When a vav (waw) is prefixed to a perfect verb (a verb that is analogous to the past tense) it “converts” the verb to the imperfect tense (analogous to the present tense). In other words it converts a past tense (perfect) into a present tense (imperfect) or a present tense (imperfect) into a past tense (perfect)
There is also a construction called the waw consecutive. This tense has no analogy to English. It denotes consecutive, sequential action, as for example he entered the room AND he took his seat AND he opened his book AND he began to study. This is probably more akin to our use of commas as, for example, he entered the room, took his seat, opened his book, and began to study. Hebrew has no commas hence this. Blessings, Michael _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Riley Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 2:39 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ancient_hebrew] Re: information on vav/waw Thank you very much Rich and Mark for your responses and the links. I checked them out and came up with another quesiton. This is what it said in the lexicon- When the prefix "V" (waw) meaning "and" is attached to the verb, the verb tense (perfect or imperfect) reverses. Would the vav/waw before the str reverse the tense and if so what does that mean? If str means "hiding" does the vav/waw reverse something? Also I believe "hey" is another prefix and has the meaning "the". What if it is used as a post-fix: ) I mean used at the end of a word instead like strh. Thanks for your time The Riley Tribe --- On Thu, 7/1/10, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [ancient_hebrew] Re: information on vav/waw To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, July 1, 2010, 4:28 PM --- In ancient_hebrew@ <http://us.mc1203.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ancient_hebrew%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com, "therileytribe" <therileytr...@...> wrote: > > Hello our family is new to the group and we wanted to say hi. Also we wanted > some information on vav/waw. Particularly when it is placed in the beginning > of a word. We have heard it acts more of a prefix in this position. We were > mostly curious because of the word vstr, vav, samech, tav, resh. We are > writing this from right to left, I am sure you already figured this out. We > beleive str means something along the lines of Hide or Hidden. Is this the > case? and then how does the vav/waw effect this. Thanks for your time and > looking forward to your responses. Sincerely The Riley Tribe. > Dear Riley Tribe, when the "vav" at the start of a statement such as we see in Gen. 1:2 "V H ARTs" gives us the idea of adding to something. This statement "V H ARTs" would translate as and the land, where the "V" is "and" adding to something. The "V" (vav/waw) is seen in the ancient_hebrew picture as a "TENT PEG" giving the idea of anchoring or securing something. The "H" (hay) is a picture of a man raising his hands and arms ti the sky as if seeing something very special giving the idea of something being reveled an is, in this case translated as the word "the". And as you seem to be aware the "ARTs" translates as "LAND". As for your statement "str" the first picture ( S ) is of a thorn and gives us the idea of something sharp or piercing. It also is used to give the idea of guarding or shielding something such as when used in the statement "ShMR" in Gen. 2:15. or to grab hold and turn something. The "T" is the picture of 2 sticks tied in a cross form used as a marker of sign. The "R" is the picture of a mans HEAD and gives the idea of the head of top, beginning chief or first. Putting these 3 pictures together as "STR" we see the idea of shielding (the) mark (of a) man. We see the idea of "HIDING" something. Hope this will help you, also here are 2 links that will help. http://www.ancient- <http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/bookstore/e-books/ahlb.pdf> hebrew.org/bookstore/e-books/ahlb.pdf http://www.ancient- <http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/bookstore/e-books.html> hebrew.org/bookstore/e-books.html Rich AHRC
