[Mesorah] vav hahipuch and the jussive mood

[Mandel, Seth]

The same applies to all cases of cab higppukh (which is normally based on the jussive form): why my use the plain past tense?
The answer lies deep within Semitic rules for recounting stories. Just as in spoken English, there is a formula that denotes that you are proceeding with the story (so he says... so I say... so he says), in Hebrew continuing  to tell a sequential story requires the use of a vav hahippukh. A plain past tense without the vav signifies a break in the narrative.


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On January 13, 2020 at 8:04:59 PM EST, Akiva Miller via Mesorah <mesorah at lists.aishdas.org> wrote:
"Yehi" (yod heh yod) is usually translated as "Let it be so". Examples include: "Yehi ratzon etc etc" and "Yehi Shem etc etc". Rabbi Seth Mandel once referred to this as the "jussive" form.

But when preceded by a vav, the wishfulness seems to evaporate, and it becomes a simple past tense - "it happened":
Vayhi erev vayhi boker
Vayhi miketz
Vayhi b'etzem hayom
Vayhi bachatzi halaila

If so, then why not use the past tense ("V'hayah") in those cases? What meaning is added by saying "vayhi"?

Akiva Miller
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