Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Maurice A. O'Sullivan" <mauros AT iol.ie>]

At 21:59 14/10/02, you wrote:

> Can anyone tell me why there is a nun-soffit
> atttached to the end of ywk:lwn (Gen 43:32) a waw
> consecutive imperative 3rd person masc form of
> ykl--to be able.

Bob:
I think you have got the parsing wrong.
This is the 3rd person, masc., plural, Qual imperfect of the verb 
yod-kaph-lamed.

But if it is any consolation to you, "A Hebrew Reference Grammar" notes:

>>The imperfect and infinitive construct of the stative verb yod-kaph-lamed
 (he is able), which occurs only in the Qal, are completely irregular. 
They conjugate as if they are Hophal imperfect forms <<

This goes back a long way in the history of Hebrew, which is why the more 
extensive grammars deal with the Peh-Yod and Peh-Waw ( or I-Yod and I-Waw, 
in the more modern terminology ) verbs and the "cross-overs" between them, 
under one heading.

But as for the nun ending, Gesenius-Kautsch at 47m discusses this ending by 
saying;
>> Instead of the plural forms in shurek.... there are, especially in the 
older books, more than 300 fuller endings with the _nun paragocicum_, 
always bearing the tone ......<snip>  <<

Hope this helps.

Maurice


Maurice A. O'Sullivan  [ Bray, Ireland ]
mauros AT iol.ie