Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>]

> >Phrases like "yesterday he say" are few, if any.
> >If Hebrew affixes form aspects, not tenses, then Tanakh--and Hebrew
thought
> >of the time--practically did not employ tenses.
> >
> In most cases the time is clear from the context. For example, the
> entire narrative of a historical book must be past. And in such cases
> there is no need for a specifying adverb, so none is written. Isn't this
> also true of Chinese?
>

I don't know the Chinese stats. You are right about the historical books.
What about, say, Isaiah? No adverbial context spring to mind, yet exegetical
context can prove either past or future.

Vadim Cherny