Finding All of the Monovalent Verbs in the Hebrew Bible

Question

Is it possible to construct a search that finds all of the Monovalent verbs in the Hebrew Bible AND ONLY those verbs? Any ideas?

Brian Leathers · Answer

From my Logos All search;

Monovalent verbs in Hebrew require a single complement—the subject—with examples including חָרַשׁ (to be silent) and מֵת (to die)[1]. In a monovalent construction, the verb takes only a subject with no additional verbal phrase complement[2], as illustrated by the expression “Therefore my heart rejoices” (Psalm 16:9)[2].

The distinction between monovalent and other valency patterns becomes significant when analyzing Hebrew binyanim (verb stems). A passive Niphal frequently reduces valency by converting a bivalent Qal verb into a monovalent form—for instance, where a bivalent construction means “X hit Y,” the corresponding Niphal expresses “Y was hit”[3]. The root עשׂה demonstrates this pattern: the Qal form is bivalent (“he did x”), while the Niphal נעשׂה is monovalent (“it was done”)[4].

An important complication arises with implicit complements. The verb אמר (to say) may appear monovalent syntactically, functioning like English “speak” rather than “say,” and can be described as syntactically monovalent with an implicit complement, even though the patient complement is semantically supplied in a subsequent clause[5]. Many verbs naturally elicit implicit complements independent of context—for example, “bake” implies baking bread or pastry, and “eat” implies ingesting something edible[4].

Additionally, some monovalent verbs require a prepositional phrase with לְ (lə-) as their sole complement rather than a noun phrase, such as the Biblical Hebrew verb חָרָה (to become angry)[1]. This demonstrates that monovalency encompasses structural variety beyond simple subject-only patterns.

[1] Michael Malessa, “Valency,” in Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics, ed. Geoffrey Khan (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2013), 3:893.

[2] W. Dennis Tucker Jr., Jonah: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text, ed. W. Dennis Tucker Jr., Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2018), 4.

[3] John Screnock and Robert D. Holmstedt, Esther: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text, ed. W. Dennis Tucker Jr., Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2015), 4.

[4] Robert D. Holmstedt, John A. Cook, and Phillip S. Marshall, Qoheleth: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text, ed. W. Dennis Tucker Jr., Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2017), 7–8.

[5] John A. Cook, Aramaic Ezra and Daniel: A Handbook on the Aramaic Text, ed. W. Dennis Tucker Jr., Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2019), 6–7.

From Logos Study Assistant:

These terms are closely related but not identical. Monovalent verbs require one argument—a subject[1], while intransitive (or monovalent) verbs express an action that does not act upon anything else, so they do not take a complement[2]. The key distinction lies in how these frameworks categorize verbs.

The relationship between the two concepts becomes clearer when you understand that valency and transitivity operate on different principles. Transitivity deals primarily with the number of direct objects and indirect objects rather than complements, while valency is considered better suited to the description of Hebrew grammar[1]. This means a monovalent verb—defined purely by its argument structure—will typically be intransitive, but the converse isn’t necessarily precise when using strict valency terminology.

Monovalent verbs include stative Qal forms, Niphal, Pual, and Hophal[1], all of which are intransitive in the traditional sense. However, the valency framework is more technically precise because it focuses on the complete argument structure required for semantic completeness, whereas intransitivity is defined more narrowly as the absence of a direct object. In practice, for Hebrew grammar, scholars increasingly favor valency terminology because it provides a more systematic way to describe how verbs structure their syntactic environments across different binyanim (verb stems).

[1] John Screnock and Robert D. Holmstedt, Esther: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text, ed. W. Dennis Tucker Jr., Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2015), 4–5.

[2] Eric J. Tully, Hosea: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text, ed. W. Dennis Tucker Jr., Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2018), 5.

Not all intransitive Hebrew verbs are Monovalent.

Dick Roberts · Answer

is monovalent the same as intransitive?

Brian Leathers · Answer

If this helps, I wanted to see if Logos could find those rare Hebrew verbs that have no complements:

Like this particular kind of search, if that helps.