Bit at a Time Bible Hebrew -- verbs starting with alef

All right, let’s deal with some verbs that have peh alef.  One reason for starting here is not just that alef is the first letter in the alphabet, but also that it has one extremely common verb, alef mem resh, “say.”   This is the qal or plain simple binyan.

 

Present

Singular	Plural	Gender
אוֹמֵר	אוֹמְרים	Masculine
אוֹמֶרֶת	אוֹמְרוֹת	Feminine

Past

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
אָמַרְתִּי	אָמַרְנוּ	First
אָמַרְתָּ	אֲמַרְתֶּם	Second/masculine
אָמַרְתְּ	אֲמַרְתֶּן	Second/feminine
אָמַר	אָמְרוּ	Third/masculine
אָמְרָה	אָמְרוּ	Third/feminine

Future/aorist

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
אוֹמַר	נֹאמַר	First
תֹּאמַר	תֹּאמְרוּ	Second/masculine
תֹּאמְרִי	תֹּאמַרְנָה	Second/feminine
יֹאמַר	יֹאמְרוּ	Third/masculine
תֹּאמַר	תֹּאמַרְנָה	Third/feminine

 

Now, first, with a weak letter, usually it disappears in the “future” first person singular.  But we still have an alef here in first person singular.  What’s going on?

 

That alef is the sign of the “future” form.  What normally happens is that in the future tense, the alef is followed by the first verb root letter with a shva under it.  But you can’t use shva under alef.  That only works when the letter has a sound of its own, and alef doesn’t.

 

When you have a form that starts with alef like a normal future tense, but it only has two more root letters, you have five possibilities.  You have a peh alef, a peh yod, a peh nun, an ayin yod, or an ayin vav.  How do you eliminate any of them before you use the dictionary? 

 

The first clue is that vav with the cholem on top.  Or just the vav if there are no vowel markers.  That is the sign of a peh alef verb.  It might be omer, “present” or it might be omar, “future”, but it’s none of the other possibilities. 

 

However, as you know from past discussions, it’s possible to drop vav as part of a conjugated verb.  Then you have either omer, omar, amar (“past”), or emor, imperative.  At that point all you know is you look it up in the alefs, and then you use context to figure out which of the four you have.  But the sample verb here you should learn by heart because it’s extremely common in Torah and memorizing it will save you a lot of dictionary time.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved