An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

12.
וֹתּ ְשׁ אִ וְ
(d) construct relationship
Gen 3:8
םהי ֶ נֵ ְשׁ יני ֵ ֵע ה ָנחְ קַ ָפּ תִּ וַ
The eyes of both of them were opened.
Gen 3:7
(2) A prepositional phrase used as a subject is usually a partitive phrase,
introduced by ן ִמ ‘from,’ either in such phrases as ‘(some) from’ or, after a
negative, ‘(not even one) from.’ 11
13.
רי ִקּ ה־ל ַ א ֶ הּ ָמ דָּ מִ זִיּוַ And some of her blood spattered on the wall.
2 Kgs 9:33
(3) A clause often occurs as a subject of a verb of telling, knowing, or other
mental activity.
14. דגַּ הֻ
לוּא ָשׁ ְלוּ
דוִ דּ ָ ט ַל ְמ ִנ־י ִכּ
4.4.2 Indefinite Subject
That David had escaped was told to Saul.
1 Sam 23:13
a Sometimes no particular person(s) is (are) in view as the topic of the sentence. In
such cases of indefinite subject, English idiom, demanding in its surface structure
that a[Page 71] noun or its equivalent express the subject, supplies a “dummy”
subject, be it a noun (e.g., ‘men,’ ‘people’), a pronoun (‘they,’ ‘your’), or an
adjective (‘one’); none of these has a distinct extra-linguistic referent in view.
Men fight and die for freedom.
They told me you had an accident.
You can only hope and wait.
One looks for rain.
In Hebrew, indefinite subjects can be expressed by the bound form of the
third-person pronoun with a finite verb; if a participle is used in such a
construction, it is usually plural. The finite verb may be singular or plural, active
(cf. 22.7) or passive; the plural active construction is the most common.
(1) Third-person singular pronoun, active verbal form
11 Cf. Exod 16:27; 2 Sam 11:17; negative, 2 Kgs 10:10.