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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] ואילילה Micah 1:8

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  • From: Chris Watts <dekruidnootjes AT eircom.net>
  • To: Mike Burke <michaelgburk AT yahoo.com>
  • Cc: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] ואילילה Micah 1:8
  • Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 12:14:39 +0100

It is difficult to sometimes to fit another language inot our catagorical boxes of what we are brought up with, when we try to do this and it does not fit, then that leads to a mental block in understanding meaning and nuances in the host langauge. I agree that we must translate hebrew into 'tense' or 'aspekt' since this is 'normal' and without that we are left bewildered by the hebrew language. However, I prefer now not to see tense, but rather 'perpective'. Essentially which part of the sentence the writer considers as having been set down as complete and 'immoveable' and which part of the sentence is still 'ongoing'. Some call this completed action and incomplete action, and the verbs written according to one of these two 'perspectives'

The funny things is, I agonised over tense and aspekt and the myriads of pages grammarinas have written about this phenomena in hebrew for months, for me, they over- complicated the issue. The simple fact is that just like in dutch, we baggage up the verbs at the end of sentence and action is usually thrown towards the end of a sentence like a motorway pile-up of infinitives, hebrew has its cultural perspective, complete or incomplete. The incomplete having to be transferred into either future or present and the complete into past. As a sort of simple way to explain, and I wish grammar books would explain in reality and not in high un-reacheable langusitic concepts, let's say that I wanted to write the following: The earth will burn up and the people will tremble and fall, In hebrew this would most likely be said as: The earth burned up and the peolple will tremble and fall. This is an over simplification and there are a few more combinations but this, hopefully, introduces you to the perspective from which, in those days, the hebraic mindset wrote and spoke. Modern hebrew of course has the three tenses now, but biblical hebrew spoke with two distinct forms only and then varying combinations of these two distinct forms would communicate the past present and future in their evryday lives.

Chris Watts
Ireland



On 21 Jul 2013, at 04:14, Mike Burke wrote:

But I didn't think there was a future tense in Hebrew?



Michael Gerard Burke






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