Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar

Level Twoc Tense in reported thoughtThe tense of reported speech or thought is as if one were transported tothe moment of reporting: it is thus quite unlike English: , The doctors stated that he would die (lit. that he will die . . .), butthey were wrong I thought I was (lit. I am . . .) going crazyd Tense with ‘if’,a future event: , and ‘when’ and ‘while’ commonly take the future tense for? - , , If I fall asleep, wake me, OK? I’ll turn off when I go outA quite distinct use of and is for ‘while’. Here, formal Hebrewcommonly uses the present tense even when the whole setting is the pastor future: , - The teams marched past the spectators, while singing and waving flags , The consul will soon return to Jerusalem, leaving behind him hostsof acquaintances and friendsNote that English often simply uses a participle (a verb ending in ‘-ing’) todenote ‘while’. In Hebrew, this is often just rendered by , thus:144 She always sits in the back scribbling