Modern Hebrew verb conjugation

In Hebrew, verbs, which take the form of derived stems, are conjugated to reflect their tense and mood, as well as to agree with their subjects in gender, number, and person. Each verb has an inherent voice, though a verb in one voice typically has counterparts in other voices. This article deals mostly with Modern Hebrew, but to some extent, the information shown here applies to Biblical Hebrew as well.

Classification of roots

A root that contains at least one of the weak letters, א alef, ה hey, ח het, י yod, נ nun, and ע 'ayin, is called a weak root. Each pairing of a weak letter with a position results in a slightly different conjugation pattern. The largest group of these are the ones that end with ה hey. Examples of weak roots: שתה /ʃaˈta/ (drank), עלה /ʕaˈla/ (went up), ירד /jaˈrad/ (went down), נפל /naˈfal/ (fell).

A root that contains a ו vav or a י yod as the second letter is called a hollow root. The ו vav and the י yod are written as part of the root, even though they are absent from many of the conjugated forms. Examples of hollow roots are the following: שר /ˈʃar/ (sang), גר /ˈɡar/ (lived), דן /ˈdan/ (discussed), דג /ˈdaɡ/ (fish).

Roots without weak letters are called strong or complete roots.

Binyanim or derived stems

Hebrew verbs are conjugated according to specific patterns, derived stems, called בִּנְיָנִים (/binjanim/ - "constructions") where vowels and affixes are slotted into the (mostly) three-letter שרשים (/ʃoraˈʃim/ - roots) from which the majority of Hebrew words are built.

There are seven basic binyanim. The traditional demonstration root is פ.ע.ל which has the basic meaning of "action" or "doing":

This simplified chart's menorah-like shape is sometimes invoked in teaching the binyanim to help students remember the main ideas about the binyanim: (1) which binyanim are active voice (left side) vs. passive voice (right side), and (2) which binyanim are simple (outer-most menorah branches), intensive (second-outer-most), causative (third-outer-most), and reflexive (center). Note that some binyanim have more than one meaning.

Examples:

• In Hebrew (and in Arabic), many words that have a meaning related to writing contain the root K-T-B. (In Hebrew, due to a process called begadkefat, when the letter B does not come at the beginning of a word, it may sound like a V. The same thing happens with K and X.) Thus:
  • "he wrote" (simple active voice) is "hu kaˈtav", while "it was written" (simple passive voice) is "ze nixˈtav"
  • "he dictated" (causative active v.) is "hu hixˈtiv", while "it was dictated" (causative passive v.) is "ze huxˈtav"
  • "hu kiˈtːev" and "ze/hu kuˈtːav" have a few meanings, none of which is commonly used, while "he corresponded" (intensive-reflexive) is "hu hitkaˈtːev"
  • "he rewrote" is "hu ʃixˈtev", while "it was rewritten" is "ze ʃuxˈtav" (though these two rare binyanim are used only with a few roots and thus are omitted from most of the discussion within this article).
• In Hebrew, many words that have a meaning related to clothing contain the root L-B-SH (in Arabic, L-B-S). When this root is put through the seven common binyanim, it changes its meaning similarly to the way the root K-T-B does, but with a small difference. Here, the intensive reflexive form, "hu hitlaˈbesh", does not connote reciprocity as with "he corresponded", so the meaning is "he dressed himself", not "he dressed the person who dressed him".
• The root G-D-L is common to words related to growth. Thus:
  • "he grew up" (simple act, either active or passive) is "hu gaˈdal"; the nifˈʕal binyan is not used with this root
  • "he enlarged" is "hu higˈdil", while "it was enlarged" is "ze hugˈdal"
  • "he grow apples" (intensive, active) is "hu giˈdːel tapuchim", while "the apples were grown" (intensive, passive) is "hatːapuˈħim gudːəˈlu", and the intensive-reflexive form of this root is used almost exclusively in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic prayers.

As mentioned, some binyanim have more than one meaning. For example, hifˈʕil's second most common meaning is "become". Verbs like "became fat" ("hiʃˈmin") and "turned pale" ("hixˈvir") are in this binyan. This meaning of Hif'il is similar to that of the Arabic ninth derived stem, ifʕalla, while hifˈʕil's main meaning is shared with its Arabic historical equivalent, the fourth derived stem, afʕala.

