18.14 Cohortative and Jussive Introduction

• These are more nuanced conjugations
• Cohortative (parsing code C)
  • 1st person volitional
  • Often translated as “let us…”, or “may I…”
• Jussive (parsing code J)
  • 3rd Person volitional
  • “let him…”, “let them…”, “may he…”
• Often, the spelling of a Jussive is identical to the Imperfect
  • Word placement in a clause is key to translation; see info box below
• The Cohortative usually (but not always) ends in \(\hat A\) (Qamets+Hei)
  • אֶקְטְלָה = QC1cs
• Less frequently, there are 2nd person Jussives
  • Less forceful than a command
  • For example, “would that you…”

THE COHORTATIVE/JUSSIVE IS USUALLY THE FIRST WORD IN A CLAUSE

If an Imperfect-appearing verb (without a Vav prefix) is the FIRST WORD in a clause, then see if a volitional translation fits better than an unnuanced Imperfect translation