Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 21/06/2004 10:52, Dora Smith wrote:

> Oh.  OK.  What I actually wanted to know was what the other languages do for
> plural endings.
>
> If I understand correctly, you are saying that the yim endings in Hebrew
> have nothing to do with the words being in the plural form.   Yet my
> introductory Hebrew texts say precisely that they are only in the plural
> form.
>  

The words are plural in *form*, which implies that for all grammatical
purposes they are plural (but see below). I never said that they weren't 
plural in *form* in Hebrew. The point is rather that they are not plural 
in *meaning*, and that there are no singular forms corresponding to 
these plurals - at least not in Hebrew.

Actually strictly they are not plural but dual in form. Plural forms end 
in stressed -im or -ot. These words end in unstressed -im which forms 
part of the -ayim dual ending. The construct forms of both also 
correspond to a dual form: mey and sh:mey, not mayey or sh:mayey.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/