Present Tense (Participle)

A verb in the present tense (הוֹוֶה, hoˈve) agrees with its subject in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural), so each verb has four present-tense forms:

The present tense does not inflect by first, second, or third person because its use as a present tense is a relatively recent trend, as this form was originally used only as the participle. The modern present tense verb is still used as the present participle; see below.

The ancient language did not have strictly defined past, present, or future tenses, but merely perfective and imperfective aspects, with past, present, or future connotation depending on context. Later the perfective and imperfective aspects were explicitly refashioned as the past and future tenses respectively, with the participle standing in as the present tense. (This also happened to the Aramaic language around the same time, but did not happen in Arabic, where the present and future tenses still share the same morphology, the one equivalent to the Hebrew future tense. The future tense is distinguished from the present tense by the use of prefixes.)

Past Tense (Past/ Perfect)

A verb in the past tense (עָבַר ʕaˈvar) agrees with its subject in person (first, second, or third) and number, and in the second-person singular and plural and third-person singular, gender.

Note that the past/perfect and the present/participle inflections of the third-person singular nif'al were historically pronounced with different vowels in the final syllable—the past/perfect with a paˈtaħ ( ַ  = /ɐː/), and the present/participle with a qaˈmats ɡaˈdol ( ָ  = /ɔː/). In Modern Hebrew, both of these vowels have merged to /a/, and the two verb forms now are pronounced the same. For example, the past tense נִשְׁמַר niʃˈmaʀ means "he was guarded" (or in old-fashioned perfective "he is/was guarded"), whereas the present tense נִשְׁמָר niʃˈmar means "he is being guarded".

Future Tense (Unpast/ Imperfect)

A verb in the future tense (עָתִיד ʕaˈtid) agrees with its subject in person and number, and in the second- and third-person singular, gender. The second-person singular masculine and third-person singular feminine forms are identical for all verbs in the future tense. Historically, there have been separate feminine forms for the second- and third-person plural (shown in parentheses on the table). These are still occasionally used today (most often in formal settings), and could be seen as the 'correct' forms. However, in everyday speech, most Israelis use the historically male form for both genders.

As in the past tense, personal pronouns are not strictly necessary in the future tense, as the verb forms are sufficient to identify the subject, but they are frequently used.

Imperative

Except for the strictly passive binyaním (puˈʕal and hufˈʕal), each binyan has distinct imperative forms in the second person. This imperative form is only used for affirmative commands. The pa'al, nif'al, pi'el and hif'il form their imperatives by dropping the initial ת taw of the future-tense form (e.g., תפתח /tifˈtaħ/ (singular, masc.) → פתח /ˈpətaħ/ "open!", תשמרי /tiʃməˈri/ (singular, fem.) → שמרי /ʃimˈri/ "guard!"); the fifth, hitpa'el, forms its imperative by replacing this initial ת with ה (/titbaˈtːel/ → /hitbaˈtːel/ "do nothing!"). (Note that the dropping of the initial ת often results in a change in vocalization, as can be seen in the instance of /tiʃməˈri/ vs. /ʃimˈri/).

Negative commands use the particle אל /ˈal/ followed by the future-tense form. For example, אל תדאג /ˈal tidˈaɡ/ means "don't worry" (masculine, singular).

In informal speech, the future tense is commonly used for affirmative commands when making requests. Thus for example, תפתח /tifˈtaħ/ can mean either "you will open" or "would you open" (masculine, singular). (Similarly in English one might say "would you open" or "could you open" in lieu of simply "open".) In Hebrew, as in English, the more formal way to avoid the implication of commanding is to use the word "please" (בבקשה /bə-vaqaʃa/) with the imperative.

The infinitive can be used as a "general imperative" when addressing nobody in particular (e.g., on signs, or when giving general instructions to children or large groups), so that for example, נא לא לפתוח /ˈna ˈlo lifˈtoaħ/ means "please do not open". This might be more literally rendered as "it is requested that [this] not be opened", avoiding the question of address by using a passive voice.

Participles

Present participles are identical to present tense forms (the modern present tense actually having been derived from the ancient present participle): נרות בוערים /neˈrot boʕaˈrim/ (burning candles), ילדה מקסימה /jalˈda maqsiˈma/ (charming girl).

