Makef In Aramaic

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On many occasions in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), what looks somewhat like a hyphen or small horizontal stroke is used to join two or more Hebrew or Aramaic words together into one syntactic unit. This horizontal stroke is called Makef.

Makef is used when two or more words are so closely related that they should be regarded as a single semantic unit for the purpose of stress and accent. This is discussed more fully under the lessons on Cantillation. When reading Aramaic from the Tanakh, however, the word is pronounced the same way with or without the Makef.

Here are some examples of Makef from the first few verses of Genesis:

  on the surface of [the water], Genesis 1:2

  and there was light, Genesis 1:3

  that it was good, Genesis 1:4

  and it was evening, and it was morning, Genesis 1:5

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