Users Guide: Verbal

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Verbal Semantics

How to use the Verbal Semantics Page
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Introduction

One of the most difficult issues in interpreting the psalms is verbal analysis. Consider, for example, these four different translations of Ps 3:8 (Eng. 3:7):

Text Verb Semantics
MT כִּֽי־הִכִּ֣יתָ אֶת־כָּל־אֹיְבַ֣י לֶ֑חִי שִׁנֵּ֖י רְשָׁעִ֣ים שִׁבַּֽרְתָּ׃
NASB For You have struck all my enemies on the cheek;
You have shattered the teeth of the wicked. 		Past
NET Yes, you will strike all my enemies on the jaw;
you will break the teeth of the wicked. 		Future
NIV Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked. 		Command
ESV For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked. 		Present

As you can see in this example from Psalm 3, these four interpretations (past, future, command, and present) change how you read the psalm as a whole. Is David asking God to save him because God has struck his enemies in the past or because he will strike them in the future? Or is he commanding God to strike them? Or just describing generally how God strikes them, using the generic present tense? (You can read our discussion and answer here).

Verbs in Biblical Hebrew are often ambiguous and unclear, but in poetry they are especially difficult. Verb forms with predictable use in prose seem to be able to have almost any meaning in poetry, leading to such widely varying translations as in Psalm 3:8 [Eng 3:7] above. Reference materials are only so helpful, since scholars disagree about many foundational questions that influence how we analyze Hebrew verbsFor a recent overview on the history of interpreting the verbal system, see Ken Penner,"History of the Research on the Hebrew Verbal System.".

Our Resources

In light of these complexities our method for verbal analysis is constantly developing and taking into account recent scholarly advances. Currently our resources include: (1) verbal semantics notes and (2) verbal semantics chart. (3) A user-friendly summary of verbal analysis is currently in development.

  1. Verbal Semantics Notes: The notes are included in the grammar and semantics page alongside grammar, lexical, phrase-level and textual notes. Here you’ll find a tab called “verbal” with notes and explanations for difficult verbs and discussion of different translations.
  2. Verbal Semantics Chart: This verbal semantics chart is a much more detailed resource where we do our in depth analysis of each verb in the psalm and how they all fit together. This is a technical resource designed primarily for scholars. See the next section for more details on this chart.
  3. User-Friendly Visual Summary: We are currently developing a more user-friendly presentation of our verbal analysis which makes the detailed chart accessible and helpful to users. Thank you for your patience as we work on this important resource.

Verbal Semantics Chart

This chart is currently found near the top of the Grammar and Semantics page under the heading “Psalm # Verbal Semantics”, and you can press the box to expand.

Psalm 3 Verbal Semantics Chart

Psalm 003 - Verbal Semantics.jpg

You can read more about the theory behind this chart in the Key Concepts + Resources section below. Furthermore, all the symbols of the chart are listed in the Verbal Diagram Legend:

  Verbal Diagram Legend

Conjugations
qatal yiqtol-jussive
wayyiqtol (following qatal)* cohortative
yiqtol participle
wayyiqtol (following yiqtol)* wayyiqtol (following participle)*
weyiqtol inf. construct
weqatal inf. absolute
*Wayyiqtol is colored a darker version of the conjugation it follows.
Relative tense arrows
Relative tense arrows (placed within the appropriate 'Fut/Pres/Past' column) are color coded according to the conjugation of the verb. The arrows in the table below are colored according to the typical uses of the conjugations.
After/posterior/future Imminent future Simultaneous/right now Recent past Before/anterior/past
←
←		 ↤ ↓↓↓ ↦ →
→
Aspect
Continuous Habitual or iterative Stative Perfective
Encoded in words ⟲ ⟲⟲⟲ ⎯ •
Inferable from context ⟲ ⟲⟲⟲ ⎯ •
Reference point movement
Movement No movement
⇐ ⇍
Modality
indicative purpose/result
jussive necessity
imperative possible
cohortative probable
wish ability
(past) conditional interrogative, etc.

If an emendation or revocalization is preferred, that emendation or revocalization will be marked in the Hebrew text of all the visuals.

Emendations/Revocalizations legend
*Emended text* Emended text, text in which the consonants differ from the consonants of the Masoretic text, is indicated by blue asterisks on either side of the emendation.
*Revocalized text* Revocalized text, text in which only the vowels differ from the vowels of the Masoretic text, is indicated by purple asterisks on either side of the revocalization.

To orient you to the content of the chart, there are five main sections:

  1. Text + Translation (columns 1-4): Here we provide the Hebrew text and our Close-but-Clear translation. All verbs are given a specific color in both the Hebrew and English (see Legend for details). The fourth column lists the specific verb in isolation.
  2. Morphology (columns 5-9): Here we break down the morphology of each verb in terms of its root, stem (aka binyan), conjugation, PGN (person-gender-number), and suffix (if present).
  3. Time (columns 10-15): Here we analyse the time value of the verb according to its relative tense, aspect, and reference point movement. For explanations of these foundational concepts see the tabs below.
  4. Modality (columns 16-17): Here we list the modality of the verb and the reasoning behind our analysis.
  5. Notes: Explanatory notes showing different interpretations and the reasoning behind our interpretation. In important and complex cases we often create a full exegetical issue page and provide a link (as you can see for vv. 5, 6, and 8 in Psalm 3).

