AQA A-Level Biblical Hebrew (7677)

## Learning Outcomes

- Understand what Paper 1 Section A tests in unseen prose translation, comprehension and pointing
- Identify how to approach an unseen prose passage without a dictionary
- Explain how accidence and syntax guide accurate translation into English
- Recognise common prose features such as construct chains, weak verbs, waw forms and verbless clauses
- Apply key rules of Masoretic pointing, including shewa, dagesh and guttural behaviour
- Improve exam answers to comprehension and grammar questions by using precise English and accurate parsing

## AQA A-Level Biblical Hebrew (7677) Syllabus

For the AQA A-Level Biblical Hebrew (7677), you are expected to understand unseen prose translation, comprehension and pointing, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that Paper 1 Section A tests unseen prose translation into English, comprehension and grammar questions, and pointing
- Understand that Section A is AO1 only, so success depends on accurate knowledge of vocabulary, accidence, syntax and vocalisation
- Identify how narrative prose signals meaning through common verb forms, clause patterns and word order
- Explain construct relationships, pronominal suffixes, weak-verb patterns and common prepositions in context
- Understand how comprehension answers should normally be written in English, with Biblical Hebrew used only where relevant and in block script
- Know that transliteration is acceptable only for proper nouns, not as a substitute for translating Hebrew words
- Understand pointing as the addition of Masoretic vocalisation and related signs to unpointed narrative prose
- Recognise key vocalisation issues including shewa, dagesh, guttural effects and common noun and verb patterns

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. What are the three tasks in Paper 1 Section A, and how many marks are attached to each?
2. Why is a word-for-word English gloss often weaker than a translation that gives the right sense?
3. How can you tell whether two adjacent nouns form a construct chain?
4. What is the difference between vocal shewa and silent shewa?
5. Why do gutturals often affect expected pointing patterns?

## Introduction

Section A of Paper 1 is a language paper in the strict sense. You are not being asked for literary criticism or broad interpretation. You are being tested on whether you can read Biblical Hebrew prose accurately enough to translate it, answer questions on it, and supply correct pointing to a short unpointed passage.

That means every mark depends on close control of **accidence** and **syntax**. You need to see not just what a word might mean in isolation, but what form it is, how it functions in the clause, and how the surrounding words limit the possible meaning. In pointing, the same principle applies: vowels and signs are not decoration. They show grammatical structure.

> **Key Term: accidence**
> The system of word forms in a language, especially inflections of nouns, pronouns and verbs.

### What Section A is really testing

Paper 1 is a no-dictionary paper, so Section A rewards trained recognition rather than guesswork. The main tasks are different, but they depend on the same habits.

First, the unseen prose translation tests whether you can recover sense from an unfamiliar passage. AQA’s marking principle focuses on the proportion of sense achieved. That matters. If you identify the subject, verb, object, time reference and basic relationships correctly, you can gain credit even if your English is not elegant. But if you produce smooth English based on a wrong parsing, the answer is still wrong.

Second, the comprehension and grammar questions test more precise control. Here the examiner wants proof that you understand the passage in detail: who did what, what a form is, why a clause means what it means, or how a noun phrase is constructed.

Third, the pointing task checks whether you can move from unpointed consonantal text to plausible **Masoretic vocalisation**. This is not random memory. It depends on morphology, syllable structure and common prose patterns.

> **Key Term: Masoretic pointing**
> The system of vowel signs and related diacritics used to indicate how Biblical Hebrew is to be read.
>
> **Key Term: syntax**
> The way words are arranged and related in phrases and clauses to express meaning.

A strong student treats Section A as one integrated exercise: parse first, then translate; analyse structure first, then answer; identify form first, then point.

> **Test Tip:** In unseen prose, do not begin by translating linearly from the first word to the last. First mark likely verbs, subjects, objects, prepositions and construct chains. Structure before detail saves marks.

### Unseen prose translation: how to get accurate sense

Biblical Hebrew prose is often easier than poetry because narrative tends to use repeated patterns. That does not make it easy, but it gives you anchors. Common narrative prose features include wayyiqtol-style sequence, simple direct speech, prepositional phrases, construct chains, and familiar verb-subject-object or verb-object patterns.

