Re: Perfect mood

On Nov 28, 12:34 am, "benli...@xxxxxxxxxx" <benli...@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

One of the religious nutters whose usenet posts I read from
time to time made a comment about how you can't understand
the Bible properly unless you understand the Hebrew use of
the "perfect mood". Now you can get all kinds of amusing
hits for "perfect mood" on Google, usually involving scented
candles, romantic music and soft lights. But as a grammarian,
it makes me grit my teeth. "Perfect" is a category of tense
or aspect, not mood. Is "perfect mood" an established term
for talking about Hebrew grammar in English? If so, what is
it really?

Okay, in many languages, there is the concept of tense -- that's the
past/present/future. My view of Hebrew is that it doesn't have
tense. (Modern Hebrew grammar describes three tenses, but that's only
because of how it's described.)

There's aspect -- that's the sudden, continuous, completeness. In
English, we have the forms with "have" or "had" that form the perfect
aspects. Hebrew has only perfect and imperfect, each with many uses.

There's mood -- that's indicative, subjunctive, imperative, optative,
and infinitive. Hebrew doesn't have mood. Hebrew has participles,
which act like participles, infinitives, and gerunds. A lot of double-
duty forms there.

There's voice -- that's active and passive. Greek also has a middle
voice. My view of Hebrew is that is has seven ... maybe seven and a
half ... voices. My view is not the same as anyone else's here.

But as for Hebrew, "perfect" is an aspect. Modern Hebrew grammar
calls it "past tense", and the other aspect, "imperfect", it calls
"future tense". The participle is called "present tense". The
terminology works, and is easier for some people to understand than
the classical terminology.

Your religious nutter's view is his view, and it's not a perfect one.
You can understand the Bible either by understanding Hebrew well
enough to read it, including the many uses of the two moods. But you
can also understand the Bible by reading a very good translation into
English by someone who understands those Hebrew moods well enough to
form the English equivalents. Now you need to really understand
English to understand the Bible.

"Perfect mood"? Your nutter is also a grammatical nutter.

--
Stefano
.

Relevant Pages

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    ... anonymous-posting "Daniel Joseph Min". ... unless you understand the Hebrew use of the "perfect mood". ... Is "perfect mood" an established term for talking about Hebrew grammar ...
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  • Re: Perfect mood
    ... unless you understand the Hebrew use of the "perfect mood". ... it makes me grit my teeth. ... Is "perfect mood" an established term for talking about Hebrew grammar ...
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  • Re: Perfect mood
    ... unless you understand the Hebrew use of the "perfect mood". ... tense or aspect, not mood. ... Is "perfect mood" an established term for talking about Hebrew grammar ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Perfect mood
    ... hits for "perfect mood" on Google, ... for talking about Hebrew grammar in English? ... Okay, in many languages, there is the concept of tense -- that's the ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Perfect mood
    ... unless you understand the Hebrew use of the "perfect mood". ... tense or aspect, not mood. ... Is "perfect mood" an established term for talking about Hebrew grammar ...
    (sci.lang)