Art. IX.—Suggestions on the Formation of the Semitic Tenses. A Comparative and Critical Study

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In no Semitic tongue there seems not to be more than two primitive tenses, not having, however, in each dialect the same force. The form expressing the present in Hebrew is used for the subjunctive in Ethiopian, the perfect in Assyrian, etc. As for comparative purposes a common name is required for each form, we will take those adopted by the late Vicomte de Rougé in his Egyptian Grammar: Aorist-Past to denote the tense which appears to be formed by suffixes, as qabal-ti, and Aorist-Present for that which appears to be formed by prefixes, as ä-qbol.