A reliable method is to work in stages.

First, identify finite verbs. Prefixes and suffixes help: forms such as יקטל, תקטל, קטל, קטלה, קטלו, and waw-linked forms often carry the backbone of the clause. Then identify nouns with the article, suffixes or clear plural endings. Then look for object marker אֵת, inseparable prepositions ב, כ, ל, and מן. After that, test whether adjacent nouns are in apposition or in construct.

> **Key Term: construct state**
> The form of a noun when it is linked to a following noun to express a genitive relationship, such as “house of the king.”

For example, if you see בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ, a weak student may translate “the house, the king.” A strong student sees immediately that בֵּית is the construct form of בַּיִת and the phrase means “the house of the king” or “the king’s house.” That one grammatical decision changes the whole sentence.

The same is true with weak verbs. A form may look irregular only because one root letter has dropped, assimilated or changed the vowels. If you treat it as a strong verb, you will often miss both meaning and tense-aspect.

> **Key Term: weak verb**
> A verb whose root contains a consonant such as נ, י, ו, ה or a guttural, causing forms to differ from the regular strong pattern.

Take a likely I-nun pattern. If the initial נ assimilates into the next consonant, the surviving clue may be a dagesh forte in that consonant. If you do not notice that, you may fail to recover the root. With III-ה verbs, the final ה may disappear or affect vowel patterning. Hollow verbs may lose the middle radical and replace it with a long vowel. So translation depends on morphology, not on surface guessing.

A good English translation should be faithful to Hebrew sense, not trapped by Hebrew order. If the Hebrew says literally “the man stood between the mountains and between the city,” normal English is “the man stood between the mountains and the city.” You have kept the meaning while removing awkward repetition. That is better than mechanical glossing.

> **Test Tip:** If two English versions are possible, prefer the one that reflects the Hebrew grammar most accurately while still sounding like normal English. Marks reward correct sense, not wooden English.

Common student errors in translation include:

- treating every waw as simple “and” without asking whether it links sequence or just joins items
- missing the article because of contraction with a preposition, as in בַּ or לַ
- failing to spot a construct chain
- translating a pronominal suffix twice, once in the noun and once separately
- forcing every perfect into a simple English past and every imperfect into a simple future without checking context

### Comprehension and grammar questions: how to answer precisely

In the comprehension section, accuracy of answer matters more than display of Hebrew. Most answers should be in English. If Hebrew is useful, for example to quote a root or identify a single form, it should be brief and relevant.

A common mistake is lifting too much from the passage. Direct translation of the key wording can help, but copying extra material shows weak control. If the question asks “Why does X happen?” and the passage says “because the king feared the people,” then write “because the king feared the people.” Do not copy the whole clause before and after it.

Grammar questions often target the exact areas that drive prose reading: person, gender, number, stem, conjugation, suffix, construct relationship, or function in the sentence.

> **Key Term: parsing**
> Identifying the grammatical details of a form, such as stem, conjugation, person, gender, number and lexical root.

Suppose you are asked to explain a form like וַיֹּאמֶר. A good answer recognises that it is a finite verb in narrative sequence, not merely “and he said” as an unanalyzed phrase. If asked for person, gender and number, you must state **3ms**. If asked for root, you give אמר in block script. If asked what it means in context, then you translate.

Another frequent issue is the verbless clause. Biblical Hebrew often omits a present-tense copula. So הוּא הַמֶּלֶךְ does not mean “he the king” in English; it means “he is the king.” In comprehension, you need to express the correct English sense even where no explicit “is” appears in Hebrew.

Demonstratives also matter. Compare אֵלֶּה הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים and הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה. Both involve “these judgments,” but the function of the demonstrative differs. In some questions, the examiner may want you to identify whether the demonstrative is pronoun or adjective. That is a grammar mark, not just a translation mark.

