Nouns in biblical Hebrew are either in an absolute state, in which its meaning is independent of another noun, or in a construct state in which its meaning is dependent on another noun to which it is bound. In the Hebrew language there is no word equivalent to the English 'of'. To say, e.g., "the house of a man" or "a man's house," beth-'ish, one would ordinarily juxtapose the two nouns (sometimes joined by a hyphen-like sign called a maqqep). In this expression (called a construct chain) the first noun is said to be in the construct state, and the second in the absolute state. The form of the noun in the construct state undergoes changes governed by recognizable principles that all Hebrew students are required to master.
A construct chain can consist of several nouns, e.g., "the house of the man of valour of Jerusalem". In such a chain, all but the last nouns would be in the construct state.
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