Page:Introductory Hebrew Grammar- Hebrew Syntax (1902).djvu/75

 SYNTAX OF THE VERB

THE PERFECT

§ 39. The simple perf. is used to express an action completed either in reality or in the thought of the speaker.

The perf. is used to express completed actions where Eng. also uses past tenses. — (a) Like the Eing. past tense, to denote an action completed at a time indicated by the narrative, as Gen. 4:26 אָז הוּחַל  then it was begun (began men); or completed in the indefinite past, Job 1:1 אִישׁ הָיָה there was a man. Gen. 3:1; 15:18; 22:1; 29:9; 31:20. Even if the finished action may have extended over a period of time, unless it is desired to mark this specially, the simple perf. is employed; Gen. 14:4, twelve years עָֽבְדוּ  they served, 1 K. 14:21, and often.

(b) Like the Eng. perf. with have, to denote an action finished in the past but continuing in its effects into pres.; Gen. 4:6 לָמָּה נָֽפְלוּ פָנֶיךָ  why has (is) thy face fallen? Is. 1:4 עָֽזְבוּ אֶת־י׳  they have forsaken the Lord. In this case the pres. must sometimes be used in Eng., Ps. 2:1 לָמָּה רָֽגְשׁוּ גוֹיִם  why do the nations rage? Ps. 1:1. Or to denote an action just finished, or finished within an understood period; Gen. 4:10 מֶה עָשִׂיתָ  what hast thou done? 1 S. 12:3 אֶת־שׁוֹר מִי לָקַחְתִּי  whose ox have I taken? Gen. 3:22; 12:18; 22:12; 26:22; 46:31, Ex. 5:14, Nu. 22:34, Jud. 10:10; 11:7, 1 S. 14:29.

(c) Like the Eng. pluperf. to indicate that one of two actions was completed before the other. This use is most common in dependent (relative or conjunctive) clauses. Gen.