Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Andrew C Smith <a.c.smith AT juno.com>]

I personally think that the Hebrew language DOES HAVE verbs. But I also
think that we can sometimes learn by following up on a bizarre
hypothesis.

Let's say that there are no verbs in Hebrew. How do we then explain the
text?

We know that present tense sentences sometimes omit the verb "to be" when
it is used as a simple subject/predicate copula between two nouns or
between a noun and a pronoun.

Ex.: HOO TALMID
he [is] a student

Now, if we take more complex sentences with other verbs, we can construe
them as such "noun" sentences, with the alleged "verb" being an adjective
substantialized into a noun.

Ex.: HOO HALAK
with verb: he walks
without verb: he [is] the presently walking one.

Such "nouns" would be tensed, which is quite odd, but not without
precedent in other languages (cf. Japanese "tensed" adjectives) (and cf.
German: "der Ausgebildete" vs. "der Auszubildende").

The German example above really illustrates the point well. If German had
the luxury of omitting the verb "to be" in the present time/tense, as
Hebrew does, then German could function almost entirely without verbs,
given these "tensed" participle/adjectives substantivized into nouns.

As I said, I personally don't believe that Hebrew is "verbless", but the
above argumentation illustrates how someone might arrive at the
conclusion that it is verbless.

A.C. Smith

a.c.smith AT juno.com
http://www.lcms.org
http://www.lcms.com
http://www.geocities.com/athens/acropolis/5680







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