Chapter Eight: Hebrew Imperative, Cohortative and Jussive

Chapter

8

The Usage of the Hebrew Imperative Mood8.1Like the English Imperative, the Hebrew Imperative Mood is used:

• to express a direct command or request; • to issue instruction, permission or exhortation; • to beg for an answer;• to seek for a direction.

8.2All of these are general usage of the Imperative. Prohibition in Hebrew is also issued in the Imperative Mood.

8.3The Hebrew language allows the use of other ways to express a sense of immediate, specific commands by placing אל before a verb in the Imperfect Tense.

The Imperative Mood צווי

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רוב

Steffen Han 2011 January revised.

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2 Hebrew Verbal System

8.4Form of the Imperative

a. Like many Indo-European languages, the subject of the Hebrew Imperative sentence could only be uttered or written in the second person both genders: singular as well as plural in the conjugation for the Imperative Mood, hence the pronominal afformatives would be confined to יו"נה (you lady second person feminine singular, masculine plural and feminine plural; but you man second person masculine singular assumes zero vowel sufformative conjugation). Therefore what we have is: Conjugation for the Imperative is limited to second person both genders, singular and plural.

b. A distinction between dynamic and stative verbs shall be made in the Qal Imperative Mood, the Qal Imperfect Tense and the Qal Perfect Tense.

c. There would be no more distinction between dynamic and stative verbs in non-Qal binyanim.

d. An Imperative may precede a verb in the Imperfect Tense or Cohortative Mood, a construction that will create a purpose or result clause. In this case, the Imperfect Tense will be marked with the conjunction ו and enjoys a similar sense like "so that" in English.

e. Multiple Imperative verbs may occur in succession. The context and backdrop of communication shall determine whether or not

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NOTE:

Usually, Hebrew grammar textbooks explained that the Imperative mood is formed by removing from the Imperfect Tense the pronominal prefixes of the second person, singular and plural, both genders. Be that as it may. Since the basic vowel scheme of the Imperative of all stems are really the same as the infinitive construct of each binyan, it is far more logical and natural to teach that the Hebrew Imperative would be formed by adding personal preformatives to the Infinitive Construct of each derived stem of the verb.

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3CHAPTER EIGHT: The Imperative Mood צווי

they are related consequentially or sequentially.

f. A verb in the Imperative Mood may be followed by a verb in the Perfect Tense with Waw Conversive. The Perfect verb, in this case, may carry the full force of the preceding Imperative.

g. In situation where the use of the Imperative might not be suitable, at times, as it could be considered as an impolite expression, the Imperative Mood could be replaced by the use of the Imperfect Tense. In the תנ"ך (the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament) the Infinitive Absolute is used in such cases.

8.5Default vowels of the Imperative The scheme of default vowels for the Imperative patterns after the Infinitive Construct of each בניין, both the strong and weak verbs as well as monosyllable verbs. In a way, the the Imperative and the Imperfect are the Infinitive deritives.

8.6The Qal ImperativeVerb in Qal Imperative Mood totes the same pair of vowels as the yoke used in Qal Infinitive Construct [○+○] (חולםחסר+שוא), as the vowels expressed in the word לבנות to build where the consonant ל to is the prosthetic preposition for Infinitive Construct in Hebrew, somewhat like the full Infinitive in the English language which employs the preposition to to depict the Infinitve: to sing, to walk, etc. The Infinitive Construct in Hebrew, however, may be used without the preposition ל, especially so in Biblical Hebrew.

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A sample of default vowels using the root: שמר

עתיד צווי לבנות מית-שמר שמר שמר אתהת-שמרי שמרי שמר אתת-שמרו שמרו שמר אתם

ת-שמרנה שמרנה שמר אתן

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8.7A comparative scrutiny of the default vowel scheme in the Qal Infinitive Construct, the Qal Imperative and the Qal Imperfect Tense for the word .as a sample, would be enlightening ,שמר

8.8The Qal Imperative:

(i) would load the same pair of default vowels the combination of [ which is identical with the pair of ,(שוא+חולם חסר) [○+○vowels used in Qal Infinitive Construct.

(ii) The deuce would be used in all strong verbs as well as weak

verbs. Only verbs headed by a weak consonant would it be affected by the presence of contiguous [○○] (שוואים), thus the [ rules shall be applicable. Meanwhile, the pillion, stem (שווא) [○syllable would schlep the vowel [○] (חולם חסר) as stem vowel for dynamic verbs; and [○] (פתח) as stem vowel for stative verbs in the Qal Imperative, as a distinction between these two categories of versb.

(iii) In the preceding sampel of vowel template, the vowel [ (היריק) [○under preformatives the אית”ן, the pronominal preformatives, came about as a result of contiguous [ that is when ,(שוואים) [○○two שוואים coming together in a row, the first would be reduced to [ ] For the .(היריק) [○ under the pillion syllable, it (שווא) [○is the result of conjugation by adding personal pronoun suffixes, the יו”נה, to the verbal root שמר, as shown in the sample, which invoked the process of abdication of the hind consonant and shortening of the stem vowel. This occurs mostly in the vocalic sufformative conjugation.

8.9When the head consonant of a root is a weak consonant, rules for contiguous שוואים shall be applicable to converse the [ (שוא נע) [○

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(vocal shewa) underneath the head consonant to a חטף שוא (composite shewa) accordingly: [ ] ;(חית) [ח] and (עין) [ע] for (חטף פתח) [○ ○] .at least most of the time ,(הא) [ה] and (אלף) [א] for (חטף סגול)

8.10Exception to this is rule would be ['ל] (למד) verbs (ל"א ,ל"ח/ע ,ל"ה) and the few standard irregular verbs. In the case of a ל"ח/ע verb, the stem vowel would be [○] (פתח), as these verbs carried a נובה פתח ג(pathach furtive) in the Infinitive Absolute. On the other hand, for ל"א (III-א) verbs in the Qal Imperative, the pillion or stem vowel will be lengthened to [○] (קמץ), as the vowels in the sample word: מצא (you go to) find out.

8.11Vowel patterns for the Imperative of all binyamin would follow the two default vowels given in the Infinitive Construct of each respective binyan. As a general rule, the pillion or stem vowel is such that the active stem would take the vowel [ ,including the Simple Passive binyan—(צרי) [○

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Imperative of 'ל verb

ל”ה ל”ח/ע ל”א Inf Con stem

קטל קטול Qal

הבנה המצא הקטלנקטול הקטול Niph’al

גלה שלח מצא קטל קטול Pi’el

קטל Pu’al

התגלה התקטל התקטל or התקטל Hithpa’el

הגלה השלחהשליחי

המצאהמציאי הקטיל הקטל Hiphil

הקטל Hophal


the Niph’al—while the passive and stative verbs and the irregular verbs would load [○] (פתח) as theme vowel as well as the III-ח/ע or ל"ח/ע verbs where the פתח גנובה (pathach furtive) has been used in the Infinitive Absolute. The vowel [ is also used in Qal Imperative (פתח) [○of Guttural I/II and Stative Verbs.

8.12The Imperatives of non-Qal binyanim generally load [ as stem (צרי) [○vowel for the Active בניינים, such as the Pi’el, Hithpa’el, Hiphil, and the Simple Passive the Niph’al. There is no Imperative in the Passive stems, except Niph’al, but as far as the theme vowel is concern, Niph’al Imperative is treated like an Active binyan where a [○] (צרי) is used. By the nature of the Passive binyanim (the Pu’al, Hophal, even the Niph’al), it would be impossible to issue instruction or command in the passive inflection.

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Imperative in 'פ verbs

פ”י פ”נ פ”א פ”ח/ע צוויקל לבנות Stem

אסר עמד קטל קטל Qal (dynamic)

אכלאמר חזק Qal

(Stative)

העזב הקטל הקטל Niph’al

הושב הנצל קטל קטל Pi’el

Pu’al

הצלהצילי התקטל התקטל Hithpa’el

הושיביהושב

העמידיהעמד

הקטלהקטילי הקטיל Hiphil

Hophal

Hophal

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8.13The guttural letters אחהער (← read this way) do not take דגש and the vowel beneath each one of them would cause changes to the vowel patterns in the ניקודים by way of compensatory lengthening (cl), which allows the lengthening of the vowel under the preceding consonant as a compensation for not assigning a דגש to the host consonant, or virtual doubling (vd) where no lengthening of the vowel beneath the preceding consonant while having rejected the דגש.

8.14Once the student has learned up the vowel templates of the the Infinitive Construct of various binyanim (seven in all), he would be able to manage other patterns of the verb: the imperative, the jussive, the Cohortative, the imperfect, and the participle. Inflection of the Perfect tense is the least difficult pattern of the Hebrew verb.

