More midterm

Just a couple more things to look for in the first three days of Genesis 1.

When you see a vav - ו - in front of a verb look to see what vowel is underneath it.
If it is a pathah - וַ - and the verb is an imperfect verb (one with a prefix such as י, א, ת) it is a vav conversive and you will give a translation that is "past" instead of "future" because of the vav conversive. You still will add the conjunction "and" in your translation to account for the vav.
If this vav - וַ - is in front of a perfect verb it is just the conjunction "and" so the tense is not "converted."

If the vowel under the vav is a shevah - וְ - and the verb is a perfect (one with no prefix) it is a vav conversive and you will give a translation that indicates "future" instead of "past" because of the vav conversive. Again, you still will add the conjunction "and" in your translation to account for the vav. (note: look for this in verse 14 and 15)
If this vav - וְ - is in front of a perfect verb it is just the conjunction "and" so the tense is not "converted."

A prefixed lamed - ל - is usually the prepostion "to" or "for." (note: there is an infinitive construct in verse 18)

Midterm Information

I'm hoping this works. My FTP server is down temporarily so this is a link to Dr. Staats talking about the midterm in class:


Midterm Info

Let me know if there are problems.
If not, I'll post the audio of the whole class.

Study

A student asked me to put up some "study aids" for the upcoming Hebrew midterm.

Here are a few, "off the top of my head" thoughts about parsing and taking the test.

Dr. Staats has been so gracious to allow the use of two different color pens so that you can do part of the exam from memory and part with tools. My thinking is you cannot do yourself any harm by trying to do what you can from memory first, and then filling in what you need tools for with another color pen. Just leave yourself room on the paper for what you think you will need to add. Do all you can from memory first. You can do more than you now think you can.

Simple things you could get:

וַיֹּאמֶר אֳלֹהִים

This is a Qal imperfect 3ms (note the י prefix after the ו) with a vav conversive from the root אָמַר (he said) so the imperfect "he will say" is turned over by the vav conversive making it "and he said" --- What follows then is the masculine plural noun which means "God," so a literal, wooden translation would be "And he said God" with God being the speaker. In English we put the noun first so a smooth English translation would be "And God said"

This appears multiple times. Put this parsing in your mind and you will get it right each time it comes up in the text.

וַיּ appears in front of other verbs also multiple times in the text for the exam.

Whenever you see it you know it is a Qal imperfect 3m with a vav conversive.
This form will appear with "he said," "he called," "he saw."

יְהִי this is a Qal imperfect/jussive 3ms from הָיָה (he/it was) "let there be"

I may add more if I can think of simple things, but working on your vowel patterns would be helpful. In the perfects you already know the vowel patterns as they are included in the name of the form (i/i for Hiphil, etc.) So just work on the imperfects.

Genesis 1:15

וְהָיוּ לִמְאֹורֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהָאִיר עַל־הָאָרֶץ וַיְהִי־כֵן׃

וְהָיוּ Qal perfect 3rd masculine plural from הָיָה (he was) "they were" with a vav conversive making it "and they will be"

לִמְאֹורֹת preposition with noun feminine plural "for light holders"

בִּרְקִיעַ preposition with noun masculine singular in construct "in the expanse of"

הַשָּׁמַיִם definite article with noun masculine dual "the heavens"

לְהָאִיר Hiphil infinitive from אוֹר (it became light) "to cause to shine light"

עַל־הָאָרֶץ preposition with definite article and noun feminine singular "upon the earth"

וַיְהִי־כֵן Qal imperfect 3ms from הָיָה (he was) "it [he] will be" with a vav conversive making it "and it was" with the adverb "so"

Genesis 1:14

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַיֹּום וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹת וּלְמֹועֲדִים וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים׃

וַיֹּאמֶר Qal imperfect 3ms from אָמַר (he said) "he will say" with a vav conversive making it "and he said"

אֱלֹהִים noun masculine plural "God"

יְהִי Qal imperfect/jussive 3ms from הָיָה (he was) "let there be"

