Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/233

 2. When the original stands at the end of the syllable before an afformative beginning with a consonant  there arises (a) in the perfects, primarily the diphthong ai. In the middle of the word this ought always to be contracted to ê, but this ê is only found consistently in the passive conjugations, whilst regularly in , and frequently in the other active and reflexive conjugations (especially in ), it appears as î (cf. x, z, ee). This î, however, in the ''perf. Qal is not to be explained as a weakening of an original ê, but as the original vowel of the intransitive'' form. It then became usual also in the transitive forms of (and in some other conjugations on this analogy), whereas e.g. in Syriac the two kinds of forms are still carefully distinguished.—(b) In the imperfects and imperatives,  with the tone always appears before the afformative. On the most probable explanation of this, see above, e.

Summary. Accordingly before afformatives beginning with a consonant the principal vowel is—

In the perfect Qal î, e.g. ;

In the perfects of the other active and reflexive conjugations, sometimes ê, sometimes î, and ;  and ;

In the perfects passive always ê, e.g. ;

In the imperfects and imperatives always, e.g. ,.

The diphthongal forms have been systematically retained in Arabic and Ethiopic; only as an exception and in the popular language is the diphthong contracted. In Aramaic the contracted forms predominate, yet the Syriac, for example, has in 2nd ''pers. sing. gelait (but 1st pers. sing.'' ), and so too the Western Aramaic, but also.

3. Before the vocalic afformatives the  is usually dropped altogether, e.g.  (ground-form găl̆yû),,  , ''plur. masc. ; yet the old full forms also not infrequently occur, especially in, see u. The elision of the takes place regularly before suffixes'', e.g.  (see ll).

4. In the 3rd ''sing. fem. perfect, the original feminine ending was appended to the stem; hence, after elision of the, arose properly forms like , with ā'', in the final syllable with the tone, This form, however, has been but rarely preserved (see below, m). The analogy of the other forms had so much influence, that the common ending was added pleonastically to the ending. Before the the vowel of the ending, which thus loses the tone, becomes , and thus there arise such forms as , , &c. (but in, &c.).

For similar cases see ;.