12.8 Preformatives, Sufformatives, Prefixes, and Suffixes
Hebrew grammars often use the terms “preformative” and “sufformative” exclusively for verbs, and they are distinct from “prefixes” and “suffixes”
- A verbal preformative (if any) goes before \(R_1\) and a sufformative (if any) goes after \(R_3\)
- A sufformative can also be referred to as an afformative
- Any prefix such as the interrogative particle, or (commonly) the conjunction vav, goes before the preformative, or before \(R_1\) if there is no preformative
- Any suffix, such as a pronominal suffix, goes after any sufformative, or the final root consonant
| קָטַ֫לְתִּי | וַיִּקְטְלוּ | יִקְטְלוּנוּ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prefix | None | וַ | None |
| Preformative | None | יִ | יִ |
| Sufformative | תִּי | וּ | וּ |
| Suffix | None | None | נוּ |
| Parsing code | QP1cs | QIwc3mp | QI3mp + 1cp |
| Meaning | I killed | And they killed97 | They will kill us |
- The root for all three words is קטל98
- The lexical form for all three is קָטַל, which in this case, is the QP3ms of קטל
On your quest to translate verbs, identifying preformatives and sufformatives in order to identify the root is the key to accurate parsing.