You should also be ready for comparative מן, as in “greater than,” and for the range of prepositions such as בֵּין meaning “between” or “among” depending on structure. When בֵּין appears in a pair, as in בֵּין... וּבֵין..., the sense is clearly “between.” When it appears before a plural group without a paired phrase, “among” may fit better.

> **Key Term: block script**
> The square Hebrew script used for writing Biblical Hebrew words in exam answers where Hebrew is required.
>
> **Test Tip:** For grammar questions, separate three jobs in your mind: identify the form, explain its function, and translate if asked. Many lost marks come from giving only one of those three.

### Pointing unseen prose: how vocalisation follows grammar

Pointing is often the most feared part because it feels less forgiving. In fact, it becomes much more manageable when you stop thinking of it as memorising isolated spellings. You are reconstructing a grammatical form.

> **Key Term: pointing**
> Supplying the vowels and related Masoretic signs to an unpointed Hebrew text.

The examiner is not asking for a performance of pronunciation theory. The task is to produce plausible pointed Biblical Hebrew prose. That depends on a few high-yield areas.

First, know your common noun and verb patterns. If you recognise a Qal perfect 3ms strong verb, or a construct feminine singular in -ַת, you already know much of the pointing. If you recognise a prefix conjugation form with characteristic vowels, the task is easier.

Second, decide syllable structure. This is where **shewa** becomes crucial.

> **Key Term: shewa**
> A sign that can be either silent, closing a syllable, or vocal, beginning a syllable with a very short vowel.

High-yield rules include:

- word-initial shewa is usually vocal
- the first of two consecutive shewas is usually silent
- the second of two consecutive shewas is usually vocal
- word-final shewa is usually silent
- hateph vowels under gutturals are always vocal

This matters because shewa affects syllable division, and syllable division affects vowel quality and sometimes qamats interpretation.

Next, understand **dagesh**.

> **Key Term: dagesh**
> A dot placed in a consonant, either marking hard pronunciation in בגדכפת letters or indicating consonant doubling.

In בגדכפת letters, the dagesh may be **dagesh lene**, showing hard pronunciation, often when the letter begins a syllable not immediately after a vowel. Or it may be **dagesh forte**, showing doubling. The difference is grammatical. In הַמֶּלֶךְ, the dagesh in מ is not about hard pronunciation; it reflects doubling after the article. If you miss that, your pointing will go wrong.

Gutturals complicate matters in predictable ways. א ה ח ע, and often ר in related behaviour, tend to resist dagesh forte. They often prefer a-class vowels and may take hateph vowels instead of simple shewa. This is why article patterns may change before gutturals. You may expect doubling after the article, but the guttural blocks it, so the vowels compensate.

A useful example is the feminine singular noun in construct. Absolute מַלְכָּה becomes construct מַלְכַּת. If you are pointing an unpointed phrase meaning “queen of Sheba,” the construct ending helps you recover the right vocalisation. Pointing is therefore an accidence task as much as a phonology task.

Weak verbs also matter here. If a root is III-ה, the final ה may disappear in certain forms, leaving a characteristic vowel pattern. If a root is I-nun, assimilation may produce dagesh in the following consonant. Hollow verbs often show long internal vowels instead of an obvious middle radical. Your pointing must reflect those patterns.

Common student errors in pointing include:

- giving every shewa the same value
- adding dagesh forte to a guttural
- missing contraction of preposition plus article
- failing to reduce vowels in construct forms
- pointing from modern Hebrew instinct rather than Biblical prose morphology

The best method is slow and grammatical: identify the lexical item, decide its form, divide syllables, then add vowels and only then check shewa and dagesh.

