Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Trevor & Julie Peterson" <06peterson AT cua.edu>]

Dean wrote:
> 
> i can't wait till i'm fluent in this language, then i might be able to
> understand what you guys are talking about, but it's educational
> anyways...

It's simply a matter of getting a handle on how Hebrew verbs are
inflected. At some point, you had to learn that in English you add -ed
to put a verb in the past. But you also had to learn that the system
isn't completely predictable, because it's not run--runned, but
run--ran. The advantage with what we're talking about in Hebrew is that
there are significant "exceptions" that can really be explained
according to common patterns. When you start with the form you find in
the text, vayya'asehu, it's good to begin looking for the root of the
verb. 'ayin is part of it, because there's no grammatical reason to add
an 'ayin. The same goes for sin. At this point, if you've put some time
in studying vocabulary, the common root 'ayin-sin-yod should come to
mind (or, as I said, you may have learned it as 'ayin-sin-he, since
that's how the dictionaries tend to list it). Even if it doesn't, there
are certain letters you should be suspicious about. A vav as part of the
root is very rare in Hebrew, unless it comes in the middle, in which
case it often drops out anyway. At the beginning of the word, you can
usually count on it being a conjunction or part of the verbal formation.
A yod on the front or after a vav is also likely to be part of the
verbal inflection, rather than the root. Turning to the end of the word,
the -ehu ending should suggest a suffixed pronoun, but even if it
doesn't, both he and vav are suspect. There's a good possibility that
you're dealing with a weak form of some sort here. At this point, the
better you've learned your verb paradigms, the more quickly you can
finish the job (and as I said, vocabulary helps, too). If you can
identify the ending as a suffixed pronoun -ehu, you're left with
vayya'as. Roots with yod as the third radical are one of those
categories where the prefixal forms differ. The basic rule of thumb is
that, if they differ at all, the jussive and narrative forms are shorter
than the imperfect. In the case of III-yod roots, this is usually
realized by the presence of a final vowel marked with he in the
imperfect and the absence thereof in the short forms.

If you're not to the point where you can deal with all of these features
yet, take them one at a time. Learn the pronominal suffixes. They'll
save you a lot of trouble in trying to identify what's going on with all
the letters. Plus, there's a fairly limited set of them, and although
there is some variation, they can usually be identified once you know
what to look for. Learn how the strong verb forms behave (forms where
all three root consonants hang around). Make sure you learn the
inflectional paradigms well. When you're comfortable with that, add the
various weak forms. It takes time, but don't think you have to be truly
fluent to analyze the forms properly. (It doesn't hurt, mind you, but
it's not absolutely necessary.) And of course, keep reading. You'll get
more comfortable with the language over time if you're around it every
day.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics