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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Tenses and aspects; was: footnotes

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Vadim Cherny <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Tenses and aspects; was: footnotes
  • Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 14:21:01 +0100

On 09/08/2005 13:49, Vadim Cherny wrote:

...


Present tense with the past reference is "говорю", "I say" in the sense "I
was telling."


OK, so this is a kind of historic present, a reasonably common construction in several languages (I'm not sure about Hebrew), linked with a displacement of the deictic centre back to the time of the events. As you say,

... It is about emphasis, re-living the events.


And if the verb in the main clause is past, does the verb in the

subordinate clause remain future?


Often, but not necessarily. I guess, an excited person in the emphatic
speech is lax about grammar. Future-present combination is common;
past-present is less so ("every time I met him, I say him"); future-past is
also rare ("every time as I will meet him, I told him"); present (with
participle) - present is also encountered ("every time as I meet him, I tell
him").


OK, so we are talking about informal non-standard speech. That helps to explain things. And the same kinds of things do happen in English, but not entirely freely. Of course we might doubt the relevance of this to biblical Hebrew.

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





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