Verses 19 and 20 are not an interruption of God’s decision in verse 18 to make the man a suitable companion, but rather describe the carrying out of the decision. In these verses the man is given the opportunity to search for such a companion among the animals, but according to verse 20 he fails to find one.

So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field: ground is as in verses 5 and 7. For formed see verse 7. Beasts of the field were called “beasts of the earth” in 1.24-25, and there the expression referred to “wild animals.” Here again it refers to wild animals; but in the absence of any others, such as domestic animals, it may be taken as referring to animals generally.

And every bird of the air: see 1.26, 28.

And brought them to the man to see what he would call them: brought them is literally “caused them to go,” that is, to where the man was. To see means so that God would “see, learn, know, find out” what names the man would give them.

And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name: for living creature see 1.20. This is not a test to see if the man can give the correct name of each animal, but rather the man is to give each animal a name for the first time. And whatever the man called … was its name may be translated “And the name the man gave to each animal and bird was the name for that animal and bird,” “Whatever the man called each animal and bird, that was the name they were to be known by,” or “From then on each animal and bird was called by the name the man gave them.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .