making implicit plural form explicit (2 Samuel 12:26)

In many, if not most of the languages in the Philippines, proper nouns, such as personal names, are tagged with a marker that signals their grammatical role within a sentence. For Tagalog and the Visayan languages , this typically includes si to mark the proper noun as the actor or subject (nominative case), ni to mark the proper noun as an owner (genitive case), and kay to mark the proper noun as as an indirect object, i.e. the one to or toward whom an action is directed (dative case). All of these also have plural forms — sina, nina and kina respectively — and unlike in the biblical languages or in English, the plural form has to be used when only a single proper name is mentioned but implicitly that proper name includes more than just one.

In this verse, where English translates “Joab (fought against),” the Tagalog translation translates “sina Joab” because the context of the text makes clear that Joab was with his troops. (Source: Kermit Titrud and Steve Quakenbush)

complete verse (2 Samuel 12:26)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 12:26:

  • Kupsabiny: “All time, Joab was continuing with the war until he was about to get/capture Rabbah, the big city of the Ammonites.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “In That same time Joab attacked Rabbah, a city of the Ammonites and conquered the king’s fortress.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “On the other side, Joab and company attacked Rabba, the capital of Ammon, and they almost captured it.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Meanwhile/While all that was happening, Joab’s soldiers attacked Rabbah, the capital city of the Ammon people-group; and they captured the king’s fortress.” (Source: Translation for Translators)