Oh, it's worth noting that in terms of word/phrase order, King James actually matches the Hebrew better -- but that's because Hebrew sometimes (often?) puts the object before the verb and (otherwise) almost always puts the verb before the both the subject and object. It's not cumbersome in Hebrew the way it often is in English translation.
So, for example, the frequent phrase "And God spoke to Moses" is ordered, in Hebrew, "and spoke God to Moses". The verb (conjugation? declension? don't know the correct term) tells you up front that the subject is going to be (e.g.) singular male.
From a (Hebrew) verb, without the rest of the sentence, you can learn the following things: tense, gender of subject, number of subject, and "binyan" (causitive vs declarative vs 5 other options I can't name right now). I'm assuming that it's correct to refer to at least the first three of these as coming from the "conjugation"; is that right?
Pity I never took an intro-level inguistics course. There are concepts that, it seems, most languages other than English have, that we never really see. For example, the past-tense form of an English verb never varies based on number or gender; that only happens in present tense, and then it's just that third-person singular is different from everything else.
Yeah, English with is two or three verb tenses and two conjugations is kinda bowled over by the romance languages with their six to nine of each. Thou couldst always attempt ressurrection of the previously dropped English conjugations. :)
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cellio
(no subject)
Date: 2002-04-18 06:27 am (UTC)So, for example, the frequent phrase "And God spoke to Moses" is ordered, in Hebrew, "and spoke God to Moses". The verb (conjugation? declension? don't know the correct term) tells you up front that the subject is going to be (e.g.) singular male.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-04-18 07:31 am (UTC)(Verbs take "conjugations"; nouns take "declensions"; both are examples of "inflections".)
(no subject)
Date: 2002-04-18 07:55 am (UTC)From a (Hebrew) verb, without the rest of the sentence, you can learn the following things: tense, gender of subject, number of subject, and "binyan" (causitive vs declarative vs 5 other options I can't name right now). I'm assuming that it's correct to refer to at least the first three of these as coming from the "conjugation"; is that right?
Pity I never took an intro-level inguistics course. There are concepts that, it seems, most languages other than English have, that we never really see. For example, the past-tense form of an English verb never varies based on number or gender; that only happens in present tense, and then it's just that third-person singular is different from everything else.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-04-18 07:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-04-18 09:13 am (UTC)Thou couldst always attempt ressurrection of the previously dropped English conjugations. :)