### Biblical Hebrew Language Toolkit

#### Topic vocabulary

| Hebrew        | Transliteration | English                |
| ------------- | --------------- | ---------------------- |
| נִקּוּד       | niqqud          | pointing, vocalisation |
| מַסּוֹרֶת     | masoret         | Masoretic tradition    |
| תְּנוּעָה     | tenu'ah         | vowel                  |
| שְׁוָא        | shewa           | shewa                  |
| דָּגֵשׁ       | dagesh          | dagesh                 |
| שֹׁרֶשׁ       | shoresh         | root                   |
| פֹּעַל        | po'al           | verb                   |
| שֵׁם          | shem            | noun                   |
| נִסְמָךְ      | nismakh         | construct state        |
| סוֹפִית       | sofit           | suffix                 |
| גּוּטּוּרָלִי | gutturali       | guttural               |
| פָּרְסִינְג   | parsing         | parsing                |
| גּוּף         | guf             | person                 |
| מִסְפָּר      | mispar          | number                 |
| מִין          | min             | gender                 |
| זְמַן         | zeman           | tense/time reference   |
| הֲבָנָה       | havanah         | comprehension          |
| תַּרְגּוּם    | targum          | translation            |

#### Complex sentence patterns

- הַצּוּרָה הַזֹּאת הִיא פֹּעַל, כִּי יֵשׁ לָהּ תַּחְבִּיר שֶׁל פְּעֻלָּה.  
  This form is a verb, because it has the syntax of an action.

- אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁהַצּוּרָה נִרְאֵית חֲזָקָה, הִיא לְמַעֲשֶׂה מִן הַפְּעָלִים הַחֲלָשִׁים.  
  Although the form looks strong, it is actually from the weak verbs.

- כַּאֲשֶׁר הַשֵּׁם הָרִאשׁוֹן בְּנִסְמָךְ, הַיְּדִיעָה תְּלוּיָה בַּשֵּׁם הַשֵּׁנִי.  
  When the first noun is in construct, definiteness depends on the second noun.

- אִם הַשְּׁוָא פוֹתֵחַ הֲבָרָה, רָגִיל לִהְיוֹת נָע.  
  If the shewa begins a syllable, it is usually vocal.

- מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהָאוֹת גּוּטּוּרָלִית, אֵין כָּאן דָּגֵשׁ חָזָק.  
  Because the letter is guttural, there is no dagesh forte here.

- הַתַּרְגּוּם טוֹב יוֹתֵר כְּשֶׁהוּא נוֹתֵן אֶת הַמּוּבָן וְלֹא רַק אֶת סֵדֶר הַמִּלִּים.  
  The translation is better when it gives the sense and not only the word order.

#### Opinion and argument phrases

- לְדַעְתִּי הַפֵּרוּשׁ הַזֶּה מְדוּיָּק יוֹתֵר.  
  In my view this interpretation is more accurate.

- אֶפְשָׁר לוֹמַר שֶׁהַצּוּרָה הִיא בְּנִסְמָךְ.  
  It is possible to say that the form is in construct.

- נִרְאֶה שֶׁהַדָּגֵשׁ הוּא דָּגֵשׁ חָזָק.  
  It seems that the dagesh is dagesh forte.

- מִן הַהֶקְשֵׁר בָּרוּר שֶׁהַפֹּעַל מְתָאָר כְּעָבָר.  
  From the context it is clear that the verb is described as past.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- Paper 1 Section A contains unseen prose translation, comprehension and grammar questions, and pointing
- Section A is AO1 only, so success depends on secure language knowledge rather than literary discussion
- Translation marks reward accurate sense in context, not merely word-for-word glossing
- Good unseen method starts with identifying verbs, clause structure, objects, prepositions and construct chains
- Construct state is central in prose and often changes the form of the first noun
- Weak verbs must be recognised through their altered patterns, not treated as irregular accidents
- Comprehension answers should normally be written in English, with Hebrew used briefly and in block script where needed
- Transliteration is generally acceptable only for proper nouns
- Pointing means supplying Masoretic vocalisation to unpointed prose, not commenting on pronunciation in general
- Shewa must be judged as vocal or silent from position and syllable structure
- Dagesh can indicate either hard pronunciation in בגדכפת letters or consonant doubling
- Gutturals often resist doubling and therefore affect expected vocalisation patterns

## Key Terms and Concepts

- accidence
- Masoretic pointing
- syntax
- construct state
- weak verb
- parsing
- block script
- pointing
- shewa
- dagesh


Unseen Translation and Composition - Unseen prose translation, comprehension and pointing