Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Petr Tomasek <tomasek AT etf.cuni.cz>]

On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 07:53:11AM +0100, Pere Porta wrote:
> We have in Jb 1:5 a QAL Imperfective form of verb (&H, to do, namely "he
> will do"
> And we have in Rt 1:17 a HIPHIL Imperfective form of the same verb, namely
> "he will cause to do"

I don't see any reason why should one translate יַעֲשֶׂה in Rt 1:17 as hifʿīl.

> The same could be said of verb (LH, go up ---> compare Gn 2:6 with Lv 17:8
> 
> 1. Given the identity of forms (Qal = Hiphil) for this type of verb, time
> and person.... are there any clues, is there any device  -besides the
> context, of course- to surely know where/when it is Qal and where/when it is
> Hiphil?

No

> 2. Is context the ONLY way to know it?

Yes. (More precisely: if there are no clues, that it should be the more
complicated form, i.e. hifʿīl, one should translate it as the more simple one,
i.e. qal)

> 3. Are there other verb types having a quite identical form for the Qal
> Imperfect and the Hiphil Imperfect? If yes, which they are (which verb
> type/s, which time/s and/or which person/s)?

E.g. ע״י verbs.

> Regards,
> 
> Pere Porta
> (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain)

-- 
Petr Tomasek <http://www.etf.cuni.cz/~tomasek>
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