Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/128

 2. Both methods of formation exist together in Hebrew. The internal mode of formation by means of vowel changes is tolerably extensive (,, ; , , &c.). This is accompanied in numerous cases by external formation also (,, , &c.), and even these formative additions again are subject to internal change, e.g. ,. The addition of formative syllables occurs, as in almost all languages, chiefly in the formation of the persons of the verb, where the meaning of the affixed syllables is for the most part still perfectly clear (see §§ 44, 47). It is also employed to distinguish gender and number in the verb and noun. Of case-endings, on the contrary, only scanty traces remain in Hebrew (see § 90).