiddish and Hebrew are as different from one another as
Japanese is from Chinese.
The Japanese-Chinese example is actually a close parallel to
Yiddish-Hebrew, for this reason: Just as Japanese borrowed from Chinese its
system of writing, along with many Chinese words, so Yiddish borrowed its
system of writing from Hebrew, as well as many Hebrew words. And just as
Japanese and Chinese are two totally different and unrelated languages, so too
are Yiddish and Hebrew.
Similarities
The few similarities between Yiddish and Hebrew can be
summed up as follows:
• Both Yiddish and Hebrew are spoken and written primarily
by Jews, and are the most widely spoken Jewish languages in the world.
• The two languages share the same alphabet.
• Both languages are read from right to left.
• Neither language uses capital letters.
• Words shared by both languages (Yiddish having borrowed
them from Hebrew) are spelled identically--though their Romanized
transcriptions may differ slightly to account for differences in
pronunciation. Examples of such words are: Hebrew shalom, Yiddish sholem, both
meaning peace; Hebrew yom tov, Yiddish yontev(holiday); Hebrew and Yiddish
emes (true); sheker (falsehood). Yiddish has acquired hundreds of such common
words from Hebrew.
Differences
The most important differences between Yiddish and Hebrew
are these:
• Yiddish is a Germanic language, belonging to the
Indo-European family of languages, while Hebrew is a Semitic language,
belonging to the Afroasiatic family of languages.
• Yiddish is what linguists call a "fusion
language," meaning that it has integrated within its Germanic structure
elements from such diverse languages as Hebrew, Aramaic, Old Italian, Old
French, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian. By contrast, Hebrew consists
almost entirely of pure Semitic stock.
• Yiddish is spoken chiefly by Jews of East European origin
or descent. Hebrew is spoken chiefly by Israeli Jews or Jews of Middle Eastern
origin or descent.
• In Yiddish, words of more than one syllable are generally
stressed on the penultimate (or next-to-the-last) syllable. In Hebrew, words of
more than one syllable are generally stressed on the last syllable. For
example, Yiddish <SHO-lem>, Hebrew <shah-LOM >.
From Meshugganery by Payson R. Stevens, Charles M.
Levine, and Sol Steinmetz, editor. Copyright © 2002 by Payson R. Stevens,
Charles M. Levine, and Sol Steinmetz. Reprinted by permission of Simon &
Schuster Inc., N.Y.
