Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Jack,

> Taking verb root ? aral ? which means ? study ? you can add
> a prefix mag to make the infinitive ? mag-aral.  The verb
> can be then conjugated in the active voice (or Subject
> Focus as is sometimes called) to nag-aral, nag-a-aral, and
> nag-a-aral,

HH: This looks like a typo, since the last two forms above are identical.

>  indicating respectively ? having studied
> (Perfect - action completed), studying (Imperfect - action
> in process), and intending to study (Contemplated -
> intended action).   There  is a different put parallel four
> part conjugation in the passive voice (or Object Focus)- 
> pi-nag-aral-an, pi - nag-a ? aral-an, and pag-aaral.  You
> can think of Tagalog as having two stems.
>
> I have been lead to believe that other, if not all, of the
> Austronesian languages are inflected in terms of aspect but
> not tense but certainly Tagalog is.


                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard