21st Century Bible Hebrew -- agentive binyanim

I’m following the order in which I discuss grammar in a prequel to Narrating the Torah, and at this point I give a resume of the binyanim.

Agentive binyanim are those that apply in a specific instance, actions which specific people perform. The binyan combined with the aspect and the verb root letters drive verb conjugation.

Qal. Called “simple”, this is the source of the dictionary entry for a verb, which is masculine 3rd singular. Some verbs in qal equate to a verbal form of adjective. Others are used in transitive contexts. Some verbs are not attested in qal. Comparable to Arabic Form (or Family) I, to Akkadian and Ugaritic G (Ground) stem, and Assyrian I-stem (that’s a Roman numeral as you will see).

Piel. The middle root letter is geminated with exceptions discussed under verb root classes later.

            a.         It may be the transitive form of a verb which uses the qal only with intransitive meaning.

            b.         It may be the base binyan for a verb which has no attested qal.

            c.         Connotes punctuated repetition and often the capability to do something; this leads to its use in the subordinate clauses of tort laws because they express consequences of the main clause which have been known to happen with some frequency.

            d.         Connotes unintended consequences, which influences its use in tort law.

Comparable to Akkadian and Ugaritic D (Doubled) stem and Assyrian II-stem. Arabic Form II uses shadda over the middle letter similar to use of dagesh in piel, but it is functionally comparable only if the Form I Arabic verb is intransitive. Arabic Form IV also has transitive meaning in some cases and does not use shadda.

Hifil.

            a.         The transitive of some verbs for which qal has a strictly intransitive meaning.

            b.         The base binyan for some verbs which have no attested qal.

            c.         Causative in many contexts.

Comparable to Akkadian and Ugaritic Sh-stem (named for first sound in perfect aspect) and Assyrian III-stem. Arabic Form IV is often functionally comparablee to hifil but Form II may have a similar function to hifil if the Form I verb is transitive.

Hitpael.  I’m classing this here because of its active use, although most discussions class it as a passive.

            a.         Reciprocal or mutual action, with reflexive meaning as a special case.

            b.         Continuously repetitive or shows repeated action in alternate directions.

The “t” is sometimes suppressed in hitpael which can lead to confusion with nifal. The middle letter takes dagesh except in some verb root classes.

Comparable to II(2) as Delitzsch designates Assyrian morphology, and to Form VIII in Arabic in meaning.

This is the only remaining “t” infix form in Hebrew. Other Semitic languages have “t” infix variants with reciprocal/mutual/reflexive meaning, for all their binyanim.

Nifal is cognate to Arabic Form VII, Akkadian and Ugaritic N-stem, and Assyrian IV-stem in having an “n” in the prefix. It is translated passively but see next week for its function.

Neo-Babylonian (“Aramaic”) has no nifal. I suspect that this was lost from Aramaic before the Chaldean period; the hybridization with Akkadian did not restore it.