Waw-consecutive
Encyclopedia
The Waw-consecutive or Vav-consecutive is a grammatical construction in Classical Hebrew. It involves prefixing a verb form with the letter waw
in order to change its aspect.
roughly equivalent to English and:
('kept') and ('judged') are simple perfect qal
forms, and in fact they are the citation forms of these verbs. If however these two sentences are not separate but in one continuous narrative then only the first verb is in the perfect, whereas the following verb ('and he judged') is in the imperfect with a prefixed waw:
Conversely, in a continuous narrative referring to the future, the narrative tense will be the imperfect, but this becomes a perfect after the conjunction:
However, linguists do not believe that the conjunction itself can have a reversing effect. Rather, it is believed that Hebrew preserves remnants of two different early Semitic tense systems.
writes: "All attempts to explain this at first sight strange phenomenon, whereby two tenses apparently exchange functions, on logical grounds, have failed, but the historical development of the Hebrew language readily accounts for it. When it is remembered that this is a composite language containing elements drawn from all the Semitic languages, it is at once seen why it has two pronouns for the first person...Hebrew has two words for "I": (''ʾănî), which Driver explains as a West Semitic form, and (''ʾānōḵî), which is East Semitic. So there are two different systems, drawn from different sources, merged in the Hebrew scheme of tenses." On this view, the consecutive constructions are connected with the verb systems of East Semitic (Driver makes a comparison with Akkadian
), whereas the ordinary verb construction reflects the usage in Northwest Semitic (Aramaic). The two have survived side-by-side in the Hebrew verb paradigm.
Vadim Cherny notes that waw reversive does not change tenses per se, but reflects deictic center shifts. Wayyomer (And + Future tense) can be approximated in English as, "And he would say," while weqatal refers to "prophetic past" - the events which, though future to the reader, are already past to the prophet in his vision. Weqatal is also employed for very strong commands.
Waw (letter)
Waw is the sixth letter of the Northwest Semitic family of scripts, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic ....
in order to change its aspect.
Waw-conjunctive and waw-consecutive
This Hebrew prefix, spelled with the letter (waw) and depending on phonetic environment variously pronounced and transcribed wə-, wa- or u-, The variations of vocalisation and the alternation of waw from a consonant to a vowel belong to regular patterns of assimilation, depending on the initial consonant of the following word. The following letter may also be marked with dagesh (a dot in the centre of the letter indicating gemmination and transcribed by doubling the consonant), which may mark an assimilated definite article or be a marker of waw-consecutive in particular. But in unpointed Hebrew these are all written identically with waw. is frequently a waw-conjunctiveWaw-conjunctive
A conjunctive waw or vav conjunctive is the use of Hebrew vav as a conjunction to join two parts of speech. It is distinct from waw-consecutive which is a verb construction.-Conjunction of two nouns:...
roughly equivalent to English and:
-
- Day and night.
Consecutive verb syntax
Used with verbs, the prefix has a double function. It is still conjunctive, but also has the effect of altering the tense and aspect of the verb. Weingreen gives the following example . If we consider two simple past narrative statements, we expect to find them in the perfect tense:-
- The king kept the word of the
-
- He judged the people in righteousness.
('kept') and ('judged') are simple perfect qal
Qal (linguistics)
In Hebrew grammar, the qal is the simple paradigm of the verb.The Classical Hebrew verb conjugates according to person and number in two finite tenses, the perfect and the imperfect. Both of these can then be modified by means of prefixes and suffixes to create other "actions" of the verb...
forms, and in fact they are the citation forms of these verbs. If however these two sentences are not separate but in one continuous narrative then only the first verb is in the perfect, whereas the following verb ('and he judged') is in the imperfect with a prefixed waw:
-
- The king kept the word of the and he judged the people in righteousness.
Conversely, in a continuous narrative referring to the future, the narrative tense will be the imperfect, but this becomes a perfect after the conjunction:
- The king will keep the word of the and he will judge the people in righteousness.
Waw of reversal
Greatly over-simplified, we can say that Classical Hebrew has two inflected verb tenses, the perfect for past actions and the imperfect for actions continuing into the present or future. However the waw-consecutive perfect has future reference, and the waw-consecutive imperfect is a narrative past tense. Thus the construction has the general effect of reversing the polarity of the tenses. For this reason, early scholars referred to it as the waw-conversive, or in Hebrew waw hahipuch, literally "the waw of reversal".However, linguists do not believe that the conjunction itself can have a reversing effect. Rather, it is believed that Hebrew preserves remnants of two different early Semitic tense systems.
Origins
G. R. DriverGodfrey Rolles Driver
Godfrey Rolles Driver CBE, FBA was an English Orientalist noted for his studies of Semitic languages and Assyriology....
writes: "All attempts to explain this at first sight strange phenomenon, whereby two tenses apparently exchange functions, on logical grounds, have failed, but the historical development of the Hebrew language readily accounts for it. When it is remembered that this is a composite language containing elements drawn from all the Semitic languages, it is at once seen why it has two pronouns for the first person...Hebrew has two words for "I": (''ʾănî), which Driver explains as a West Semitic form, and (''ʾānōḵî), which is East Semitic. So there are two different systems, drawn from different sources, merged in the Hebrew scheme of tenses." On this view, the consecutive constructions are connected with the verb systems of East Semitic (Driver makes a comparison with Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
), whereas the ordinary verb construction reflects the usage in Northwest Semitic (Aramaic). The two have survived side-by-side in the Hebrew verb paradigm.
Vadim Cherny notes that waw reversive does not change tenses per se, but reflects deictic center shifts. Wayyomer (And + Future tense) can be approximated in English as, "And he would say," while weqatal refers to "prophetic past" - the events which, though future to the reader, are already past to the prophet in his vision. Weqatal is also employed for very strong commands.
Modern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew makes little use of waw consecutive constructions, but they are still found in classical allusions and references, and are readily understood.Sources
, ,- J. Weingreen, A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew, Oxford University Press 1939.
- A.B. Davidson, Hebrew Syntax, 1894, reprint of 3rd edition T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1981.