Unseen Translation Practice: Hebrew Bible Narrative Passages

You can spot it. Now write it

You already recognise a wayyiqtol on sight, you know the binyanim, and you can find a root. This module is about the half nobody drills: what you actually write in English. An unseen translation is marked on two things at once - whether you understood the Hebrew, and whether what you produced is English. It is entirely possible to get every form right and still lose marks, and the commonest way is the very thing your reading practice taught you to see.

A chain of ands

Hebrew narrative runs on the vav consecutive: one form after another, each beginning with vav. Rendered faithfully, that produces the left-hand column.

What actually costs marks

Four things, in the order they are worth worrying about:

Match each form to what it means

Where is the chain?

Below is a short illustrative narrative chain, built from forms you have already met rather than quoted from a particular verse. Tap the form that continues the chain by saying what he wrote.

• וַיֹּאמֶר
• הַמֶּלֶךְ
• וַיִּכְתֹּב
• וַיֵּלֶךְ

Which English would score higher?

The Hebrew chain says, form by form, "and he said... and he wrote... and he went". Which English version would score higher?

• The king spoke, then wrote the letter, and went out.
• And he said, and he wrote, and he went.
• The king wrote and left.
• The angry king shouted, then hurriedly wrote and stormed out.

Which cost you marks?

Select the TWO that would cost you marks in an unseen translation.

• Rendering a perfect as though it were an imperfect
• Copying Hebrew word order so the English begins with the verb
• Writing "then" instead of "and" where the English reads better for it
• Writing the answer in English rather than Hebrew

Aspect first, tense second

Hebrew does not have tenses in the way English does. It has aspect, and the vav consecutive flips it - which you already know. What this module adds is the order of operations. Work out the aspect before you reach for an English tense, not while you are writing. A candidate who chooses an English tense first will bend the Hebrew to fit it. And the reason it matters more than anything else here: the mark scheme treats an aspect error as a major error, not a slip. You can write beautiful English and lose the question on this alone, which is why it comes second in the method and nothing comes before it except reading the whole clause.

The chain, in Hebrew

Here is the chain this module keeps referring to, as it would actually reach you: וַיִּכְתֹּב הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת־הַדָּבָר וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ Literally: "and the king wrote the word and he went to the land". Each clause opens with a wayyiqtol, the verb comes before its subject, and אֶת marks the object. Two things to notice, because both cost marks. The second clause names no subject - it is still the king, carried over from the first. And a natural English version varies the connectives: "The king wrote the word, then went to the land." This is a practice sentence rather than a quotation.

Who went to the land?

In וַיִּכְתֹּב הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת־הַדָּבָר וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ, the second clause names nobody. Who went to the land?

• The king - the subject carries over from the first clause
• The word
• Nobody, because the clause has no subject at all
• The land

Order the method

Put the stages of translating an unseen Hebrew clause into a reliable working order.

• Read the whole clause before translating any of it
• Identify the aspect of each verb, and whether a vav has flipped it
• For any unfamiliar word, look for the root inside it
• Build a version that keeps every element, even if it reads badly
• Turn it into English: vary the connectives, and use English word order
• Check that nothing has been added and nothing lost

In the exam

Three decisions during an unseen translation.

• Your draft begins every clause with "and", and you can hear that it is wrong.
• You meet a word you have never seen in an unseen passage.
• Your English reads well, but you are no longer sure the tense matches the Hebrew aspect.

Two drafts, one meaning

The first draft is a tool, not an answer. Its job is to make sure nothing is lost; the second draft's job is to be English.

Reading the vav chain

Read the whole clause first. A narrative chain of vav forms should not become a string of _____ in your English. Decide the _____ before choosing a tense, because getting it wrong counts as a _____ error. Hebrew narrative puts the _____ before the subject and English does not, so do not copy the order. And when a word is unfamiliar, look for its _____.

Translate the chain from step 9

Take the chain from step 9 - וַיִּכְתֹּב הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת־הַדָּבָר וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ - and write it out as a proper English translation, then explain your choices.

• Give your English version, in English word order, with the connectives varied
• Say what aspect each verb had, and which English tense you chose for it
• Explain why you did not begin every clause with "and"
• Say how you would check, at the end, that nothing had been added or lost