Lesson 3 | Verbs—imperfect
Reading: Genesis 1:1-8
New vocab
This time we have twelve new words to learn before you read the first eight verses of the Bible. Spend some time to learn these well before turning to the text.
bottom part, under (noun, preposition)
Another prefix
In addition to the vocabulary, let’s take a minute to learn one more extremely common prefix. (You will recall that we already talked about the prefix ו conjunction in lesson 2.) Again, we will look at prefixes more in depth in a future lesson. But we touch on one more here simply to reduce the number of definition helps you will need under the words of our readings.
The prefix we will learn now is the definite article (i.e. the word “the” in English). In Hebrew, the definite article does not appear as a separate word, but rather as a single letter prefix added to the front of a word—the letter ה. Thus, “הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם” is simply “הַ” added to the front of “שָּׁמַיִם”—“the heavens.”
Word order in Hebrew
Given that sequential verbs include the prefix conjunction ו, they naturally appear at the beginning of their verbal clause. Thus, if there is an explicitly named subject to the verb, that subject cannot appear first in the clause. This is different than English. In English, we say, “And God said...” But in Hebrew the word order is “And said God...”
The big idea is as follows. Whereas English frequently uses word ordering to convey meaning (eg. the subject precedes the verb which precedes the object), Hebrew does so less. Instead, word ordering in Hebrew serves three purposes: (1) to express sequence via sequential verbs, (2) to place emphasis on the first word in the clause, and (3) to give the most pleasant “ring” to the words.
Genesis 1:1-8
It is time to read! Try to read the entire text before going back to click on words you could not understand. And remember, keep your eyes open for the sequential-imperfects.
מַבְדִּיל
[ hiphil participle ]
Yes, that was tough. But now look back up at how long that text is. You are less than one third of the way through this course and you already can read eight verses with a little help!