BS"D
Ancient Hebrew, also known as Biblical
Hebrew or Lashon HaKodash ("the Holy Language") is not the
same as Modern Hebrew, though Modern Hebrew was based on the ancient
tongue.
There are several main differences
between the two languages. The most basic ones include:
- Ancient Hebrew was not intended for everyday conversation and primarily appears in religious texts, prayers, and halachic works.
- With ancient Hebrew, a sentence can begin with a verb, while in Modern Hebrew, sentences generally start with a subject, similar to the structure of Romance languages.
- Tenses in Modern Hebrew are similar to other Romance languages- though not as rich. For example, אני הולך means I go and I am going. Biblical Hebrew, however, has verb constructs that do not exist in most languages, such as present-future, such as אכול תאכול you will surely eat.
For a list of free online resources to
learn ancient, go here.
