Add-on letters and grammar clues

In his words

Hebrew and Aramaic attach the little words as letters. He drills them as part of translating: ha is "the", vav is "and", shin (in Aramaic, dalet) is "that", mem is "from". What's a yud at the beginning of a word? He will. 34:21 He also points out word pairs that are the same word in the two languages: Mahu is Hebrew, ma is Aramaic, same word. 38:10

His point is that the two languages share one structure: the Aramaic dalet does exactly what the Hebrew shin does. But it's exactly the same. That's what I'm trying to tell you. 30:53

Worked example from a class

In mi-medinas hayam the mem is an add-on letter, "from" (32:20); in she-yomar the shin is "that" and the yud makes it future, "he should say" (34:21); u-v'fanai differs from b'fanai only by the vav, "and". In the beginners' class: an aleph-nun ending added to a word, he says, means "an" (8:42).

Hear him teach it

407 moments found so far in 342 transcribed classes; more appear as transcription continues. Tap one to play from that moment.

1. Westwood · Beginner class, Nov 16, 2011 · 38:10“Mahu is Hebrew, ma is Aramaic, same word.”Points out the Hebrew/Aramaic pair mahu and mai.
2. Westwood · Beginner class, Nov 21, 2011 · 2:46“No, the Dalet is not an add-on letter, it's part of the word.”He corrects a student who treated the dalet of dilma as a prefix.
3. Westwood · Beginner class, Nov 28, 2011 · 38:48“Bizuto, now here the base is an add-on letter and the real word is zuto.”Separates the prefix letter from the root word to translate it.
4. Westwood · Beginner class, Nov 30, 2011 · 2:38“So, the beis, as an add-on letter, could mean in here, it means by.”The prefix beis can mean 'in' or 'by'; here it means 'by'.
5. Westwood · Beginner class, Dec 7, 2011 · 42:36“The first two letters add on letters and the chaf means like.”Kaf = like and dalet = that/of in 'kid'Rabbi Yitzchak'.
6. Westwood · Advanced class, Dec 9, 2011 · 13:18“the dalet is that of, the mem is from, and the word is ikoro, so it's that of, from, before.”Breaking 'deme'ikara' into its prefix letters to translate it literally.
7. Westwood · Beginner class, Dec 12, 2011 · 33:37“Now, the dollar doesn't add a letter, so it means? That.”Shows that the prefix dalet means 'that' when translating d'yakirei.
8. Westwood · Beginner class, Dec 14, 2011 · 5:39“Well, the mem is part of the word. So it's just knowing.”Shows when a letter is part of the root rather than a prefix.
9. Westwood · Beginner class, Dec 19, 2011 · 20:09“And in every. Mok-on-place. That's why you can't say all. Because it's singular.”Uses the singular noun to decide that 'kol' must be translated 'every', not 'all'.
10. Westwood · Beginner class, Dec 28, 2011 · 5:52“the Mem and the Shin are add-on letters. You got that right away. So Mem is an add-on letter means? From.”Breaks mishe'yelchu into prefix letters: mem = from, shin = that.