For detailed explanations of the key concepts behind our analysis, as well as further resources, see below.

Key Concepts + Resources

1. Tense

Tense refers to the situation’s location in time: past, present, future, or timeless. Even these terms are a simplification, which is possible when the reference point is the time of speech:

  • past = prior to speech time (anterior)
  • present = simultaneous with speech time
  • future = after speech time (posterior)


When a different reference point is used, it is more accurate to simply speak of time anterior, simultaneous, or posterior (if marked at all for location in time). When speech time is always assumed as the reference point, it is called absolute tense. When the reference point depends on context, it is called relative tense.

Hebrew has a combination of absolute tense and relative tense. Precisely because the tenses can be relative, it is vital to know what the reference point is – what reference point the relative tense is relative to. (This is the reason for including reference point movement, below.)

In our chart, we mark the reference point (past/present/future) and the relative tense (anterior/simultaneous/posterior). The combination of these with the expected time reference movement is what shapes the absolute tense. The English CBC will normally indicate the absolute tense.

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2. Aspect

Aspect can be defined as “the ‘internal temporal constituency’ of a situation as portrayed (e.g., stative, continuous, or repeating)”.

Whereas tense refers to the location in time, as location on a timeline, aspect refers to the perspective of the text, which is generally explained by means of metaphor. Either the text can be looking “inside” a situation, with some part of the situation still taking place, or it can be looking from the “outside” at the situation, in which case the situation is viewed as a single moment in time, not ongoing.

In our chart, we track stative, continuous and repeating aspect, all varieties of seeing “within” a situation. If there are no markings, we understand aspect to default to perfectivity (from “without”).

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3. Reference Point Movement

The reference point is the key for understanding how tenses and aspects interact. For a prototypical story, the “current location in time” updates with each situation.

Story:

  • They entered the house and (then)
  • they say down and (then)
  • they ate and drank.

For a prototypical description, the “current location in time” remains the same:

Description:

  • The house was dark and (at the same time)
  • The animals were lying on the hearth and (at the same time)
  • The stew was boiling on the stove.


This illustrates reference point movement (as in the story) and absence of movement (as in the description), as shown in the parentheses of “and (then)” and “and (at the same time).” The significance of reference point movement (and lack of movement) can become very significant when making sense of larger sections or whole psalms.

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4. Modality

Hebrew only indicates a few kinds of modality in its verbs: imperatives, jussives and cohortatives. Other forms of modality are indicated by discourse markers rather than verbal form. In the chart we track both morphological modality as well as effective modality (e.g. possibility, purpose/result), along with the discourse reason (when it is nor morphologically marked).

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5. Examples

Psalm 24:2 (qatal and yiqtol in parallel)

כִּי־ה֭וּא עַל־יַמִּ֣ים יְסָדָ֑הּ

וְעַל־נְ֝הָר֗וֹת יְכוֹנְנֶֽהָ׃

Morphology Time Modality
Root Stem Conj PGN Suffix Fut Pres Past Aspect Movt Modality Reason Close-but-clear
יסד Qal qatal 3ms 3fs → ⇍ indicative because he has laid its foundations upon the seas
כון Polel yiqtol 3ms 3fs ← ⟲ indicative and keeps it established upon the oceans

Psalm 26:4 (qatal and yiqtol in parallel)

לֹא־יָ֭שַׁבְתִּי עִם־מְתֵי־שָׁ֑וְא

וְעִ֥ם נַ֝עֲלָמִ֗ים לֹ֣א אָבֽוֹא׃

This passage is a good example of how the English translation, based on our perception of reference point movement, is not determined from the local verb or even clause itself. The expected reference point movement is a feature of the larger discourse that shows up, encoded, in English verbs. This means we cannot give a proper translation into English until we have determined this larger discourse feature. (Or, more practically, we give it a go and revise as needed.)

Either of the below analyses is fully viable as far as the Hebrew is concerned. The appropriate English, reflecting reference point movement, will have to be determined from the larger discourse.

Interpreting this with no expected reference point movement
Morphology Time Modality
Root Stem Conj PGN Suffix Fut Pres Past Aspect Movt Modality Reason Close-but-clear
ישׁב Qal qatal 1cs → ⇍ indicative I have not sat with worthless folk
בוא Qal yiqtol 1cs ← ⟲⟲⟲ indicative and I do not (regularly) go with hypocrites
Interpreting this with expected reference point movement
Morphology Time Modality
Root Stem Conj PGN Suffix Fut Pres Past Aspect Movt Modality Reason Close-but-clear
ישׁב Qal qatal 1cs → ⇐ indicative I did not sit with worthless folk (in the past)
בוא Qal yiqtol 1cs ← indicative and I will not go with hypocrites (in the future)

Psalm 24:3 (yiqtol with permissive modality)

מִֽי־יַעֲלֶ֥ה בְהַר־יְהוָ֑ה

וּמִי־יָ֝קוּם בִּמְק֥וֹם קָדְשֽׁוֹ׃

Morphology Time Modality
Root Stem Conj PGN Suffix Fut Pres Past Aspect Movt Modality Reason Close-but-clear
עלה Qal yiqtol 3ms ← ⇍ permission interrogative pronoun + context Who may go up on the mountain of YHWH?
קום Qal yiqtol 3ms ← permission interrogative pronoun + context And who may stand within his holy place?

