נאָך פּרטים

Verbs with a Converb

A converb changes the meaning of a verb. It is sometimes known as an adverbial complement or a separable prefix.

We have learned five converbs:

אַרײַן, אַרויס, צוריק, אָן, אויס.

Meaning of Converbs

  • מאָבי שפּרינגט אַרײַן אין וואַסער.

    Moby jumps into the water.

  • נעמי וואַרפֿט צוריק די פּילקע.

    Nomi throws the ball back.

Sometimes the meaning of the converb is very concrete and it is easy to see how it changes the meaning of the verb. This is the case with converbs that indicate direction. We have learned three such converbs: אַרײַן, אַרויס, צוריק. For example, once you understand the meaning of אַרײַן, the meaning of verbs with this converb is immediately clear:

  • אַרײַן – into
  • אַרײַנגיין – go into
  • אַרײַנלויפֿן – run into
  • אַרײַנשפּרינגען – jump into
  • אַרײַנוואַרפֿן – throw into

Other converbs, however, such as אָן and אויס, give the verb various nuances or even an entirely different meaning that cannot always be predicted. In a Yiddish dictionary such verbs are listed separately; in YiddishPOP we will teach them as new vocabulary words.

Note that the converb אָן (as in אָנטאָן) has no connection with the preposition אָן (without).

There are many more converbs; we will learn some of them in future lessons. A list of all the converbs taught in YiddishPOP can be found in ‏6.5 נאָך פּרטים.

Word Order

Position of the Converb

  • פּינטל וויל אַרײַנגיין.
  • מאָבי, גיי אַרײַן אין שטוב!
  • נעמי, מאָבי און פּינטל גייען אַרײַן.

Infinitive: the converb comes before the verb and the two are written as one word.

Imperative, Present Tense: The converb comes after the verb and the two are written separately.

The converb is always stressed, whether it comes before or after the verb.

More examples:

Infinitive לאָמיר אַרײַנגיין!
איך וויל אָנטאָן אַ היטל.
Imperative גיי אַרײַן! גייט אַרײַן!
טו אָן... טוט אָן אַ היטל!
Present Tense איך גיי אַרײַן, דו גייסט אַרײַן, מיר גייען אַרײַן.
זי טוט אָן… איר טוט אָן… זיי טוען אָן אַ היטל.

Position of the Subject / an Adverb / נישט

  • מאָבי, טו אויך אָן אַ שאַל!
  • טו נישט אויס די שאַל!
  • מיר גייען איצט אַרויס.
  • איצט גייען מיר אַרויס.
  • מיר גייען נישט אַרײַן.
  • איצט גייען מיר נישט אַרײַן.

The subject or an adverb may (but does not have to) be placed between the conjugated verb and the converb in the imperative or the present tense. The negative נישט must be placed between the conjugated verb and the converb and is usually right before the converb.

Note:

Verb with converb in present tense מאָבי טוט איצט אָן אַ שאַל.
Modal verb with infinitive מאָבי װיל איצט עסן אַ ציבעלע.
Verb with converb in present tense איצט גײען מיר נישט אַרײַן.
Future tense איצט װעלן מיר נישט לױפֿן.

On word order with modal verbs and in the future tense see ‏3.2 נאָך פּרטים and ‏3.4 נאָך פּריטם. The place of the converb/infinitive in these sentences is “position 7” of the general pattern for word order described in ‏5.3 נאָך פּרטים.

  • When the infinitive in the construction ליב האָבן צו + infinitive has a converb, צו is placed between the converb and the infinitive and all three are written as one word. For example:
    • איך האָב ליב אַרײַנצושפּרינגען אין וואַסער.
    • פּינטל האָט ליב אַרויסצוגיין אין פּאַרק.

For more on ליב האָבן see ‏3.4 נאָך פּרטים.

Grammatical Gender

In lesson 1.2 we learned that every singular noun is associated with an article: די, דער or דאָס. In grammatical terminology, each noun is said to have a gender:

Article דער די דאָס
Gender masculine feminine neutral
Note:
  • Most nouns do not have a biological gender so their grammatical gender has to be learned, for example:
    • דער מאַנטל, די טיי, דאָס בוך.
  • For most nouns with a biological gender the grammatical gender is the same as the biological, for example:
    • דער טאַטע, די מאַמע, דער ברודער, די שוועסטער.
  • However, for some nouns with a biological gender, the grammatical gender differs from the biological. See below “Pronouns and Grammatical Gender -- Exception”.

Pronouns and Grammatical Gender

  • וווּ איז דער מאַנטל? ער איז דאָ.

    Where is the coat? It is here.

  • די טיי איז הייס. זי איז אויך געשמאַק!

    The tea is hot. It is also delicious.

  • איך לייען איצט דאָס בוך. עס איז גוט, אָבער לאַנג.

    I’m reading the book now. It is good, but long.

  • האָסטו אַ שירעם? יאָ, ער איז אין שטוב.

    Do you have an umbrella? Yes, it’s inside.