8.15The Cohortative MoodAs for its meaning and usage, the Cohortative is used by a speaker to express his own will or determination, intention or desire to do a certain action, reflectively, in the first person, thus the Cohortative is conjugated for the first person only, both singular and plural, both genders, using the same set of affixes א—ה to embed the Infinitive Construct of a root for all בניינים. The suffix [ה] (הא), however, would not be added to verbs, as this category of the verbs would have already been given ל"הa [ה] (הא) by default and the consonant [ה] (הא) could not be doubled. The rule of propretonic reduction of the first vowel in pluralization is applicable as there would be a shift of accent in this case as the inflection involves adding vocalic sufformatives to the verbal root the שורש. Whereas the prosthetic א is one from the אית”ן, being the preformative for the first person singular for both genders in the Imperfect Tense, and .would be used for the first person plural (נון) [נ]

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Cohortative affirmatives

Plural Singular---ה נ ---ה א

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8.16Under certain condition, the stem vowel for Cohortative could take the vowel [ such as before of a סגול) [○laryngeal in ’ל verbs).8.17These broad principles shall be applicable to all derived stems of the Hebrew verb: namely, the active and passive of Qal, the Intensive forms (the Pi'el) and the Causative forms (the Hiphil), both the strong as well the weak verbs.

More samples of how Cohortative is used in the אית”ן:

Genesis 31:44 נכרתה ברית אני ואתהlet us make a covenant, I and you (you and I).

Nehemiah 2:18נקום ובנינוLet us rise up and build…

Numbers 21:22 אעברה בארצך

Let me pass through you land

8.18The Jussive Mood Like the Cohortative, the Jussive is used to express a wish or a desire of the speaker but for the third person singular and plural both genders. Often it is used along side the particle נא for greater emphasis. It has the same effect as the use of two of the English auxiliaries "let …" or "May…".

Example: Genesis 16:5

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Sample of conjugation forthe Cohortative Mood

כתב root

---ה אכהבה א I

---ה נכתבה נ We


ישפט יהוה ביני וביניךMay the Lord judge between me and between you (between you and I).

8.19The great number of occurrence of verbs in the Jussive Mood in the come in the third person singular: but a small portion of the Jussive תנ”ךcome in the second person.

8.20The same principle of conjugation and operative manner as those working in the Cohortative Mood and the Imperative would be applicable to the formation of a verb into Jussive mood by adding to the root the pronominal prefix from the for the third person singular and אית”ןplural, which vowels are already given by defaults in the Infinitive Construct of each respective binyan.

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The Jussiveצווי עתיד מישמר ת-שמר אתהשמרי ת-שמר-י אתשמרו ת-שמר-ו אתם

שמרנה ת-שמר-נה אתן


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The

Im

pera

tive

Moo

d: C

ompa

re th

e de

faul

t vow

els

with

that

of

the

Infin

itive

Con

stru

ct o

f ea

ch b

inya

n

Hop

hal

Hip

hil

Hith

pa’e

lPu

’al

Pi’e

lN

i’ph

alQ

alיוני

בעל

הפיל

פעה

עלתפ

העל

פעל

פעל

נפקל

טלהק

ילקט

הטל

תקה

טלק

טלק

טלהק

טלק

Infin

itive

Con

stru

ct

*טל

הקטל

תקה

*טל

קטל

הקטל

ק2m

s

*לו

טיהק

לוקט

הת*

לוקט

לוקט

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קט2m

p

*לי

טיהק

ליקט

הת*

ליקט

ליקט

הלי

קט2f

s

*נה

טלהק

נהטל

תקה

*נה

טלק

נהטל

הקנה

טלק

2fp

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s th

at a

re p

assi

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y na

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ly fo

und

in th

e Im

pera

tive.

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e ךנ”

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how

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Pu’

al Im

pera

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of a

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m, b

ut th

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are

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form

s fo

r H

opha

l Im

pera

tives

: on

e in

Jer

emia

h 49

:8 a

nd o

ne in

Eze

kiel

32:

19. I

n th

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two

case

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bjec

t re

mai

ned

pass

ive

and

the

verb

s sh

owed

the

res

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of a

n ac

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perf

orm

ed a

gain

st it

.

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Documents

Chapter Eight: Hebrew Imperative, Cohortative and Jussive