Most people are aware that Hebrew verbs
come from three-letter roots. Each root is
conjugated in the 8 dimensions of
person, gender,plurality, tense, activity,
modality, direct-object, and prepositional connective. For example
the root Shin Mem Resh means to watch.
The conjugations Shin-Mem-Resh-Tauv-Yud
and Nun-Shin-Mem-Resh-Nun-Vav mean
I watched and we were watched respectively.
The rules for Hebrew grammar are carefully described
in many modern books and are well known. Rashi will sometimes comment when a verse is using a rare conjugation
of an odd grammatical form.
When presenting grammatical Rashis my favorite
reference is the appendix in volume 5 of the Ibn Shoshan
dictionary. This very short appendix lists most
conjugations.
Verse
Ex10-02b
discussing
God's treatment of the Egyptian
states
and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son,
and of thy son's son, how I have mocked Egypt,
and My signs which I have done among them;
that ye may know that I am HaShem.'
Rashi translates the Biblical word
Hey-Tauv-Ayin-Lamed-Lamed-Tauv-Yud, HithAllalTi,
as coming from the Biblical root
Ayin-Lamed-Lamed
which means
to do, to act.
We have conveniently embedded the Rashi comment in the
translation of the verse. The conjugation rule governing this Biblical
word may be found by using tables
1 or 4 (Table 10 does not apply)
in the Ibn Shoshan dictionary for the interactive mode (HiTPael).
In the interactive (Hitpael) mode, this root means
interactive action, mocking (interactively
responding to each action of the target victim with a similar action).
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