Only the pa'al binyan has a true past participle: from כתב k-t-b we have כתוב /kaˈtuv/, (writ, written). For verbs that have a pa'al form and a nif'al form serving as its passive, this provides a means to distinguish between a completed and a continuing action. The pa'al past participle indicates completion:

• הספרים כתובים /hasːəfaˈrim kətuˈvim/ (the books are written)

while the present tense of nif'al indicates that the action continues:

• הספרים נכתבים /hasːəfaˈrim nixtaˈvim/ (the books are being written)

The passive participle is commonly used as an adjective, as in הפקודה הכתובה /hapːəquˈda hakːətuˈva/ (the written order).

The present tense of the pu'al and huf'al are used as passive participles for the pi'el and hif'il respectively. For example, from hif'il האיר /heˈʔir/ (lit) we get חדר מואר /ˈħeder muˈʔar/ (lit room).

Infinitives (Prospectives)

Infinitives (ʃəˈmot hapːoˈʕal) in Hebrew are primarily formed by adding the letter lamed (ל) to the front of the base form (tsuˈrat hamːaˈqor). The vowels change systematically according to the binyan.

• כָּתַב /kaˈtav/ (wrote, paˈʕal) → לִכְתֹּב /lixˈtov/ (to write)
• מְדַבֵּר /medaˈber/ (speak, piˈʕel) → לְדַבֵּר /ledaˈber/ (to speak)
• הִתְחִיל /hitˈħil/ (started, hifˈʕil) → לְהַתְחִיל /lehatˈħil/ (to start)
• הִתְפַּלֵּל /hitpaˈlel/ (prayed, hitpaˈʕel) → לְהִתְפַּלֵּל /lehitpaˈlel/ (to pray)
• נִפְגַשׁ /nifˈɡaʃ/ (met with, nifˈʕal) → לְהִפָּגֵשׁ /lehipaˈɡeʃ/ (to meet with)

Note that puˈʕal and hufˈʕal verbs do not have infinitives.

Gerunds

Gerunds (ʃəˈmot pəʕuˈla) are nouns expressing an action. Gerunds are created in Hebrew by putting the root of a verb into a miʃˈkal, a noun pattern (see Modern Hebrew grammar#Noun derivation). Five of the binyanim have gerunds: paˈʕal, piˈʕel, hifˈʕil, hitpaˈʕel, and nifˈʕal. For example:

• שָׁמַר /ʃaˈmar/ (guarded — paˈʕal) → שְׁמִירָה /ʃəmiˈra/ (guarding)
  • שָׁב /ˈʃav/ (returned — hollow paˈʕal) → שִׁיבָה /ʃiˈva/ (returning, a return)
  • שָׁתָה /ʃaˈta/ (drank — weak paˈʕal) → שְׁתִיָּה /ʃətiˈjːa/ (drinking, a drink)
• נִכְנַס /nixˈnas/ (enter — nifˈʕal) → הִכָּנְסוּת /hikanˈsut/ (entering)
• בִּקֵּר /biˈqːeʁ/ (visited — piˈʕel) → בִּקּוּר /biˈqːur/ (visiting, a visit)
• הִפְתִּיעַ /hifˈtiaʕ/ (surprised — hifˈʕil) → הַפְתָעָה /hafteˈʕa/ (surprising, a surprise)
• הִתְחַמֵּם /hitħaˈmːem/ (warmed — hitpaˈʕel) → הִתְחַמְּמוּת /hitħamːəˈmut/ (warming)

Note that unlike in English (where gerunds and present participles share the same form but different etymology), Hebrew gerunds cannot be used as adjectives.

Conditional

Modern Hebrew has an analytic conditional~past-habitual mood expressed with the auxiliary /haˈja/:

See also

• Hebrew grammar
• Prefixes and suffixes in Hebrew
• Waw-consecutive

Bibliography

• Academy Decisions: Grammar, chapter 3, for The Academy of the Hebrew Language's decisions on the conjugations of less common verb patterns
•  Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, §38 ff.
• Ornan, Uzzi (2003). The Final Word: Mechanism for Hebrew Word Generation (in Hebrew). Haifa University. 

External links

• Hebrew Verbs Conjugation Tool - Online Hebrew Verb Learning Tool (Hebrew/English)
• hspell - המאיית העברי החופשי - טופס הטיית פעלים - Online Hebrew verb conjugator, based on hspell, the Free Hebrew spelling engine (in Ktiv male)