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Hebrew Future Tense Questions | ||
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| Saydalii Newbie United States Joined 5107 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes | Message 1 of 8 02 December 2010 at 12:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello everyone,
I am currently doing Rosetta Stone Hebrew and am 3/4 of the way thru level II. I just started the last unit from Level II and am as confused as ever about the future tense. Previously in Rosetta Stone they seemed to use a form to denote a future action. Here are examples. hu meshalem b'mayzuman (he pays with cash) Then they used this form below, adding holech in front of "lashalem"(which i think is some sort of active noun form meaning "to pay") hu holech lashalem b'mayzuman I felt based on the pictures that this meant "he will pay with cash" I'm confused about what the future tense is since they now in the last unit of the second level, conjugate the verb into a future tense as well. Is the above way with holech ok? Are there two different ways to state the future? Thank you so much, Also if anyone in the Phoenix Area is learning Hebrew send me an email if you want. Mike 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Fazla Hexaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6263 days ago 166 posts - 255 votes  Speaks: Italian, Serbo-Croatian*, English, Russian, Portuguese, French Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Turkish, Mandarin | Message 2 of 8 02 December 2010 at 11:39am | IP Logged | ||
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The future tense uses a completely different system where actually you have to change prefixes and suffixes. If you know Arabic (it seems you have an Arabic resembling username) the way Arabic's present tense is formed, is the way Hebrew future tense is formed. Edited by Fazla on 03 December 2010 at 12:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Avrakdavra Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5723 days ago 5 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Mandarin, Esperanto, Modern Hebrew, Persian, Hungarian, Japanese, Portuguese | Message 3 of 8 02 December 2010 at 5:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am surprised that the form "hu holech lashalem..." appeared in Rosetta Stone.
To say "He can pay" would be "hu yachol l'shalem" and the future ("He will pay") would be conjugated "hu yishalem..." "Holech" means "he goes" or "is going"; however, I am not aware that the English construction "he is going to pay" is used in that way in Hebrew (I've never heard it or read it that I can remember) Perhaps someone with more Hebrew will comment. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5600 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 4 of 8 02 December 2010 at 7:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think הוא הולך לשׁלם does indeed mean something like "He goes somewhere in order to pay" or "he is about to pay".
Compare Gen 31,19 ולבן הלך לגזוז את צאנו "And Laban went to shear his sheep" and Gen. 25,32 הנה אנכי הוֹלך למוּת "Behold, I am at the point to die". The actual future for "he will pay" is ישׁלם [yəʃalem] But this construction (הלך + Infinitiv constructus) is not as widely used as he English going-to-future. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Avrakdavra Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5723 days ago 5 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Mandarin, Esperanto, Modern Hebrew, Persian, Hungarian, Japanese, Portuguese | Message 5 of 8 02 December 2010 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | ||
Indeed, in the Torah one finds this construction, but how about in Ivrit (Modern Hebrew)? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Fazla Hexaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6263 days ago 166 posts - 255 votes Speaks: Italian, Serbo-Croatian*, English, Russian, Portuguese, French Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Turkish, Mandarin | Message 6 of 8 03 December 2010 at 12:47pm | IP Logged | ||
Thank you for the correction! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Saydalii Newbie United States Joined 5107 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes | Message 7 of 8 04 December 2010 at 7:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks so much to everyone who replied. Yes I do know Arabic fairly well. It looks like what you guys are saying is the the hu holech lashalem way could be technically right as a future, but that would be more so in some sort of Classical Hebrew. But Modern Hebrew, which is what I want to learn, has a separate conjugation for Future.
I could have sworn I've seen that holech form in the Torah, and it made much more sense when I translated it as a future tense. So I will have to learn all those future conjugations for the verbs!, haha. I honestly have no idea why Rosetta Stone teaches you that. I wish they came with a Modern Hebrew Version. Thanks to All, Mike 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JBI Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5692 days ago 46 posts - 67 votes Speaks: Modern Hebrew, English* Studies: Italian, Mandarin, French | Message 8 of 8 05 December 2010 at 2:07am | IP Logged | ||
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That's just Rosetta Stone being Rosetta Stone - it is basically trying to create what in
English we call a state of being, and in French I believe they call a future tense conjugated with aller (I forget most of the grammar of French now). IF you are going to use the future, which is the actual future, you will not conjugate with a double verb, but use the nifty Atid tense, which will use the added suffix and prefix to communicate the implied connection - Rosetta Stone basically just translated a set of sentences from a base set of exercises, so their usefulness in teaching grammar is minimal at best. The Biblical references above are stylistic choices, not grammatical points - going there implies going out, which is not implied in paying. Edited by JBI on 05 December 2010 at 2:09am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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