Bit at a Time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 4:5-8 Grammar

Genesis 4:5-8

 

ה וְאֶל־קַיִן וְאֶל־מִנְחָתוֹ לֹא שָׁעָה וַיִּחַר לְקַיִן מְאֹד וַיִּפְּלוּ פָּנָיו:

ו וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָֹה אֶל־קָיִן לָמָּה חָרָה לָךְ וְלָמָּה נָפְלוּ פָנֶיךָ:

ז הֲלוֹא אִם־תֵּיטִיב שְׂאֵת וְאִם לֹא תֵיטִיב לַפֶּתַח חַטָּאת רֹבֵץ וְאֵלֶיךָ תְּשׁוּקָתוֹ וְאַתָּה תִּמְשָׁל־בּוֹ:

ח וַיֹּאמֶר קַיִן אֶל־הֶבֶל אָחִיו וַיְהִי בִּהְיוֹתָם בַּשָּׂדֶה וַיָּקָם קַיִן אֶל־הֶבֶל אָחִיו וַיַּהַרְגֵהוּ:

 

 

“To fall,” nun pe lamed, is a fairly common verb and gives another example of how nun disappears in some forms.  BUT notice that in the future, the pe takes dagesh, although it doesn’t in the other tenses.  If you look back at lesson 29 for mshl, which had NO “weak” letters, you also don’t see the dagesh.  If you look back at lesson 17 about dagesh, you will see that the segol under the alef in the future tense is considered short and should be followed by dagesh.

 

Present

Singular	Plural	Gender
נוֹפֵל	נוֹפְלִים	Masculine
נוֹפֶלֶת	נוֹפְלוֹת	Feminine

 

Past

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
נָפַלְתִּי	נָפַלְנוּ	First
נָפַלְתָּ	נְפַלְתֶּם	Second/masculine
נָפַלְתְּ	נְפַלְתֶּן	Second/feminine
נָפַל	נָפְלוּ	Third/masculine
נָפְלָה	נָפְלוּ	Third/feminine

 

Future/aorist

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
אֶפּוֹל	נִיפּוֹל	First
תִּיפּוֹל	תִּיפְּלוּ	Second/masculine
תִּיפְּלִי	תִּיפּוֹלְנָה	Second/feminine
יִיפּוֹל	יִיפְּלוּ	Third/masculine
תִּיפּוֹל	תִּיפּוֹלְנָה	Third/feminine

 

 

But remember, Hebrew was spoken this way for centuries before Hebrew writing developed, let alone dagesh or the Hebrew system for writing  vowels.  It’s more accurate to say that epol is spelled with a segol because the peh is pronounced "p' instead of "f", than the other way around.
 

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