Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Hi Rolf!

> By "preterite," do you mean "grqmmaticalized past tense," i.e. that 
> the WAYYIQTOL is uncancellable past tense in any context, just as 
> English "went" and "walked"? If so, is it possible to differentiate 
> between "past tense" and "past reference," or are all verbs with past 
> reference preterites?  What about the 103 participles, 34 YIQTOLs and 
> 217 QATALs with past reference in the Aramaic part of Daniel?  Are 
> all these preterites?

I would tend towards your 'grammaticalized past tense' explanation. I'm not 
seeing 'Preterite' as an umbrella term for any verb referring to the past. I 
think it is a specific prefix verbal conjugation. I'm not sure I want to say 
'uncancellable' past tense -- I'll have to chew on that a little. But I am 
saying at least predominantly past tense.

I'm not making this application to anything in Aramaic -- I'm just making 
statements pertaining to Hebrew.


Best regards,

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