On 2 Mar 2011 at 16:20, Sébastien Louis wrote:

> 
> Hello,
> 
> could someone explain how the terme  is
> constructed and on what it is based? The sentence is (Ex 1, 1):
> 
> 
> 
>    
>     
>                  
>        
> 
> 
> 
> I guess it comes from the article "ha" and the verb "ba" (to come)
> and means "coming" or "who came". If so, what kind of construction
> is this? And why is there noun plural (-im) on a verb?
> 
> Sorry for these questions that might sound stupid to most of you,
> but I'm a beginner...
> 
> Thanks a lot to all,
> 
> Sébastien Louis
> Belgium

Don't worry, nobody is born knowing this stuff, we all had to learn it from the 
beginning at 
some point.

The word is a participle.  You are correct that it comes from BW).  The form is 
a masculine 
plural participle, a form that in this case "nouns" the verb.  That's why it 
can take the definite 
article H at the front, and the YM ending is the masculine plural.  Your 
rendering is correct: 
"these are the names of the sons of Israel, the ones who came to Egypt..."  In 
English we 
make it into a noun with a subordinate clause, "the ones who," whereas biblical 
Hebrew just 
uses a participle with the appropriate noun affixes.

Hope this helps,

Dave Washburn

http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
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