Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Rolf:

I wonder how many present referent conversations were recorded in Tanakh?

Genesis 3 records one (the second conversation is all past and future
references):

Verse 2: “we eat” Yiqtol.

Verse 5: “God knows” Qatal, “knowing” participle future referent.

Genesis 4:7 RBC could either be a Qatal or a participle, though it is
a present referent, we cannot know for certain its form.

(A question just occurred to me, how many of those verses that we
presently take as participles, may have been Qatals instead?)

Genesis 4:9 “I don’t know” Qatal present, followed by a participle
used as a noun.

Genesis 19:13 M$XTYM if used as a participle is a future referent, if
as a noun can be present.

Genesis 22:12 “I know” Qatal present.

Genesis 29:5 “we know” Qatal present.

I don’t have time right now to continue, but the picture so far shows
that the present is not necessarily indicated by the noun/pronoun with
a participle, rather that the Qatal is widely used. and where we have
a noun/pronoun with a participle it is not necessarily a present. In
other contexts, the present is often referenced with a Yiqtol.
Therefore, my conclusion based on what I have seen so far is that the
present is not grammaticalized with a noun/pronoun with participle
structure.

To be complete, we would need to track down all recorded conversations
and analyze them, but in the incomplete survey so far, it seems as if
the Qatal is used more often than the participle as the verb denoting
a present reference.

Karl W. Randolph.