Construct State - Hebrew

Hebrew

In Hebrew grammar, the construct state is known as smikhut (סמיכות, lit. "support" (the noun), "adjacency"). Simply put, smikhut consists of combining two nouns, often with the second noun combined with the definite article, to create a third noun.

בַית — /ˈbajit/ — "(a) house"

הבַית — /ha-ˈbajit/ — "the house"

בֵית — /be(j)t/ — "house-of"

ספר — /ˈsefer/ — "(a) book"

בֵית ספר — /be(j)t ˈsefer/ — "(a) school" (literally "house(-of) book")

בֵית הספר — /be(j)t ha-ˈsefer/ — "the school" (formal; literally "house(-of) the book")

הבֵית ספר — /ha-be(j)t-ˈsefer/ — "the school" (colloquial, high-grade cohesion (bet-sefer as a single lexical unit); literally "the house(-of) book")

עוגה — /ʕuˈɡa/ — "cake" (feminine)

גבינה — /ɡviˈna/ — "cheese"

עוגת גבינה — /ʕuˈɡat ɡviˈna/ — "cheesecake"

דיבור — /diˈbur/ — "speech" (an example of a noun for which the smikhut-form is identical to the regular form)

חופש — /ˈħofeʃ/ — "freedom"

חופש הדיבור — /ˈħofeʃ ha-diˈbur/ — "freedom of speech" (literally "freedom(-of) the speech")