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 grammatical genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. To a large extent, the gender of a noun is unpredictable, though there are some regular patterns:- nouns denoting specifically male humans and animals are usually masculine, and nouns denoting specifically female humans and animals are usually feminine
- nouns ending in an unstressed schwa are usually feminine
- nouns built on most of the common abstract noun suffixes, such as ונג- -ung and הײַט- -hayt, are feminine
- diminutive nouns with the suffix -l are neuter in the standard language
- loanwords are generally assigned masculine gender by default unless they end in a schwa, in which case they are usually feminine.
Case
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. 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 ; אַ גרופּע יונגע מענטשן a grupe yunge mentshn. The noun phrase representing the quantity is simply followed by noun representing 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.
Plural
There are two regular plural suffixes. For nouns ending in an unstressed vowel, the plural is regularly formed with the suffix -s; e.g., the plural of גרופּע grupe 'group' is גרופּעס grupes. For nouns ending in a consonant, the plural is regularly formed with -n; the plural of טיש tish 'table' is טישן tishn.A very large number of nouns use irregular plural forms, including -es, and -er with umlaut, or umlaut alone. Some words do not change in the plural. Nouns built on the diminutive suffixes -l and -ele form the plural in -ekh.
Most words of Hebrew origin use the Hebrew plural suffixes, either -im or -es from Hebrew ות- -ot. As these examples show, many plurals of Hebrew origin involve stem mutation in addition to the suffix, paralleling the original Hebrew. Not all words of Hebrew origin form their plurals in the same way they do in Hebrew: e.g., קול kol 'voice' has the plural קולער keler, formed with the Germanic-origin -er suffix and umlaut; and טלית tales 'tallit' uses the -ot plural in Hebrew but the -im plural in Yiddish טליתים taleysim.
Articles
The definite article agrees in gender, number and case with the noun it is used with.The indefinite article is אַ a, which becomes אַן an before a word beginning with a vowel sound. Yiddish, like English, does not have a plural indefinite article.
Adjectives
s—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—it is inflected as if it were followed by a noun: דער מאַן איז אַ גוטער Der man iz a guter 'The man is a good '. Neuter singular adjectives are in some respects exceptional; in attributive position, they have no case ending unless their noun phrase is introduced by the definite article; in absolutive position, they use the distinctive suffix -s in the nominative and accusative cases.The ending -n becomes -en after an m, or a stressed vowel or diphthong; it becomes -em after n and, as an exception, in the adjective nay. Yiddish is slightly simpler than German in that German -m and -n are both -n in Yiddish, 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.
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..
Adjectives normally precedes the nouns, but they may follow the nouns as an absolutive construction for stylistic purposes: אַ שיינע פֿרוי a sheyne froy or אַ פֿרוי אַ שיינע a froy a sheyne.
Pronouns
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.In the Polish dialect of Yiddish, there is a different second-person plural familiar pronoun used with its own declension.
Verbs
Verb inflection
Yiddish verbs are conjugated for person and number in the present tense. In the imperative, they conjugate only for number. Nonfinite verb forms are the infinitive and the past participle.The infinitive of a verb is formed with the suffix ן- -n. The imperative uses the base form of the verb with no affixes in the singular, and takes the suffix ט- -t in the plural. In the present tense, the first-person singular takes the base form of the verb; the other person/number combinations are regularly inflected according to the following table:
A present participle, functioning as a derived adjective or adverb, is regularly constructed by adding the suffix דיק- -dik to the infinitive.
Past participle
The past participle is used extensively in Yiddish. The majority of verbs form the past participle by adding the prefix -גע ge- and the suffix ט- -t to the stem, e. g. געקויפֿט gekoyft 'bought'. However, strong verbs form the past participle with -גע and ן- -n, usually 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.
Some participles vary between dialects and registers; for example, געווען geven is the usual past participle of זיַין zayn 'be', but געוועזן gevezn may be used as the past participle in a "Daytshmerish" register.
Examples of conjugation
The table below shows the inflection of various Yiddish verbs. Most verbs are generally regular, with irregularities occuring predominantly in the past participle.The following table shows some additional irregular past participles:
Separable verbs
Like German, Yiddish has a family of separable verbs. These are verb stems cooccurring with a particle that sometimes occurs as a prefix attached to the verb stem and sometimes as a separate word. The particle appears separate from the verb in the present tense, but is attached as a prefix in the infinitive and participle. For example, in אויסזאָגן oyszogn 'to reveal', the particle אויס oys is attached to the verb; but in the present tense זאָגט אויס zogt oys 'reveals', the particle appears as a separate word. In the past participle, the particle appears before the prefix ge-, as in אויסגעזאָגט oysgezogt 'revealed'.The same grammatical structure of separable verbs is used for a class called "periphrastic verbs". In these, the uninflected particle, often a loanword from Hebrew, carries the main meaning, and it is accompanied by an inflected light verb. For example, in תּשובֿה טאָן tshuve ton 'repent', the word תּשובֿה tshuve is a Hebrew loanword meaning 'repentance', acting grammatically as a particle accompanying the verb טאָן ton 'do'.
