Lesson 22 Biblical Hebrew level B - eTeacher

Today was quite an exciting day. Our regular teacher Scott left for a dig and we have a substitute for the next month. Well, counting today, for the next three weeks.
 He was very prompt and at a few minutes till 8:00a.m. he entered class. Don Peterman, or should I say Rabi Peterman is a great teacher. I will have to make sure I go to his after class hour from now on.
It was a little scary to realize that I was the only student that was going to show up. Kind of like last week but with a teacher I have never met and I have no idea what his expectations were.
Lesson 22 is on the Hufal verb. The Hufal verb is causative and/or passive. And translated something like this "the ball was thrown". The Hufal verb has the qibbuts  the U vowel... unless it has the qamets qatan the O vowel. The qamets qatan is hard to recognize unless you remember that it is in a closed unaccented syllable. So....in the hufal the second root letter has a sheva which closes the syllable and since "most" of the times the accent is not in the first syllable then you can just about bet that you are going to get a qamets qatan every time there is a qamets. Even though the qibbuts is seen in the Hufal verb in Biblical Hebrew is not seen very often.

Translation is getting a bit tricky. Don said that it is about time that our English is not going to be translating what the Hebrew says, smoothly, now. That is something I can really understand.

When the Hufal is in the prefix conjugations of the Yiqtol and Wayyiqton and the Infinitive the H is lost and only the vowel pointing of the qamets qatan and the sheva is left.

Because the Hufal is passive there is no imperative.
The Hufal is the passive form of the active Hifil. So "I think" that the passive form is a way to change the verb.
Now on to homework.

Lesson 21 Hifil Verb

The Hifil verb is active and causative. Causative is what we worked with the most. He caused to hear. or She caused someone to rule. There is an infinitive construct and infinitive absolute.
The prefix Hey with a heriq before the root in every Qatal or Weqatal form.  All prefix conjugations have a short A vowel under the prefix letter.
I was the only student that showed up so I got to read all of the materials and do all of the pronunciation. I also got to ask some very specific questions that I might not have been able to ask if the other students had showed up.
Scott goes on a "dig" and will be out the next month. So we will have a sub. and Scott will be back? for the last class. Hopefully he will be back for the last class. Only five more weeks of level B. I have got to get homework done every day.

Lesson 20 is a review lesson. I have been reading the slides, off and on all day. I will have to sit down and parse each slide.  I am hoping that it is not quite as hard as it looks like it might be. I have got to say that I am not real comfortable reading this material in a mixed class. I guess you could say that I am a bit conservative. This chapter starts with Genesis 38:11 and goes through verse 18.

In Genesis 38:11 it starts with a Wayyiqtol narrative "And he said", Judah, (le Tamar), to Tamar: his daughter in law. (his being the holom vav suffixed to the word calla, which is bride or daughter in law. (Shevi) is an imperative of the word shivah translated DWELL. The next word is widow. I have such a hard time remembering I am suppose to supply a "to be" word here. So it should say, "Dwell as a widow.
Oh well, I will work some more on it later today.

On lesson 19 Level B eTeacher

I really like my current eTeacher. He is from Texas and I can understand his explanations and he understands when I say something weird.
I am still on level B and I am in lesson 19 Hitpael.
I like how Scott (my eTeacher) starts the class with a mini review of the last few chapters.

So Chap 15 is Piel verbs. They have an I vowel in the first root letter and a dagesh in the second root letter in the suffix  conjugations "Qatal and Weqtal (both future)" And in the Prefix Conjugations  it has an ah - ay vowel combination ( _ ..) it also has a Shewa in the prefix first letter.
Learn it! Live it! Love it!

Chapter 16 is Pual verbs.  This is recognized by the uooo vowel in the first root letter with the suffix conjugations. If the verb ends in a vowel then the second root letter's vowel shortens to a silent shewa. The prefix conjugations still have an uooo in the first root letter. Pual is passive and has not infinitive and not imperative so there is no command in the Pual verb.

Chapter 17 was a review lesson. Lots of good reading. I love to read. I don't mind making mistakes because you always learn something when you make mistakes.

Chapter 18 is the Nifal Verb. This was the fist time that I really understood the Nifal. Nifal can be causative or reciprocal or reflexive. Mostly treat it a Passive with a little wiggle room. It can be recognized because it starts with a Nun and the vowel I in the Qatal and Weqatal, suffex conjugations. In the prefix conjugations (Yitqtol and Wayiqtol) alsso the Infinitive and Imperative the Nifal  the verb loses the Nun, as it assimilates and develops a "triangle" of heavy vowels at the front of the word. The Nun falls out because it is a weak letter.
In the Infinitive an Imperative the nun is assimilated in to the first root letter in the form of a degesh and again forms the nifal triangle, which is the heavy vowels as the front of the verb. They also have a hey with an I vowel.

Which brings us back to Chapter 19. The Hitpael verb is one of the three double stems. It is easy to recognize because of the H I T is prefixed to the verb. This conjugation has a dagesh in the second root letter. In the Yiqtol Wayyiqtol infinitive and imperative conjugations the H, I prefex is assimilated in to the tav and the tav aquires a shewa.