21st Century Bible Hebrew -- nifal conjugation

Genesis 1:9

 

ט וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמַיִם אֶל־מָקוֹם אֶחָד וְתֵרָאֶה הַיַּבָּשָׁה וַיְהִי־כֵן:

 

Transliteration: Va-yomer elohim yiqavu ha-maim mi-tachat ha-shamaim el-maqom echad v’teraeh ha-yabashah va-y’hi-khen.

Translation:     Gd said be the water gathered under heaven to one place and be the dry land revealed; it must have been so.

 

So here is the nifal imperfect of both qavah, a lamed heh verb with a strong letter at the start of the root, and raah, a lamed heh verb with resh at the start of the root.

 

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
אֶרָאֶה	נֵרָאֶה	First
תֵּרָאֶה	תֵּרָאוּ	Second/masculine
תֵּרָאִי	תֵּרָאֶינָה	Second/feminine
יֵרָאֶה	יֵרָאוּ	Third/masculine
תֵּרָאֶה	תֵּרָאֶינָה	Third/feminine

 

 

 

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
אֶקָּוֶּה	נִקָּוֶּה	First
תִּקָּוֶּה	תִּקָּוּוּ	Second/masculine
תִּקָּוִּי	תִּקָּוֶּינָה	Second/feminine
יִקָּוֶּה	יִקָּוּוּ	Third/masculine
תִּקָּוֶּה	תְּקָּוֵּינָה	Third/feminine

 

Notice a weird thing in the middle of this second verb. It’s not only lamed heh, it’s ayin vav. The middle letter is identical to the one at the end in plural 2^nd and 3^rd masculine BUT it has to be pronounced “v” while the end letter has to be pronounced “oo”.

 

I won’t say memorize these. I will say that when you look up a verb and it turns out to be ayin vav, expect weirdness in the middle. It’s quite regular as you will see at some point, but it’s not what you see in other verb root classes.

 

Now, is v’teraeh narrative past? I don’t think so. I think imperfect aspect is needed here – and not imperative – for a reason which I will go into in the next lesson.

 

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