Sound (Psalm 119:4)

Transliteration:

ata tseeveeta feequdayha leeshmor meod

Vocabulay Guide:

You (emphasis) commanded to keep your precepts diligently.

Look these terms up in your grammar:

pronouns

you (prounoun, masculine, singular)

verbs: piel, and suffixes

have commanded (verb: piel, perfect, 2^nd person, sing., masc 2^nd person, masculine singular suffix)

The root is tsa-vah. See Gesenius, Paradigms at p. 526, Weak Verbs, lawmed'aleph. The piel, perfect, model is under the second horizontal line, under the 3^rd column listing. A clue to this set of verbs is the hirek under the first consonant. For instance, you hear in the “ee” sound in the first syllable “tsee”. The second is the dagesh (compensatory, strengthened or hardened, Ges. § 12, 20) in the second consonant, as in the vav in tseevee. The perfect generally expresses a complete action. In this case it expresses “intent”, expecting a result. (Remember, the imperfect, which I demonstrated a qal paradigm and we discussed in v2, expresses “incomplete” relatively to the perfect.)

nouns and suffixes

your precepts (noun, common, masc. pl., construct; 2^nd person, masc. sing. suffix)

Notice the dagesh hazak: dagesh strong, (Ges. § 11a (1): “dagesh forte”, or dagesh kaflan--“doubler”--in the quf in feequdayha.

verbs: infinitives and prefixes

to keep (particle, preposition; verb: qal, infinitive construct)

particles and adverbs

exceedingly (particle, adverb)

Translation:

(There are several ways of translating the same sentence at times.)

You have commanded your precepts, to preserve them diligently.

or

You commanded to keep your precepts diligently.

Root: tsa-vah

Example: Piel, perfect, masculine

1^st person, sing., common

tseeveeteeha (suffix

(Ex. 23:15)

I commanded you

2^nd person, sing. masc.

tseeveeta

(Ps. 119:4)

you commanded

3^rd person, sing. masc.

tseevah

(Gn. 6:22)

he

1^st person, pl., common

()

we...

2^nd person, pl. masc.

()

you...

3^rd person, pl. masc.

()

they...

See Gesenius Paradigms (p. 510) Masculine Gender and compare with the examples below:

Right to left

1^st common, singular

tav with hirek underneath, followed with yud ___ ___ ___ as in tseeveetee, qeetaltee

Meaning “I...”

2^nd person, singular tav with qawmatz underneath ___ ___ ___

qeetalta

Meaning generally “you...”

3^rd person, singular ___ ___ ___

qeetayl

Meaning generally “he...”

1st common, plural nun, vav with a qawmatz underneath ___ ___ ___

qeetallnu

Meaning generally “we...”

2^nd person, plural tav with a segole underneath, followed with a mem sofit ___ ___ ___

qeetaltem

Meaning generally “you...”

3rd person, plural

lawmed followed by a vav with shoorek in it ___ ___ ___

qeetellu

Meaning generally “they...”

  Feminine Gender

1^st common, singular

tav with hirek underneath, followed with yud ___ ___ ___ as in qeetaltee

Meaning “I...”

2^nd person, singular tav with sheva underneath ___ ___ ___

qeetalte

Meaning generally “you...”

3^rd person, singular lawmed with a qawmatz underneath, followed by a hey ___ ___ ___

qeetelah

Meaning generally “she...”

1st common, plural nun, vav with a qawmatz underneath ___ ___ ___

qeetalnu

Meaning generally “we...”

2^nd person, plural tav with a segole underneath, followed with a nun sofit ___ ___ ___

qeetalten

Meaning generally “you ”

3rd person, plural

lawmed followed by a vav with shoorek in it ___ ___ ___

qeetelu

Meaning generally “they...”

Go to verse 119:5