The periphrastic-verb construction mechanism allows Yiddish to borrow many Hebrew verbs and verbal constructions. Present-participle forms of active Hebrew verbs are used as particles accompanying the light verb זײַן, while present participles of passive Hebrew verbs accompany the light verb ווערן :
- מסכּים זײַן
- קונה־שם זײַן
- נעלם ווערן
- זיך נתגלגל ווערן
Auxilary-verb constructions
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'.
The future tense in Yiddish is formed with a special auxiliary verb וועלן veln followed by the infinitive. As shown in the table above, its inflection is irregular.
The pluperfect is formed by adding the modifier געהאַט gehat to the past tense: איך האָב געהאַט געזאָגט ikh hob gehat gezogt ; איר זענט געהאַט געגאַנגען ir zent gehat gegangen. The Future perfect 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. These tenses are both very infrequent, especially in the spoken language. When the context makes the previousness of action clear, the ordinary past or future is used instead, and usually with an adverb such as שוין shoyn or פֿריִער friër.
The auxiliary verb פֿלעגן, in combination with the infinitive, is used to form a habitual past aspect: for example, איך פֿלעג קומען ikh fleg kumen.
The auxiliary וואָלט, accompanying the past participle, is used to form a conditional mood: איך וואָלט געגאַנגען ikh volt gegangen 'I would have gone'.
Other aspectual constructions
A "momental" aspect, expressing a one-time action, may be formed by the light verbs טאָן or געבן followed by an indefinite article and a verbal noun, similar to such English expressions as 'have a look'. The verbal noun may be modified by adjectives, as in 'have a good look' in English. The form with געבן is more emphatic and requires the dative for the verbal noun. If the verb is separable, the particle 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 געבן a shrayb gebn, meaning 'hurriedly or suddenly write', contains a noun שרײַב shrayb which would not normally be used independently, and which may be translated as 'an act of writing'.
Examples: זי האָט אים געטאָן אַ כאַפּ אָן zi hot im geton a khap on ; מיר גיבן אַ שרײַ אויס mir gibn a shray oys.
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 or separable particle to many verbs. For example, the verb לייענען leyenen 'read' may be made perfective with the separable particle איבער iber or דורך durkh. Thus איך האָב געלייענט ikh hob geleyent means 'I read', 'I was reading'; while איך האָב איבערגעלייענט or איך האָב דורכגעלייענט ikh hob ibergeleyent / ikh hob durkhgeleyent means 'I read entirely', 'I read through'. Further examples:
ער וועט שרײַבן er vet shraybn 'he will write', 'he will do some writing'
ער וועט אָנשרײַבן er vet onshraybn 'he will write completely', 'he will write up', 'he will get written'
מיר לערנען זיך פֿראַנצייזיש mir lernen zikh frantseyzish 'we are studying French', 'we are taking French'
מיר ווילן זיך אויסלערנען פֿראַנצייזיש mir viln zikh oyslernen frantseyzish 'we want to learn French thoroughly'.
The most common perfectivizing elements are the particles דורך,איבער,אָן,אָפּ,אויס, and the prefixes דער־ and צו־, but there are no definitive rules for determining which prefix attach to which imperfective verbs.
Various other aspects, generally paralleling the complex aspect system of the Slavic languages, are formed by auxiliary verbs or prefixes, sometimes combined with the reflexive particle זיך. 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 ; זיי נעמען זיך צעלאַכן zey nemen zikh tselakhn.
Negation
The negative in a sentence with no object or predicate noun is formed by adding ניט nit or נישט nisht 'not' after the verb.Under the scope of negation, indefinite noun phrases, singular or plural, use the negative article קײן keyn instead of the indefinite article אַ a or אַן an. Definite noun phrases under negation use the definite article as usual.
Yiddish allows and often requires double negation:קיינער איז דאָרטן נישט געווען keyner iz dortn nisht geven or איך האָב קיינעם נישט געזען ikh hob keynem nisht gezen. In colloquial speech even triple and multiple negations may occasionally be used: איך האָב נישט געוווּסט קיין גאָרנישט נישט ikh hob nisht gevust keyn gornisht nisht.
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.Yiddish has two diminutive degrees. The first degree is the regular diminutive found in other languages. The second degree is an even stronger, more affectionate diminutive. The second degree is also known as the iminutive case.
In order to form any diminutive case, there sometimes needs to be a vowel shift. The vowel shift stays the same for the iminutive case.
There are certain instances where only the plural can get any diminutive cases.
קינדער, kinder → קינדערלעך, kinderlekh.
Besides the addition of -el and -ele, there are more ways to make a word be in the diminutive case. One way is by adding the ending טשיק-, or the Polish -czyk.
יונגערמאַן, yingerman → יונגערמאַנטשיק, yingermanchik.
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.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.
It is 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 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 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 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 may be used with any verb in the Northern Yiddish, including the cases when the literary Yiddish and other dialects require זײַן zayn.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. For example, De gitte mentsh ‘The good man’, De gitte fro ‘The good woman’, and De gitte kind ‘The good child’. There is also the emergence of a single demonstrative pronoun Deye, as in Deye mentsh/fro/kind ‘This man/woman/child’.