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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] tenses - Ex 3:14

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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 - Ex 3:14
  • Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 12:00:44 +0100

On 19/09/2005 11:35, Vadim Cherny wrote:

Present tense
Genesis 32:32 "the children of Israel do not eat"


would not eat
Grammatical future tense is used for repeated or continuous action.


This is not future in English or Hebrew.

Genesis 37:15 "What seekest thou?"


literary, What would you seek
This seems to parallel Spanish probable present, "I would say, he is at home
now"


Not future, we seem to agree.

...

Past tense
Judges 11:40 "the daughters of Israel went from year to year"


Annually, the daughters of Israel would go
past continuous


So, your "future tense" is past continuous or habitual, in several examples (snipped).

...

Nowm we may argue whether deictic shift is behind idiomatic usage of future
tense for past continuous. It well might be: narrators transposed to the
beginning of sequence, or even to its cause. ...


Can you provide any evidence at all for such a deictic shift?

... The point, however, is that past continuous sense of "would do" does not
impeach English tenses, and neither should similar use impeach Hebrew
tenses.


Well, if you point is that the English "would" form and the Hebrew YIQTOL can be used here, that is of course true. But because these verb forms are used regularly for past continuous and habitual events, neither of them is a future tense.

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



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