Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Mathias van den Bossche <m.vdb AT free.fr>]

Just a question after this discussion about "to be".

I wonder whether the "prefix verb" conjugation was actually
a true future tense in biblical times. 

I thought this future tense use was a rather modern thing in 
Hebrew. I actually thought this "prefix verb" conjugation was 
in biblical times the way to describe inaccomplished (roughly :
present and future, and also, future in the past) actions, in 
the same way as in other semitic languages (e.g. Arabic). My 
idea was that the future-tense use of this conjugation had 
emerged in contact with non-semitic languages. Am I wrong ?
What are the current trends about this point ?

Thanks 

Mathias van den Bossche - new in the list !
http://occitanet.free.fr