Lesson 7 | Qal Perfect
[3] The Sequential-Perfect
Remember the ו prefix conjunction? It is the most common prefix in biblical Hebrew, occurring over 50,000 times in the Hebrew Bible. (That’s an average of over two ו prefixes per verse!) The reason we are reminding you about the ו prefix on this lesson step is because it can combine with the perfect form to create a unique construction called a weqatal, or sequential-perfect. The effect of the sequential-perfect is twofold:
- It flips the perfect aspect of the verb to an imperfect aspect. That is, a sequential-perfect has an imperfect aspect.
- The sequential-perfect usually indicates a step forward in the text. Hence the name sequential-perfect.
As you can see, things are getting interesting! Let’s turn to a couple of examples.
From the song הִנֵּה אֱלֹהֵינוּ
Let’s take a look at two perfect-form verbs from the song you’ll learn in the next lesson. Both of them are sequential-perfects.
וּמָחָה — “and [he] will wipe”
וְאָמַר — “and he will say”
Notice how in both cases we have translated these to the simple future tense because they have imperfect aspect—that is, the actions are viewed as in progress. They are also both translated with an “and” connecting them to the previous clause and indicate a step forward in a sequence. “He swallows death unto eternity and will wipe...” Similarly, “[all of verse 8 will happen] and one will say on that day...”
A caveat
There is one last note to make about sequential-perfects—one of those details that will drive the more rules-oriented among us a little crazy. Just because we find a ו prefixed + perfect form does not necessarily mean we have a sequential-perfect. Sometimes, we simply are presented with a ו indicating its normal meaning and a perfect form indicating its normal perfect aspect. And there is no way to distinguish between a sequential-perfect and a “normal” ו + perfect.
The effect of this is to say that when there is a ו prefixed to a perfect form, the aspect of the verb may be perfect or it may be imperfect with a sequential indicator. Context alone will distinguish between the two.
