Lesson 17 Vav Consecutive

To understand Biblical Hebrew, we must be able to distinguish the Vav Consecutive from the conjunction Vav and translate accurately.

Way back from Lesson 2 of Hebrew Quest, there was a vocabulary word that illustrates the Vav Consecutive: וּכְתְַבְתָּם.

The initial ו means “and”, so we might want to say that this word simply means “and you wrote them.” In Hebrew, the Vav Consecutive also has a grammatical purpose of changing the verb’s meaning from Perfect to Imperfect. This is true even though it is affixed to a Perfect verb, כָּתַבְתָּ means “you (ms) wrote them” (perfect), but putting a ו as prefix changes the meaning to “and you will write them” (imperfect). The opposite happens when the Vav Consecutive is affixed to an Imperfect verb: the resulting word is Perfect (past tense). Less frequently, there are times with the Vav is just a Vav and is not acting as a Consecutive. We’ll learn more about these changes in this Lesson.

The terminology on this topic is a bit fluid. The term “Waw Consecutive” is significantly more prevalent than “Vav Consecutive” in academic circles, so we will still encounter the “w” references frequently in Hebrew grammar materials.

LESSON ITINERARY

  1. Qal Perfect + ו
  2. Qal Imperfect + ו
  3. Qal Perfect Vav Consecutive
  4. Qal Imperfect Vav Consecutive

EQUIPMENT CHECK

Before continuing, be sure you have the Perfect and Imperfect strong paradigms memorized.