FIRST ARAMAIC · 3 OF 5
As it is written
Recognize the words that introduce Scripture and a quoted teaching, then separate an Aramaic frame from its Hebrew quotation.
In this lesson
Recognize who is speaking
The Gemara, our sages’ discussion of the Mishnah and other teachings, often quotes words and then examines them. A few recurring Aramaic forms help you recognize that movement. We will read the frame around two quotations from Berakhot 2a, the first side of folio 2 in the Babylonian Talmud’s tractate Berakhot.
The Shema is our morning and evening recitation of Torah passages. The opening discussion asks what obligation the Mishnah assumes and why its evening teaching comes first. Here the task is to read the language that joins an answer to its source.
Carry forward קאי, “stands” or, in this discussion, “relies,” and תנא, the teacher formulating the Mishnah. Read the small chunks before joining them into a sentence.
Read the written-source marker
כתיב means “it is written.” In דכתיב, the attached ד links that expression to the preceding words: “as it is written” or “where it is written,” according to the sentence. Read the whole form as a familiar signal before analyzing its parts.
קרא here means Scripture or the scriptural verse. אקרא means “on Scripture.” The initial letter belongs to that expression; it is not a separate quoted word.
תנא אקרא קאי דכתיב בשכבך ובקומך
The teacher relies on Scripture, where it is written, “When you lie down and when you rise.”
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva; punctuation is editorial
Worked reading. תנא names the teacher; אקרא קאי tells us what he relies on; דכתיב introduces the evidence. The final two words are Hebrew from the Torah. The change of language accompanies a change from discussion to quotation.
1. Which letters do you remove to see “it is written” inside דכתיב?
Remove the initial ד; the remaining כתיב means “it is written.” Read the full דכתיב in its sentence as “where/as it is written.”
2. Where does the Torah quotation begin?
It begins with בשכבך, “when you lie down,” after דכתיב. The teacher’s reliance on Scripture is the Gemara’s explanation; “when you lie down and when you rise” is the quoted Torah wording.
Read the teaching marker
Now compare קתני, “he teaches,” with כתיב, “it is written.” The forms look different and do different jobs. דקתני can introduce what a teaching says: “where he teaches” or “which teaches.” Here “he” is the teacher presenting the Mishnah; the word does not supply a personal name.
In the next excerpt, אי הכי means “if so,” and סיפא means “the later passage.” We will examine “if so” in the next lesson. For now, find the quoted teaching.
אי הכי סיפא דקתני בשחר מברך שתים לפניה ואחת לאחריה
If so, the later passage, where he teaches, “In the morning one recites two blessings before it and one after it…”
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva; punctuation is editorial
This excerpt stops partway through the challenge. “It” in the quoted Mishnah means the Shema. The full challenge also quotes the evening blessing count and asks why that passage does not put evening first.
3. Which marker introduces a Mishnah quotation here, rather than a Torah verse?
דקתני introduces the Mishnah wording. The preceding example used דכתיב for Scripture. The quoted words and their identified source confirm the difference.
4. Does קתני tell you the name of the teacher?
No. Here it says “he teaches” without supplying a personal name. סיפא identifies the later passage being discussed, not a sage named Sifa.
Give the small prefix its contextual meaning
The attached ד can make different connections. In these two forms it links a claim or passage to what follows. Do not mechanically replace every ד with the English word “because.” Let the whole expression and sentence determine the English.
Compare two useful reading chunks: דכתיב — “as/where it is written”; דקתני — “where he teaches.” Keep the rest of each form visible. The initial letter alone cannot tell you whether the following words cite Scripture or report a teaching.
5. Repair “דכתיב and דקתני both mean because, so their difference does not matter.”
The forms include different words: כתיב is “it is written,” while קתני is “he teaches.” Here the attached prefix links the surrounding discussion to written or taught words. Keeping those distinctions helps locate the kind of evidence being quoted.
Reconstruct the boundary yourself
Close the two English renderings. Copy each line below and place a slash where the Hebrew quotation begins. Underline the word that announces it. Then give an English account of the frame without translating the quotation itself.
תנא אקרא קאי דכתיב בשכבך ובקומך
אי הכי סיפא דקתני בשחר מברך שתים לפניה ואחת לאחריה
For the second line, use the supplied meanings “if so” and “the later passage.” This is an exercise in recognizing the frame, not in memorizing the blessing count.
6. Compare your first boundary and frame.
תנא אקרא קאי דכתיב / בשכבך ובקומך. The frame says that the teacher relies on Scripture and introduces what is written there.
7. Compare your second boundary and frame.
אי הכי סיפא דקתני / בשחר מברך שתים לפניה ואחת לאחריה. The frame begins “If so” and identifies a later teaching whose words follow. The Torah frame and this Mishnah frame belong to different parts of the discussion.
Return to the forms
Next session, write דכתיב and דקתני from memory, identify their different endings, and give one source type each introduced here. Then reopen a source card and locate the quotation boundary.
8. What should your recall preserve?
כתיב means “it is written”; קתני means “he teaches.” Their attached ד belongs to the connecting frame. The first example cites Torah; the second quotes Mishnah. Recognizing a marker begins the reading; the words after it identify the actual evidence.
Read the surrounding discussion
Berakhot 2a supplies both excerpts. What does “from when” assume? follows the first answer; When an explanation meets a challenge follows the complete objection. Continue with If so, and another answer.