Hebrew verbs differ from verbs in languages like English and French. Both in their formation and in the number of tenses.
In French, there is the infinitive form, to eat for example: manger. You can tell an infinitive when you see it because it ends in er, ir, or re. Then there is the present tense, two future ones, the conditional, and the subjonctive. Adding the past tenses brings the total to fourteen, and that does not count the imperitive, the present participle, or the construct 'am going to' As in: Je vais aller a la banque. I am going to go to the bank.
In Hebrew, on the other hand, there are only three tenses: the past, the present, and the future. There is also the imperitive, but as in French, I do not think that it is counted as a verb tense.
Hebrew verbs are formed from a root, usually three letters, but sometimes two and sometimes four. The terribly interesting thing about these roots is their forming different meanings through the benyanim. Benyan is building, and there are seven benyanim in Hebrew. (there being two weddings in my family this summer, I will use to kiss as example) nun-shin-kuf In pa'al: kiss, come together, touch. In pi'el: kiss, kiss repeatedly. In pu'al: be kissed. In hitpa'el: kiss each other. In hif'il: touch, couse to touch, be a tangent (geometry), launch (ship). And in huf'al: be touched, be launced (ship).
Notice that I only list six benyanim and not seven. According to my verb book, there are no roots that are commonly formed in all benyanim. If there was such a verb, then there would be 21 possibilities for that root: past, present, and future in each of the seven benyanim.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Friday, April 15, 2005
my colorful world
The sky is blue just overhead,
as blue as the bells in the flowery bed,
with just one small cloud, round and well fed,
with all the sky to tread.
The grass is green beneath my toes,
pushing toward heaven how quickly it grows.
Why does grass smell so sweet? Nobody knows!
That's just the way it goes...
The yellow sun beams from on high.
It sparkles the dew and lights up the sky.
For squirrels gathering nuts and birds learning to fly,
it makes the day go by.
The flowers are red, orange, yellow too,
there even are ones that are purple or blue,
there's a rainbow of color, blooms of every hue
inconceivable but true.
That puupy's black and also white.
He's covered in spots, what a curious plight.
He's a curious puppy. Will he eat that? He might!
But that'll be alright.
It's nice today the breeze is light,
the flowers are blooming- a beautiful sight.
It's the perfect day to go flying a kite,
so, so warm and bright.
by Emilia Squyres
as blue as the bells in the flowery bed,
with just one small cloud, round and well fed,
with all the sky to tread.
The grass is green beneath my toes,
pushing toward heaven how quickly it grows.
Why does grass smell so sweet? Nobody knows!
That's just the way it goes...
The yellow sun beams from on high.
It sparkles the dew and lights up the sky.
For squirrels gathering nuts and birds learning to fly,
it makes the day go by.
The flowers are red, orange, yellow too,
there even are ones that are purple or blue,
there's a rainbow of color, blooms of every hue
inconceivable but true.
That puupy's black and also white.
He's covered in spots, what a curious plight.
He's a curious puppy. Will he eat that? He might!
But that'll be alright.
It's nice today the breeze is light,
the flowers are blooming- a beautiful sight.
It's the perfect day to go flying a kite,
so, so warm and bright.
by Emilia Squyres
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
a plan for flan
California Flan
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla
Place the sugar in a skillet and cook, stirring over moderate heat until melted and golden brown. Pour into a 1 quart casserole and swirl to coat the sides and bottom evenly with caramel. Beat the eggs. Add the milk and beat until blended. Beat in the water and vanilla. Turn into the prepared baking dish and place into a pan containing 1 inch of hot water. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely, then turn out onto a serving plate. serves 6 to 8.
This is an excellent recipe, simple to prepare, inexpensive, and lighter than many deserts. I highly reccomend it.
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla
Place the sugar in a skillet and cook, stirring over moderate heat until melted and golden brown. Pour into a 1 quart casserole and swirl to coat the sides and bottom evenly with caramel. Beat the eggs. Add the milk and beat until blended. Beat in the water and vanilla. Turn into the prepared baking dish and place into a pan containing 1 inch of hot water. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely, then turn out onto a serving plate. serves 6 to 8.
This is an excellent recipe, simple to prepare, inexpensive, and lighter than many deserts. I highly reccomend it.
Monday, April 11, 2005
ET
No not the movie, the particle that signifies the presence of a definite direct object in Hebrew, and once I figure out how to post in Hebrew I will post some examples!
It is very different than English because we have no such word. I am trying to sort through it by comparing similar sentences. If I were to say something like, I like classical music: ani ohevet moosica clasit, no et is required because it is an indefinite object. But if I said, I like this music, that is definite. The transliteration would be something like: ani ohevet et hamoosica hazot. But I could also say, I like Bethoven: ani ohevet et betoven. Bethoven is already definite because it is a name, that is why it is not: et habetoven. In that way it is like English, because we don't tack a 'the' onto a proper name or place name either. It is inherantly definite.
So there it is in a nutshell, the most adventuresome particle, ET.
It is very different than English because we have no such word. I am trying to sort through it by comparing similar sentences. If I were to say something like, I like classical music: ani ohevet moosica clasit, no et is required because it is an indefinite object. But if I said, I like this music, that is definite. The transliteration would be something like: ani ohevet et hamoosica hazot. But I could also say, I like Bethoven: ani ohevet et betoven. Bethoven is already definite because it is a name, that is why it is not: et habetoven. In that way it is like English, because we don't tack a 'the' onto a proper name or place name either. It is inherantly definite.
So there it is in a nutshell, the most adventuresome particle, ET.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
