Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

I am still saying that examples from the Hebrew would help greatly in clarifying the difference between tense and aspect. 

As I understand it, a verb is said to possess tense if it can be time framed even if standing alone, as a single word, say שברתי $ABAR-TIY = $ABAR-ATIY, 'I broke, or 'I have broken', as in Jer. 2:20. Am I right? 

Now, in the example above the "suffix" -TI is, in my opinion, the personal pronoun אתי ATIY, an obsolete variant of אני ANIY. Namely, this pronominal addendum is not a universal time marker per se, but is merely conventionally and specifically (ad hocly) used here as such. Hence, there need be no similar time reference in the same (same!) pronominal suffix -TIY of the form W-$ABAR-TIY, as in Lev. 26:19, which, indeed, clearly refers a future action. Am I right?

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On May 12, 2013, at 2:28 AM, Rolf wrote:

Tense signals the position of the event in the past, present, and future, and aspect makes visible a part of the event and keeps the rest invisible