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6. Glossary

For terms not included here, please see SIL’s “Glossary of Linguistic Terms.”

Accomplishment: a situation type in which the event happens over time (durative), but does have a natural endpoint (telic). Unlike semelfactives (e.g., blink), accomplishments involve a change, e.g., run a mile; build a house.

Achievement: a situation type in which the event does not happen over time (punctual), but does have a result state. Achievements occur at a single moment, e.g., reached the top; find; win.

Activity: a situation type in which the event happens over time (durative), but doesn’t have a natural endpoint (atelic).

Aspect: a grammatical category which refers broadly to the relationship between a situation and time; cf. situation type; viewpoint aspect.

Atelic: see telicity.

Durativity: This aspectual property asks if the situation starts and stops. A durative situation extends over time (includes states, resultant states, and continuous action). E.g., She was swimming. A punctual situation is presented as happening instantaneously (includes repetitive actions). E.g., He kicked the ball (single), or He was kicking the ball (repetitive).

Phasal aspect:

Punctual: see durativity.

Semelfactive: a situation type in which the event is punctual, but without any resultant state.

Situation type: sometimes referred to as Aktionsart or situation aspect. The most basic distinction is between state and event. A state is a situation characterized by durativity and lack of change, e.g., possessing, desiring, loving, ruling, believing. An event is a situation in which something “happens,” e.g., eating, listening, teaching. An event may be one of four different situation types, see accomplishment; achievement; activity; semelfactive.

Telicity: the property of a situation which indicates whether or not the situation has a natural end point; a situation is either telic or atelic.

Tense: refers to a situation’s location in time.

Viewpoint aspect: sometimes referred to simply as aspect. The traditional distinction in viewpoint aspect is between perfective and imperfective aspect. This category is concerned with how the situation is represented, not its inherent properties. See perfective; imperfective.

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Additional Resources

Cook, John. “Actionality (Aktionsart): Pre-Modern Hebrew.” In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. Edited by Geoffrey Khan. Consulted online on 22 September 2021 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2212-4241_ehll_EHLL_COM_00000203>.
Fleischman, Suzanne. Tense and Narrativity: From Medieval Performance to Modern Fiction. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010. PDF here.
Gentry, Peter. “The System of the Finite Verb in Classical Biblical Hebrew.” Hebrew Studies 39 (1998): 7–39. Link here.
Hornkohl, Aaron. “Biblical Hebrew Tense–Aspect–Mood, Word Order and Pragmatics: Some Observations on Recent Approaches.” Open-access version here.
Hovav, Malka. “Lexicalized meaning and the internal temporal structure of events.” Pages 13–42 in S. Rothstein (ed.), Theoretical and Crosslinguistic Approaches to the Semantics of Aspect. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2008. Available as PDF here.
Joosten, Jan. “Do the Finite Verbal Forms in Biblical Hebrew Express Aspect?” JANES 29 (2002): 49–70.
Kroeger, Paul. Analyzing Meaning: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. Textbooks in Language Sciences 5. Berlin: Language Science Press, 2018. Part VI, “Tense & aspect” (pp. 377–446). This title can be downloaded here.
Levin, Beth. “Lexical Semantics of Verbs” course handouts. UC Berkeley, 2009. Course Page here. See especially “Lecture 4: Aspectual Approaches to Lexical Semantic Representation” (link). Cf. also Levin’s paper “Verb Classes within and across Languages,” 2013. (link)
McIntyre, Andrew. “Tense, Aspect and Situation Type."
Nadathur, Prerna. “Lexical Semantics” course handouts. Institut für Sprache und Information Heinrich Heine Universität, 2019–20. Course page here. See especially “Week 11: Aspect and aspectual classes I” (link).
“Tense, Aspect, and Modality with Nora Boneh (Part 1 of the Verbal Systems of the Biblical Languages series). The Biblical Languages Podcast. Biblingo, 2021. Link here.
Vendler, Z. “Verbs and Time.” Pages 97–121, Chapter 4 of Linguistics in Philosophy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1967. Link here.
Binnick, Robert. "Temporality and Aspectuality." Pp. 557-567 in M. Haspelmath (ed.), Language Typology and Language Universals. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2001.
Lindstedt, Jouko. "Tense and Aspect." Pp. 768-783 in M. Haspelmath (ed.), Language Typology and Language Universals. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2001.

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