An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

use” of the infinitive absolute (35.4); both these terms bear the imprint of European
grammarians and reflect an alien approach to Hebrew. Nonetheless, the patterns of
use are clear, and it is useful to retain such terminology in a grammar for English
speakers. Another syntactic approach is based on the use of two Hebrew verbs in
sequence, corresponding to a verb + adverb construction in other languages; the two
Hebrew verbs may have the same form or they may differ in form. (Occasionally, the
verb that is similar to an English adverb is called by grammarians an auxiliary or
quasi-auxiliary; this terminology is rather dubiously relevant.) Examples of such
usage are furnished by verbs such as בושׁ and ףסי, which are often rendered with
adverbs such as ‘again, further, continually,’ etc. This syntactic approach to what
European languages take as an adverbial function is properly a matter for the Hebrew
lexicon; once the pattern is appreciated as an integral part of Hebrew, it requires little
grammatical notice. 33
c Setting aside constructions that can be called adverbial from an external viewpoint,
we are still left with a class of Hebrew adverbs. 34 It is a class that overlaps with other
word groups in the language, and one that reveals only modest regularities, but one
that demands a brief review before we turn to the subject at hand, the subclass of
clausal adverbs.
d There are three subgroups of adverbs in Hebrew: clausal adverbs, item adverbs, and
constituent adverbs; the first two groups include largely particles, while the third is
more[Page 657] heterogeneous, including nouns and verbs as well as particles. 35
Clausal and item adverbs modify, respectively, clauses and individual words in a way
related to the discourse, that is, they negate, emphasize, or restrict what they modify
in relation to some other grammatical feature. 36 Constituent adverbs modify clauses
(and, rarely, individual words) but, in contrast to clausal and item adverbs, they
modify the predicate, that is, they specify the time, place, or manner of the predicated
situation. Consider this pair of clauses.
33 Contrast Davidson, Hebrew Syntax, 100, 113–16.
34 Note Davidson’s desperate phrase “real adverbs,” Hebrew Syntax, 100.
35 In the discussion that follows we concentrate on individual adverbs, slighting all but
the most common compound adverbs. Joüon includes all interrogatives, §102i/p. 271.
For expository purposes, we leave out here interrogative pronouns and phrases (18.1)
and the polar particle h (40.3); the last is certainly a clausal adverb, and it may be that
some of the other interrogatives (e.g., mdw˓) are also.
36 Aartun, Partikeln I, uses a related principle of classification, referring to “forms for
intensification (Bekräftigung)/emphasis (Hervorhebung) of individual words or
complete sentences” versus “forms for the intensification of complete sentences
(only)” and “forms for the negation (Verneinung) of complete sentences” versus
“forms for the negation of individual words and complete sentences.”