21st Century Bible Hebrew -- progressive aspect examples

Progressive aspect accounts for many other uses of verbs but not all.

1.         action in progress, the link to imperfect aspect used for a process.

2.         the sense in which an imperfect tense is used, that is, an action that was ongoing when something else happened.

3.         descriptive.

4.         immediate future, “about to X”.

5.         immediate past “has [just] X’d”.

6.         habitual and therefore repeated.

7.         locative situations.

8.         X is “still” happening.

You already saw #3 in Genesis 2:10: the rivers yotse me-eden.

Examples of #4 are all over Deuteronomy, such as 32:49.

מט עֲלֵ֡ה אֶל־הַר֩ הָֽעֲבָרִ֨ים הַזֶּ֜ה הַר־נְב֗וֹ אֲשֶׁר֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מוֹאָ֔ב אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־פְּנֵ֣י יְרֵח֑וֹ וּרְאֵה֙ אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ כְּנַ֔עַן אֲשֶׁ֨ר אֲנִ֥י נֹתֵ֛ן לִבְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לַֽאֲחֻזָּֽה:

Go up to this Mountain of the Ford, Mount N’vo, which is in the land of Moav that is before Y’richo; see the Land of K’naan that I am about to give to the B’ney Yisrael for an achuzah.

Noten is progressive masculine singular. Gd is telling Mosheh to go take a look at the land he will never live in. which Gd is about to give to the Israelites.

Genesis 18:1-2 hit up several of these functions.

א וַיֵּרָ֤א אֵלָיו֙ יְהֹוָ֔ה בְּאֵֽלֹנֵ֖י מַמְרֵ֑א וְה֛וּא יֹשֵׁ֥ב פֶּֽתַֽח־הָאֹ֖הֶל כְּחֹ֥ם הַיּֽוֹם:

ב וַיִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָיו֙ וַיַּ֔רְא וְהִנֵּה֙ שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה אֲנָשִׁ֔ים נִצָּבִ֖ים עָלָ֑יו וַיַּ֗רְא וַיָּ֤רָץ לִקְרָאתָם֙ מִפֶּ֣תַֽח הָאֹ֔הֶל וַיִּשְׁתַּ֖חוּ אָֽרְצָה:

The Lord must have manifested to him at Eloney Mamre -- he was sitting at the door of his tent (#7) as of the heat of the day --

For he looked up and must have perceived that here were three men standing (#2) over him; he must have perceived, for he ran to meet them from the door of the tent, he bowed to the earth.

Later in verse 22 we have:

כב וַיִּפְנ֤וּ מִשָּׁם֙ הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים וַיֵּֽלְכ֖וּ סְדֹ֑מָה וְאַ֨בְרָהָ֔ם עוֹדֶ֥נּוּ עֹמֵ֖ד לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָֹֽה:

The men turned from there and went toward S’dom; but Avraham was still standing (#8) before the Lord.

And finally, there’s Genesis 45:9 which can be understood in a couple of ways.

ט וַיְדַבֵּר֙ שַׂ֣ר הַמַּשְׁקִ֔ים אֶת־פַּרְעֹ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר אֶת־חֲטָאַ֕י אֲנִ֖י מַזְכִּ֥יר הַיּֽוֹם:

The chief butler spoke with Paro saying: My sins I mazkir today.

The chief butler has just heard Pharaoh tell about his dream and he says “I just remembered my sins today.” The verb could be usage #5.

But it could also be usage #4, which would be “I am about to bring up the subject of my sins today.” Pharaoh could stop him, but he doesn’t, and after two years, the butler pays off Yosef for the interpretation of his dream.

Finally, usage #6 is not only in Torah but also in the Passover Haggadah, Exodus 13:15.

טו וַיְהִ֗י כִּֽי־הִקְשָׁ֣ה פַרְעֹה֘ לְשַׁלְּחֵ֒נוּ֒ וַיַּֽהֲרֹ֨ג יְהוָֹ֤ה כָּל־בְּכוֹר֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם מִבְּכֹ֥ר אָדָ֖ם וְעַד־בְּכ֣וֹר בְּהֵמָ֑ה עַל־כֵּן֩ אֲנִ֨י זֹבֵ֜חַ לַֽיהֹוָ֗ה כָּל־פֶּ֤טֶר רֶ֨חֶם֙ הַזְּכָרִ֔ים וְכָל־בְּכ֥וֹר בָּנַ֖י אֶפְדֶּֽה:

It must have been upon Paro’s hardening [his heart] for sending us, that the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of domestic animals; therefore I sacrifice to the Lord every opening of the womb the males; but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.

This is the answer to the son who only asks “what is this”, one of the four sons discussed in the Haggadah. Al-ken ani zoveach is the answer because the child is old enough to have seen the observance of more than one Passover but he hasn’t been able to remember what it’s all about.

So yes, you have to know the progressive, but it’s not nearly as important in Torah as present tense is in Mishnaic or modern Hebrew, maybe 200 out of the 80,000 words of Torah. And you can see why it’s uncommon when most of the narrative action is based on the imperfect as narrative past, and so many of the commandments are in perfect aspect. That’s why I went long on this post. Now it’s out of your way.