mplioplis wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 1:55 am
Here's my 8. It took nearly 4 hours (not in one sitting). This is waaaay too long. How could I work faster?
I think that if we had done more English-to-Hebrew work before this, it would have come along a bit more easily. It's like trying to do exercises for the first time. If you've never lifted weights, it's gonna be ungraceful and difficult. However, the more you do it, the easier it gets. These are new muscles that you're starting to us.
mplioplis wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 1:55 am
וְהָיָה אמ עָבְדוּ אֵתִי בֶּאֱמֶת וָשָׁמְרוּ אֶת מִצּוֹתַי אֲשֶׁר צַוְּתִי לָהֶם וְאָשׂוּ אֶת אֲשֶׁר אֶת הַתֹּב בְּעֵנַיִּיִם וְשָׁלַחְתִּי עַל הֵם וְעַל־פְּרִי אַדְמָתָם וְיָדְעוּ כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה אֶלְהֶה אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִי מִן־הָאָרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וַאֲשֶׁר הֵבֵאתִי בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן וַאֲשֶׁר נִלְחַמְתִּי לָהֶם בּאוֹיֶבְהַמְ׃
I added the
[he]
tag to the above.
You wrote: וְהָיָה אמ עָבְדוּ אֵתִי בֶּאֱמֶת
The first thing that I notice is the inconsistent use of final mem (
ם), like in the word
אִם (
ʾim), which you have written as
אמ above.
The setup is in the right tense.
וְהָיָה sets this up as a statement about the future. Interestingly, Hebrew real (not counterfactual) conditionals that deal with the future actually use the yiqtol. So, it should be
יַעַבְדוּ yaʿaḇəḏû rather than
עָֽבְדוּ ʿāḇəḏû. If you use the qatal, it sets up a conditional to ask if it
has/had happened or not. But the yiqtol sets it up to ask if it should happen
in the future or not.
Remember that two things happen with
אֵת ʾēṯ: (1) if it means "with," then it becomes
אִתִּי ʾittî (etc.), but (2) if it is marking the direct object, it becomes
אֹתִי ʾōṯî (etc.). So,
אִם יַעַבְדוּ אֹתִי "if they (should) serve me."
You wrote: וָשָׁמְרוּ אֶת מִצּוֹתַי אֲשֶׁר צַוְּתִי לָהֶם
The verb form is going in the right direction. However, whereas the vayyiqtol has a full vowel in the first syllable, the veqatal doesn't. It should be
sheva (
וְשָֽׁמְרוּ).
The phrase
את מצותי would need to be joined with a makaf (
אֶת־מִצְוֺתַי) or to have a long vowel if left separated (
אֵת מִצְוֺתַי). I don't know if you can see the difference between
וֹ ô (cholam-vav) and
וֺ vō (consonantal vav with cholam), but there is a difference there, too, in the placement of the cholam dot.
Compare
מַצּוֹת maṣṣôṯ to
מִצְוֺת miṣvōṯ. Do you see the placement of the dot on the vav? In
miṣvōṯ ("commandments"), the vav is a consonant and has the dot a bit to the left. In
maṣṣôṯ ("unleavened breads"), the vav is a vowel and has the dot directly above its stem. These are also different keystrokes. It's not all that important, but it is a distinction. Not all typists make the distinction, obviously.
Since "I commanded" is a piel with a third-heh root, it will obviously drop the heh, which is replaced with yod before the personal ending (
צוה > צוי־ > צויתי). The first vowel in the piel perfect is
i with a doubled middle radical (
צִוּיתי). In such a verb, the vowel before the sufformative can be either
ê or
î. Even the Academy of the Hebrew Language gives both forms
צִוֵּ֫יתִי and
צִוִּ֫יתִי as possibilities. I don't even know which one I prefer when I speak. Both are valid. I think I prefer
î for active verbs and
ê for passive (like in the pual perfect). That's really a preference, but it isn't necessary.
The verb "command" takes a direct object. That means that it uses
אֵת rather than
לְ־, so you say
צִוֵּ֫יתִי אֹתָם "I commanded them."
You wrote: וְאָשׂוּ אֶת אֲשֶׁר אֶת הַתֹּב בְּעֵנַיִּיִם
The verb "to do" uses ayin rather than alef (
וְעָשׂוּ). I know it sounds the same to us, but the alef-ayin distinction in roots is part of the language.
For whatever reason, the phrase
הַטּוֹב (notice again the tet-tav distinction, like the alef-ayin distinction) is translated as "what is good" or "what is pleasing." The phrase
עָשׂוּ אֶת־הַטּוֹב בְּעֵינַי (or even without
אֵת as
עָשׂוּ הַטּוֹב בְּעֵינַי) means "they did what was pleasing in my sight." It is literally, "they did the good in my eyes."
Notice that the yod in
עַ֫יִן is part of the root. This is a segolate with medial yod! That yod doesn't drop out in any of the forms (except by accident, perhaps). Therefore, you have to keep it in there:
עַ֫יִן > עֵינַ֫יִם > עֵינַי. Also, the "my" part of it is in the suffix
-ay. More coming...