Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Randall

On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 10:27 AM, Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>wrote:

> Kevin:
> > What I learned in class is that both perfects and imperfects can have a
> > past, present and future tense.  ...  Watts' book
> > suggests the aspect notion over time/tense. He says perfects are
> completed
> > action and imperfects are continuous action.
>
> Kevin, you might want to ponder on a BH datum:
>
> Clauses with maHar 'tomorrow' never have 'qatal' or wayyiqtol' as
> the main verb. Zero out of 52. That is fairly significant statistical
> evidence that is against the prediction of 'aspect-only' or 'modal-
> only' theories of the Hebrew verb.
>

I’m away on an extended trip that should last weeks, away from my reference
materials, other than the files on my computer.

You need to be more careful. For example Numbers 16:16 the main verb
connected with מחר is היו which is Qatal (ויאמר משה אל קרח אתה וכל עדתך היו
לפני יהוה אתה והם ואהרן מחר). Or again, in Numbers 33:33 wayiqtol ויסעו מחר
הגדגד ויחנו ביטבתה.

You also need to consider when a Qatal is used, namely for a simple
nominative sentence, and that a Yiqtol is used to indicate intent,
subjunctive and imperative. Even in English, how often is “tomorrow”
connected with a simple nominative? Almost never. And the wayiqtol
indicating a follow-up, secondary clause to a nominative verb, also would
seldom be connected with “tomorrow” for the same reason.

>
> …
> Randall Buth
>
> --
> Randall Buth, PhD
> www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
> Biblical Language Center
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>

Karl W. Randolph.