Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>]

>> ?? Both in common definition and in the specialized SIL definition,
>> I understand "tense" to refer to time. So where does this timeless
>> "tense" come from?
>
> There is no "timeless" tense!

Exactly, (as long as understood by each author's definitions)
nor was the original comment claiming such.

The discussion on this point has been generated from a misreading
my comment:
> It is useful in describing the Hebrew verb because it is NEUTRAL.
> Similarly to why people talk about the "suffix tense"//"prefix tense",
> except that in these latter cases the word 'tense' does not
> necessarily refer to time but to generically to a verb category that
> marks some kind of tense-and/or-aspect-and/or-mood.

In that comment the phrase "suffix tense" referred to a FORM,
a verb cateogry based on form, not a semantic value.
And the following phrase, "in these latter cases ['suffix tense'//
'prefix tense'--RB] the word 'tense' does not necessarily refer to time",
was a qualifier to prevent exactly the kind of unnecessary discussion
that has followed in this thread.
"Oh bother," said Pooh.
Likewise, the phrase "tense-and/or-aspect/and-or mood" was
designed to include whatever theory someone wanted to attribute
to Hebrew.

Let's at least follow the English correctly, even when it is phrased
differently from how one would choose themselves. (I did not
invent the use of 'verb tense' to refer to a verb form. You will find
many a beginning grammar or study where the word 'tense' is
frequently used to refer to verb forms in general. E.g. Lambdin,
p38 refers to "the Hebrew tenses" where it is clear in the context
of his book that he is thinking of these "tenses" as the none other
than Perfect and Imperfect.)

If someone wants to know where I stand, please refer to my
"The Hebrew Verb: A Short Syntax". There is no point in trying to
summarize and inevitably scramble the English descriptions on a
public list that is prone to generating long discussions through
misreadings of English.

-- 
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth AT gmail.com
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