Teaching Shva Rules

1/18/2013

There are five main rules when a Shva is a Shva Nah (a 'moving’ Shva, meaning it is pronounced, and not ‘blended’ with the preceding letter). Most teach the rules this way:

א)First – if the Shva appears as the first letter of the word, it is always a Shva Nah. ב)Two - If there are two Shvas in a row in the middle of a word, the second one is a Shva Nah. (If two Shvas appear at the end of a word, as in the word אַנְתְּ, they are both a Shva Nach.) ג) Gedolah – A Shva appearing directly after a Tenuah Gedolah is a Shva Nah. ד) Dagesh – A Shva under a letter with a Dagesh is a Shva Nah. ה) HaDomos – When two same letter appear next to each other, and the first one has a Shva, it is a Shva Nah, as in the word Hinine (הנני).

I would like to pose a question for Kriah Rebeim and Moros to ponder: Is it really necessary to expend so much time and energy on this Limud? Most modern day Siddurim are printed with a line above any Shva is a Shva Nah (except when at the beginning of a word, where it is unnecessary, since by nature it must be pronounced as a Shva Nah). Therefore, why bother loading the children with these rules when they will be better served by teaching them to look if it has a line above it or not?

I will qualify this a bit. There are two Shva Nah rules which seemingly can be taught very easily, and one that is a bit harder, but still relatively easy. Rules one and two are really quite easy. As mentioned before, rule one is natural. If the Shva is the first letter of the word, it must be pronounced. Thus, teaching this rule is a no-brainer. Rule two is also quite easy. Although when there are two Shvas at the end of the word, they are both pronounced as a Shva Nach, as in the word אַנְתְּ,when two Shvas appear in the middle of a word, it is more natural to ‘blend’the first one (make it Nach), and pronounce the second one (make it Nah). Thus, these two rules are simple. Rule five (HaDomos) is also not too difficult. When you have two the same letter, and the first one has a Shva, it would be difficult to make it into a Shva Nach. Therefore, teaching that it is a Shva Nah is simple enough.

This brings us to rules three and four. Rule three is quite difficult, since the difference between Tenuah Gedolah and Tenuah Ketanah is a hard concept for youngsters. (MODERATOR: See post “To Nuah or not To Nuah, That is the Question” in the Kriah Roundtable by K. Gross) Therefore, teaching this rules would pose great difficulty, and I question if it is necessary, since looking for the line above the letter would do the trick. Rule four is not too difficult, since it is simple to look for the Dagesh. However, once looking, why not look for the line? In addition, some children do not realize that the Pintel (dot) in the Bais, Kof, Pay and Tof is considered a Dagesh. However, a line is a line is a line, etc.

And your opinion is . . .

K. Gross

9 Comments

A. Blau

1/26/2013 03:06:49 pm

As far as the siddurim that mark the Shva Na with a line on top, I wonder if they asked Da'as Torah about changing a Mesorah. Kadmonim write that the symbol for a letter to be Rafah, meaning without a Dagesh and to be pronounced softly, is a line on top of the letter. Who authorized the publishing companies to change the Mesorah and use the symbol for a Shva Na?? I'm pretty sure the preferred method of marking a Shva Na is to use the symbol of a larger Shva, which allows it to remain a Shva, albeit bigger. This way, we can leave the Mesorah intact, and still accomplish the goal of marking the Shva NA.

Rochie link

7/14/2015 06:15:19 am

I dont think relying on the siddur markings is a just cause for omitting teaching these rules as the children need to be able to read text correctly from anywhere - Chumashim do not have these markings.

As you mentioned the first two rules are easy - why not teach it to them as a rule so the children understand what is being done and are not guessing.

The other rules you mentioned are easy as well if taught properly.
Rule 3 - after a תנועה גדולה - our school has compromised and only taught the shuruk in the beginning of a word. The decision was made because checking to see what type of vowel preceded the Shva - would slow the child down and it would greatly affect fluency.

Rule 4 - דגש - We included the siddur markings into this rule - so when they see the markings - it supersedes all rules and assists in fluency.

Rule 5 - Double letters - very important if not read correctly - the letter will not be heard and it will be lost. Explaining it in this manner helps the child remember and understand the importance of the rules.

M. Akerman

12/2/2015 12:05:11 pm

I see many mistakes in siddurim that officially put a mark over a sh'va nah so relying on it is risky. For example I have found numerous siddurim with a line over the mem in Lamenatzeach but it doesn't fall under any rule of sh'vah nah.Also- using your picture above -since the kamatz is a tenuah gedolah why woudn't the first shva also be a nah?

Avi Goldstein

6/11/2017 12:14:34 am

You are wrong to that the shva under this mem is nach. The mem should, by standard rules, have a dagesh chazak, and the shva would then be na. Sometimes the mem (and the lamed as well) drop this dagesh chazak. One can then debate the status of the shva, but it may very well remain na (Hamevorach is another example).

K. Klien

12/8/2015 03:57:52 pm

I am not sure LaMInatzeach is a mistake. The LA is like a Hey Hayedia which should cause the Mem to get a Dagesh, Although the Mem there cannot get a Dagesh, I forget why, some say it is nevertheless Na same for Hamivorach. I may be wrong, if I am please correct me with a Mareh Makom.

Shulamit

3/11/2019 01:47:22 pm

I'd like to go back to the original question with a question of my own. Namely, while the first letter of a word with a shva is generally pronounced (shva nah), often it isn't. For example: in the eser makot, in the word "tzfardea" (frogs) the tzadi and the fay are blended together. The reason I'd like to know if there are rules around this is that I am currently teaching a child on the Asperger's spectrum who relies on hard and fast rules and has great difficulty with "exceptions". Other than perhaps teaching him the rule of the first letter and letting him read with a mistake (with might be the best way to avoid headaches), is there an actual rule about some of these exceptions? (As I'm writing, "tzedkah" and another makah '-- sh'chin" also come to mind as exceptions to this rule. By the way, I read and teach with a sephardic i.e. modern Hebrew inflection.) Thanks for any advice!!

K. Klein

3/12/2019 12:01:53 am

Actually, it should be tzifardeah and Shicheen. Pay attention during Kiriat (another example) HaTorah with any knowledgable and careful Ba'al Kiriyah and you will hear it as such. In modern Ivrit the rules of shva na are often and blatantly ignored, as they often are in common speech.

Shteiging

11/12/2019 10:06:13 pm

I actually heard but did not see that Rabbi Lenschitz in Mafteach HaDeles explains that Shva Nach has the tenuah before it resting on it, whereas Shva Na means that it runs into the next tenuah so Tzifardea etc. would be correct...

A Dweck

4/22/2020 11:56:36 pm

Although many of the above comments raise good points, I believe there is another perhaps more fundamental issue with relying on the "big dots" or the line on top. Many times there is more to it then the EH sound the Sheva Na will make. There is also the concept of Milera and Mile'el. For example: two very similar words AMECHA and AMECHA (one has a segol under the mem and one the mem has a dagesh and a sheva). The one with the segol is mile'el and it would sound amEcha whereas the one with the sheva will be milera and would sound ameCHA. One who is relying on the siddur to indicate when the sheva is na would never pick up on this. Sadly I hear this all the time from shalichei tzibbur who never learned the right way.

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