  • וווּ איז מײַן שאַל? זי איז אין דרויסן.

    Where is my scarf? It’s outside.

  • וווּ איז דײַן היטל? עס איז אויך אין דרויסן.

    Where is your hat? It’s outside too.

A pronoun that replaces a singular noun retains its grammatical gender:

  • דער ← ער
  • די ← זי
  • דאָס ← עס

Exception: if you are talking about a person or animal you can use the pronoun that corresponds to the biological gender of the person or animal, even if the pronoun does not correspond to the grammatical gender of the noun. E.g.

  • איך זע דאָס מיידל. זי הייסט פּערל.
  • איך זע דאָס ייִנגל. ער הייסט מאירקע.
  • דאָס הינטל הייסט פּינטל. ער האָט ליב צו שלאָפֿן.

The Expletive עס

  • עס שײַנט די זון.

    The sun is shining.

  • עס גייט אַ רעגן.

    It’s raining.

  • ס׳איז דאָ אַ קו.

    There is a cow.

  • עס זײַנען דאָ אַ סך ביימער.

    There are many trees.

Why do the sentences above begin with the word עס? Because the conjugated verb must be the second sentence unit (see ‏2.4 נאָך פּרטים). Sometimes — for reasons of idiom or style — the subject is not in the first place and no other sentence unit takes this position. In such a case, the word עס is placed in the first position so that the conjugated verb will be in the second. When עס has this function, it is known as expletive עס.*

If a different sentence unit, such as an adverb or prepositional phrase, takes the first place, the word עס is not required:

  • הײַנט שײַנט די זון.
  • אין דרויסן גייט אַ רעגן.
  • איצט איז דאָ אַ קו.
  • אין פּאַרק זײַנען דאָ אַ סך ביימער.

If the subject takes the first place, the word עס is, of course, also not required:

  • די זון שײַנט.
  • קו איז דאָ.
  • אַ סך בייאַמער זײַנען דאָ.
Note:
  • The weather expressions with גיין seldom have the subject in the first position. The following are common:
    • עס גייט אַ רעגן.
    • איצט גייט אַ רעגן.

    However, אַ רעגן גייט is rare.

  • The pronoun עס (the pronoun that replaces a neutral noun) must always appear, even when it is not the first sentence unit:
    • – וווּ איז דאָס בוך איצט?
      עס איז איצט אין שטוב. / איצט איז עס אין שטוב. .
  • The word עס before the verb is often abbreviated to ס׳ in spoken Yiddish, and the abbreviation is also frequently found in written Yiddish. In 1.3 we saw that עס איז is abbreviated to ס׳איז. Similarly with the weather expressions:
    • ס׳גייט אַ רעגן/שניי.
    • ס׳בלאָזט אַ ווינט.
    • ס׳שײַנט די זון.
  • Apart from the abbreviated form ס׳, there is another variant of עס when it comes before the verb: סע. The latter can be found in both spoken and written Yiddish. It is quite possible that you will hear or read:
    • סע גייט אַ רעגן.
    • סע בלאָזט אַ ווינט.
    • סע שײַנט די זון.
  • When the subject of the verb is a personal pronoun, it is not possible to formulate the sentence with expletive עס. Compare:
Subject in first position Expletive עס
in first position
Adverb in first position
Subject is a noun די זון שײַנט. עס שײַנט די זון. הײַנט שײַנט די זון.
Subject is a personal pronoun [די זון] זי שײַנט.

עס שײַנט זי.

[Construction with expletive עס not possible.]

הײַנט שײַנט זי.

*Note about the term “expletive עס

Certain previous Yiddish grammars, written in Yiddish, use the term פֿיקטיװער סוביעקט [“fictitious subject”] as an equivalent of the English term “expletive עס”. However, most sentences with the expletive עס already have a subject (e.g. “רעגן” in עס גייט אַ רעגן) and to think of the word עס in such sentences as a second, “fictitious” subject may lead to confusion. Thus, like other recent expositions of the subject in English, we use the term “expletive”. Moreover, since “expletive” is an international term used by linguists in a number of languages, we use a verbatim translation of it (דער עקספּלעטיווער עס) in the Yiddish version of נאָך פּרטים.

The Plural Forms ווינטן, רעגנס, שנייען

In the vocabulary section of this lesson’s movie a weather map illustrates the plural forms ווינטן/ רעגנס/ שנייען that shows the location of wind/rain/snow all over the world. In actual usage, however, these plural forms do not indicate geographic distribution, but rather the intensity and frequency of the type of weather in one particular place. For example:

  • שטאַרקע ווינטן בלאָזן לעבן מײַן שטוב.

    The wind is strong near my house.

  • אַ דאַנק די אָפֿטע רעגנס וואַקסן די בלומען גיך.

    Thanks to the frequent rain, the flowers are growing fast.

  • צוליב די שווערע שנייען זײַנען די שולן פֿאַרמאַכט.

    Due to heavy snow, schools are closed.