Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/142



The same laws which are normally exhibited in stems with strong (unchangeable) consonants, hold good for all other verbs. Deviations from the model of the strong verb are only modifications due to the special character or weakness of certain consonants, viz.:&mdash;

(a) When one of the stem-consonants (or radicals) is a guttural. In this case, however, the variations only occur in the vocalization (according to ), not in the consonants. The (–) are, therefore, only a variety of the strong verb.

(b) When a stem-consonant disappears by assimilation (–), or when the stem originally, consisted of only two consonants (, , and , as , , , , , ).

(c) When one of the stem-consonants is a weak letter. In this case, through aphaeresis, elision, &c., of the weak consonant, various important deviations from the regular form occur. Cf. ff. for these verbs, such as, ,.

Taking the old paradigm as a model, it is usual, following the example of the Jewish grammarians, to call the first radical of any stem, the second , and the third. Hence the expressions,  for a verb whose first radical is  ( [] );  for  ;  for a verb whose second radical is repeated to form a third. I. The Strong Verb.

As the formation of the strong verb is the model also for the weak verb, a statement of the general formative laws should precede the treatment of special cases.

Paradigm B, together with the Table of the personal preformatives and afformatives given in, offers a complete survey of the normal forms. A full explanation of them is given in the following sections (§§ 43–55), where each point is elucidated on its first occurrence; thus e.g. the inflexion of the Perfect, the Imperfect and its modifications, will be found under Qal, &c. A. The Pure Stem, or Qal.

The common form of the 3rd sing. masc. of the is, with ă  in the second syllable, especially in  verbs (but see ). There is also a form with ē (, originally ĭ), and another with ō (, originally ŭ) in the second syllable, both of which, however, have almost always an meaning,