Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Stoney Breyer" <stoneyb AT touchwood.net>]

Vadim -

You appear to be under the impression that "I (you, he, etc) will X" is
"the future tense" of the English verb X.

It is not. It is an idiom compounding the base form of the verb "will"
with the base form of the verb X. This idiom may, but need not, be used
in future-reference contexts; it may, but need not, imply future
reference.

I reiterate: English utterances have tense; English verbs do not, no
matter what the textbooks say.

Stoney Breyer
Writer/Touchwood, Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-

RE: [b-hebrew] tenses - Deut1:44Spanish and English use the future
tense, inter alia, for:

- future reference
- imperative (you will do it)
- probable present (I would think, he is at home now)
- hypothetical future tense (I would rather be skiing)