Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/350

  the four forms of the ''2nd fem. plur. imperative'' in, erroneously explained here in former editions, see now ). In the interchange of masc. and fem. serves to express totality (the nation in all its aspects). Cf., moreover,  on other noticeable attempts to substitute the corresponding masculine forms for the feminine.

1. The with  (–g) serves to express actions, events, or states, which are to be regarded as the temporal or logical sequel of actions, events, or states mentioned immediately before. The is used in this way most frequently as the narrative tense, corresponding to the Greek aorist or the Latin historic perfect. As a rule the narrative is introduced by a perfect, and then continued by means of imperfects with (on this interchange of tenses cf., and especially ), e.g.  now the serpent was  more subtil... and he said  unto the woman; , , , , , , , , , , , ,.

Rem. 1. To this class belong some of the numerous imperfects consec. after various expressions of time, whenever such expressions are equivalent in moaning to a perfect (viz. ), e.g. in the year that king Uzziah died, I saw, &c.; , , , , , , ; on the use of  to connect expressions of time, see below, g.—It is only in late books or passages that we find the simple  in a clause following an expression of time, as  (cf. Driver on the passage), , , &c., , ; the  after  and the subject,.

2. The continuation of the narrative by means of the imperfect consec. may result in a series of any number of such imperfects, e.g. there are forty-nine in. As soon, however, as the connecting becomes separated from the verb to which it belongs, by the insertion of any word, the perfect necessarily takes the place of the imperfect, e.g.  and God called  the light Day, and the darkness he called  Night; verse 10, 2:20, 11:3 and frequently.

3. Of two co-ordinate imperfects consecutive the former (as equivalent to a temporal clause) is most frequently subordinate in sense to the latter, e.g., &c.; so also, frequently , &c., , &c. On the other hand, a second is seldom used in an explanatory sense, e.g.  ; cf. . Other examples of the imperfect consecutive, which apparently represent a progress in the narrative, in reality only refer to the same time, or explain what precedes, see (but,  they are);  , 36:32 ,.