15.7 Imperfect Sufformatives

The combination of imperfect preformatives and sufformatives makes identifying Imperfect conjugations relatively straightforward

  • Of the singular forms, only 2fs has a sufformative
    • It is י ִ
    • The ְ תִּ preformative with the י ִ sufformative is diagnostic of the QI2fs
  • Of the plural forms, only 1cp does NOT have a sufformative
  • 2mp/3mp sufformative - וּ
    • Occasionally, there may be what is called a Paragogic Nun, as in וּן112
  • You will be able to tell 2mp from 3mp by the preformative
  • 2fp/3fp sufformative - נָה
  • There are no “heavy sufformatives” in the Imperfect
  • The last point is to remember that the Imperfect is a Finite verb, so a Sheva prefers to go before a finite verb sufformative

  1. The ן sometimes causes the Shuruk to shorten to a Qubbuts. In other words, you may see יִקְטְלוּ or יִקְטְלוּן or יִקְטְלֻן. All three words are QI3mp↩︎