מְאֹרֹת noun feminine plural "light holders" (note: BibleWorks 4 parses this as a masculine plural)

בִּרְקִיעַ preposition with noun masculine singular in construct "in [the] expanse of"

הַשָּׁמַיִם definite article with noun masculine plural "the heavens"

לְהַבְדִּיל Hiphil infinitive from בָּדַל (he divided) "to cause a division"

בֵּין preposition "between"

הַיֹּום definite article with noun masculine singular "the day"

וּבֵין conjunction with preposition "and between"

הַלָּיְלָה definite article with noun masculine singular "the night"

וְהָיוּ Qal perfect 3rd masuline plural from הָיָה (he was) "they were" with a vav conversive making it "and they will be"

לְאֹתֹת preposition with noun feminine plural "to signs" or "for signs"

וּלְמֹועֲדִים conjunction with preposition and noun masculine plural "and for appointed places" or "and for seasons"

וּלְיָמִים conjunction with preposition and noun masculine plural "and for days"

וְשָׁנִים conjunction with noun feminine plural "and years" (note: this feminine noun, שָׁנַה, can take either the וֹת or ימ ִ plural ending.)

Genesis 1:13

וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יֹום שְׁלִישִׁי׃

וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב Qal imperfect 3ms from הָיָה (he was) "he will be" with a vav conversive making it "and it [he] was" with noun masculine singular "evening"

וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר Qal imperfect 3ms from הָיָה (he was) "he will be" with a vav conversive making it "and it [he] was" with noun masculine singular "morning"

יֹום noun masculine singular "day"

שְׁלִישִׁי adjective masculine singular "third"

Genesis 1:12

וַתֹּוצֵא הָאָרֶץ דֶּשֶׁא עֵשֶׂב מַזְרִיעַ זֶרַע לְמִינֵהוּ וְעֵץ עֹשֶׂה־פְּרִי אֲשֶׁר זַרְעֹו־בֹו לְמִינֵהוּ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טֹוב׃

וַתֹּוצֵא Hiphil imperfect 3fs from יָצָא (he brought forth) "she will cause to come forth" with a vav conversive making it "and it [she] caused to come forth" (note: This is a difficult form. It is both a Pe yod (historically Pe vav) and a Lamed Aleph verb and the vowels have done some really strange things. I had to look this one up)

הָאָרֶץ definite article with noun feminine singular "the earth"

דֶּשֶׁא noun masculine singular "grass"

עֵשֶׂב noun masculine singular "herb"

מַזְרִיעַ Hiphil active participle masculine singular from זָרַע (he scattered, he sowed)"causing scattering, causing sowing, seeding"

זֶרַע noun masculine singular "seed"

לְמִינֵהוּ preposition "to" with noun masculine singular "kind" in construct with 3ms pronominal suffix "of it [him]" (note: I'm guessing that the ה between the נ and the וּ is for euphony, "good sound" **** I'm wrong...See Katie's comment to this post. The 3ms suffix is "hu" not just a sureq ****) "to its kind"

וְעֵץ conjunction "and" with noun masculine singular "and tree"

עֹשֶׂה־פְּרִי Qal participle masculine singular from עָשָה (he did, he made) noun masculine singular "making fruit"

אֲשֶׁר relative pronoun "which, whose"

זַרְעֹו־בֹו noun masculine singular "seed" with ms pronominal suffix "of it [him]" and preposition "in" with ms pronominal suffix "it [him]" predicate construction so we supply "is" - "its seed in it is"

לְמִינֵהוּ preposition "to" with noun masculine singular "kind" in construct with 3ms pronominal suffix "of it" - "to its kind"

וַיַּרְא Qal imperfect 3ms from רָאָה (he saw) "he will see" with a vav conversive making it "and he saw"

אֱלֹהִים noun masculine plural "God"

כִּי־טֹוב preposition "like, as" with adjective masculine singular "good" we supply a from of the verb "to be" because of the predicate construction "as being good" or "that it was good"