Lesson 8 · Stage 3

The second verb form, yiqtol

Recognise the yiqtol (imperfect) by its prefixes, and read it as an action not yet complete, repeated, or wished for

יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ

yəvārekhəkhā [the LORD] wəyišmərékhā

"The LORD bless you and keep you." (Num 6:24)

yišmərékhā is our root Š-M-R again, but now with a prefix yi- in front: yi-šmər-ékhā, "he-keep-you". In Lesson 7 the person was an ending (šāmártî "I kept"). In this form the person is mostly a prefix. And the meaning has moved from "he kept" to "may he keep".

1. The form: prefixes

Recognise it this way:

• y- = he / they
• t- = you, or she
• '- ('e-, 'a-) = I
• n- = we
• an ending -û makes it plural

Prefix and a root after it: that is a yiqtol. (Compare qatal: root first, then an ending.) The vowel after the prefix varies from verb to verb: יִשְׁמֹר yišmōr "he will keep", יַעֲשֶׂה ya'ăśeh "he will do", יֹאמַר yōmar "he will say". Look for the prefix and the root.

2. What yiqtol means: not (yet) a completed whole

If qatal views an action as a complete whole (Lesson 7), yiqtol views it from inside, as unfinished: still to come, still going on, happening again and again, or only wished for. In English it comes out as will, as used to or would, or as may.

Future. The most common use in speech: אֶשְׁמֹר 'ešmōr "I will keep".

Repeated or habitual action, even in the past. 1 Sam 1:7, about Elkanah's yearly pilgrimage: וְכֵן יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁנָה בְשָׁנָה wəkhēn ya'ăśeh šānâ bəšānâ, "and so he would do year after year". Gen 2:6: וְאֵד יַעֲלֶה מִן־הָאָרֶץ wə'ēd ya'ăleh min-hā'āreṣ, "a mist would go up from the earth" (again and again). The past setting comes from the context; the yiqtol says "repeatedly".

What is always true. Ps 121:4: הִנֵּה לֹא־יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל hinnê lō'-yānûm wəlō' yîšān šōmēr yiśrā'ēl, "Behold, the keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps" (or "will neither slumber nor sleep"). Notice šōmēr, the CōCēC participle from Lesson 4.

Psalm 23:1 יְהוָה רֹעִי לֹא אֶחְסָר [the LORD] rō'î lō' 'eḥsār: 'eḥsār is yiqtol "I": "I shall not lack" (KJV) or "I lack nothing" (NIV). Both translations are right; the yiqtol covers now and always.

3. Wishes and commands

The yiqtol also carries the will of the speaker. A slightly shortened version, the jussive, means "let him..., may he...":

• יְהִי אוֹר yəhî 'ôr, "let there be light" (Gen 1:3). yəhî is the short yiqtol of "to be".

• יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה yəvārekhəkhā [the LORD], "may the LORD bless you" (Num 6:24).

Two ways to say "don't":

The Ten Commandments use lō', the form for a permanent rule. The angel stopping Abraham uses 'al, the form for "stop, right now". Translation renders both as "do not"; the Hebrew distinguishes them.

4. Qatal and yiqtol together

Remember these two as the two "views" of an action, not as two tenses.

5. A puzzle for the next lesson

וַיֹּאמֶר wayyōmer "and he said" has a y- prefix: it is built like a yiqtol. Yet it means past, and it is the main narrative form. yəhî "let there be" and wayhî "and there was" in Gen 1:3 look almost the same. How can a "yiqtol" mean past? That is Lesson 9: the narrative chain.

6. Words

Exercises

Type your answers in plain letters: sh for š, a for ā; hyphens and accents don't matter.