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The translation of 'האמא באה?' should be 'The mom comes?'. 'Is the mom coming?' would be 'האם האמא באה?'
To say "האם" is to be extra clear that you are asking a question but is not neccesary. So "האמא באה" means "is the mom coming?" האם האמא האב means "QUESTION is the mom comming?"
Correct translation would be 'does the mom come?' but it sounds a bit off in English
471
Actually, the speaker says BA-a, accent on the first syllable, making it past tense. "Is the mom coming?" would be Ba-AH, accent on the second syllable.
Who can explain how the past tense is formed in Hebrew? Using this example? Thanks
Verbs of the KAL conjugation in גזרת נעו"י are looking similar in the present and past: Masculine הוא בא אתמול והוא בא היום : he came yesterday and he comes today Feminine היא באה אתמול והיא באה היום she came yesterday and she comes today
The difference is in the Nikkud but it is to advanced and irrelevant for now HTH :)
What about ה השאלה which is what is shown here? That would translate into, "Is Mom coming?" For "Is THE Mom coming," it should have asked, האם האמא באה?
Here the ה is ה הידיעה and not "?ה השאלה. "האם האמא באה is equivalent in meaning to "האמא באה?" When ה is forming a question (ה השאלה) it antecedes a verb. i.e. הרצחת וגם ירשת? היש בכם יודע? השתמע קולי? All are the same as: האם רצחת וגם ירשת? האם יש בכם יודע? האם תשמע קולי?
באה is a verb that sounds exactly the same for both present tense and past tense. In Hebrew there is no word for "did" when constructing questions. The verbs are either present באה or past באה. If you want to ask in Hebrew "Did the cat drink?" - you will construct it as (האם+) subject+ verb+ the rest of the sentence+ ? In my example- (האם) החתול שתה? HTH
- 471
See my comment of a year ago. While spelled the same, BA-ah is past tense and ba-AH is present. See Genesis XXIX sentences 6 and 9.
How can I progress whem my fone doesn't have the capability to download a hebrew keyboard? Frustrating.
