Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

I'm not sure how relevant this is to John's question, but (as Rolf 
pointed out recently in a separate thread) it seems that many 
languages including Hebrew use a past form in irrealis conditional 
sentences, and also in ones where the condition is only implied. In 
English one can even say "Tomorrow's meeting would/could have been 
difficult" (in the context that we have just heard that some problem 
has been solved). Similarly one could translate Genesis 18:12 with a 
"Could I...?" type question - past in form. So perhaps the suffix 
tense here is this past form with irrealis meaning.

Peter Kirk