13.3 The Perfect Conjugation is completed action or a state of being as a whole

In translating the Qal Perfect, we will most often use the simple English past tense

• For example, “she studied”
• It is commonly taught that the Hebrew perfect is equivalent to the English past tense
  • This is a generality; it is often true, but it is not always true
  • Other translations may be appropriate depending on the context
    • Present perfect: “she has studied”
    • Past perfect: “she had studied”
    • Future perfect: “she will have studied”
• Stative verbs describe a state of being; these verbs are also Perfect
  • English present is often a better translation: She is wise, she knows, she loves
  • English past might also be appropriate: she was wise
  • In a few sections, we will learn that in Hebrew, stative verbs are sometimes spelled differently

The Hebrew perfect conjugation describes an action or a state of being as a whole, not as a process

I.e., “she was studying” is an incomplete process, but “she had studied” is completed action