The Twelfth Principle: An elucidation of nouns in which an additional letter is added beyond the three root letters.

1. Know that the additional letters found in nouns are six in number, and their mnemonic is ha’emaneti. Sometimes they are added at the beginning, sometimes at the end, and sometimes at both the beginning and the end. However, they are added only to nouns that are derived from verbs, as will be explained in the chapter on categories, in the second category. I will now explain them one by one in the remaining principles, that is, each principle corresponding to one of the three root letters.

2. The letter he is not found as an added prefix at the beginning of complete nouns, except in two nouns only, namely ravah and shama. From ravah we find the form harvakhah, and from shama we find lehashma‘at oznayim (Ezekiel 24:26). Aside from these, no other examples occur among complete nouns. However, among nouns that are not complete, additional occurrences are found, as will be explained in their proper places. At the end of nouns, by contrast, three kinds of he are found: some are root letters, some mark the feminine, and some are merely added letters, as I explained in Principle Eight.

3. The letter alef is found as an added letter in many places, and for the most part it is vocalized with a segol, as in etsba, esgav, eshkol, egrof. Sometimes it appears with a pataḥ, as in avnet, avrekh, akhziv. After the letters of amanati there is always a resting sheva. Some nouns in which alef appears have it as a root letter; these belong to the class of four-letter nouns, and I will discuss them in the next treatise, Principle Thirteen. Know further that most nouns formed with an added letter from among the letters of amanati do not take the feminine he ending, except in a few rare cases, such as mishmerah, tifarah, and very few others.

4. Know further that an added alef does not occur at the end of nouns in the Hebrew language. In the language of the Targum, however, it commonly appears, as in malka, avda. Nevertheless, there are cases where alef is a root letter at the end, such as kise and pele; these belong to the class of roots whose third radical is alef (nḥei lamed-alef), and I will explain them there. There are also cases where alef appears in place of he, as in kematra laḥats and karan li mara.

5. The letter mem may be added at the beginning of nouns. For the most part it is pointed with a ḥiriq, followed by a silent sheva, and the final vowel is a qamats, as in mishkan, miqdash. Sometimes it appears with a ḥolam, as in mizmor and mikhlol. When a guttural letter follows the mem, the mem is pointed with a pataḥ, as in maʾakhal and maḥshof. Even without a guttural, such forms may occur, and in those cases they usually appear with doubling in the plural and with suffixes, as in mitʿam, midbar, maḥmad. Thus one says: mitʿamo, midbaro, maḥmადო, mitʿamim, marbadim, maḥmadim. There are also a few doubled forms with a ḥiriq, as from misgav, yielding misgavi. All such doubled forms have pataḥ as their final vowel, but forms ending in a qamats or a ḥolam never take doubling.

6. And you already know that nouns whose final vowel is a qamats change to apataḥ in the construct state, as in miqdash Hashem tameʾ, mishkan Hashem, mikol maʾakhal Parʿoh. Some also appear with a feminine he at the end, with the mem pointed with a ḥiriq, a pataḥ, or a segol, as in milḥamah, mamlakhah, memshalah. In the construct state one says milḥemat Kenaʿan, mamlekhet ʿOg, lememshelet ha-yom. This pattern is also found outside the construct, as in misgeret ṭofaḥ, et ha-migʿeret, or with a ḥolam, as in mishqoleth and maḥagoreth. I have already written their rules in Principle Ten. There are also nouns that appear with an added mem at the end, such as pitʾom and shilshom, though these are few. But the mem that appears at the end of nouns to indicate the plural, as in devarim and zekharim, is not called an added letter but a functional one. It is preceded by a full ḥiriq, that is, with a yod. When such a noun enters the construct state, the mem drops away and the yod remains by itself, and the preceding letter is pointed with a tsere, as in zeqenei and divrei.