Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On 3/5/07, Pere Porta wrote:
> I read in an electronic search program (BW) that such a word as YUQAX (Gn
> 18:4) is a passive Qal form. In the same program I read that YUQAM (Gn 4:24)
> is a Hoph'al form.
>
> Vowel and dagesh structure is the same for both.
>
> Then do you think this division (Qal passive <> Hoph'al)  is right for the
> brought two cases?
> What is really Qal passive?  Beside the participle (Katub), are there for
> this Qal passive conjugation all the normal forms or persons, tenses, etc.?
> Is it used in the normal Perfect tense and, if yes, are there some samples
> thereof in the Bible?

Dear Pere,

In the first case, the word yuqqax is from the root  lqx.  This is
also a root where the
piel (the active counterpart to pual) and hiphil (the active
counterpart to hophal)
is not prominent.  It is therefore very likely that this is a Qal passive.

In the second case, the word yuqqam is from the root qwm.  This is a non-
transitive root in the Qal (to "stand") and therefore it is unlikely
to be passive
of the Qal.  In contrast, the Hiphil of the Qal is transitive and has a 
passive.
It is therefore more likely to be a passive of the Hiphil.

Note that the dagesh in the two words is for different reasons.  In
the first, it is
because of the lost root letter.  In the second, it perhaps has to do
with a short
vowel before an originally stressed syllable (it seems to me that the
stress on the
second syllable of yuqqam moves to the first syllable because of nesiga, a 
late
development where the stress on two consecutive syllables is resolved by
displacing the stress on the first one).

Yitzhak Sapir