Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <gathas AT hotkey.net.au>]

Hi Tony!

I think it's best not to use concepts from Greek to understand Hebrew 
concepts -- it can become quite messy and lead you astray. The preterite is a 
past tense which in Hebrew, when packaged with waw, has a particular 
narrative function. The construction WAW + PRETERITE adds momentum to a 
narrative and serves to advance the plot. This makes it slightly different to 
the Greek Aorist.


Best regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Lecturer in Biblical Languages
Southern Cross College
Sydney, Australia


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tony Costa 
  To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org 
  Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 4:54 AM
  Subject: [b-hebrew] Preterite


  Dear friends, can someone clarify whether the preterite in biblical Hebrew 
functions in the same was the aorist tense functions in biblical Greek? The 
aorist functions as the simple passive or as the undefined past. Thank you.

  Tony Costa
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