— verbal binyan system. Usually, binyans cause the greatest difficulties in perception and even by their very name they scare away those starting to study Hebrew. However, in this matter, as in others, everything depends on the approach. You can look at the binyans from such a perspective when they represent a system, harmonious and beautiful in its own way. This will allow you to look into the very essence of the Hebrew verb and understand the system of verb forms in the play of colors, and not suffer, driving a frozen, lifeless scheme into your head.
Difference between Russian and Hebrew verbs
First of all, let’s ask ourselves the question: what semantic connection exists between the different binyans, what is the meaning of the fact that in Hebrew, instead of one single form of the verb, seven are used? To do this, we note that there is a certain analogy between the Jewish binyan system and Russian prefixed verbs.
Consider, for example, the verb “to run.” You can attach to it whole line prefixes and we get: “run, run away, run out, run in, run up.” Each of them is a completely independent verb - it has a past, present and future tense, an infinitive, and an imperative mood. However, it is clear that these parallel rows of verbs are connected with each other in a certain way, and this connection is precisely determined by the meaning of the prefixes.
Similarly, in Hebrew there is a certain original binyan, and others are variations on this original theme with certain semantic additions. In each binyan, the verbal root forms completely independent verbs, parallel series of forms that are connected in a certain way in meaning. This is where the analogy between Russian prefixed verbs and Hebrew binyans ends, since prefixed verbs often give a variation of meaning according to the spatial and temporal relationships between actions, and Hebrew binyans convey other semantic shades. Which ones exactly? This is what we will do in detail in this lesson.
Relationship between man and work
But first, let’s digress from grammar and talk about a seemingly completely unrelated topic. What relationships exist between a person and the work in which he is engaged, as well as between people in society, depending on their attitude towards the work performed? This may be a person’s neutral attitude towards the action being performed, so to speak, the technological aspect of work. Let's call such a person an “employee.” The “worker” deals with “material”, his energy is transferred to the “material of labor”. So, the “worker” and his “material”.
By our definition, a “worker” is “just a performer”, without any emotions, without any inspired attitude towards the work performed. If someone approaches work creatively, tries to improve the process, expand the scope of application, and perform it in the most complete and detailed way, then we will call such a person a “creative worker.” There are three options for a creative approach:
- Involving others in this activity, helping them master it, teaching (“teacher”)
- Expanding the use of an action, achieving useful results with the help of this action, introducing a process (“implementer”)
- Maximum deployment of a process, execution in which the possibilities of an action are exhausted to the end (“developer”)
Who is affected by the “creative worker”? On a certain field of activity, the purpose of his work is to expand the field of this activity, the scope of application of the process in question, to improve its implementation. It is clear that the teacher’s sphere of activity is the students. So, we have a pair - “creative worker” and “field of activity”.
Now let’s imagine that someone wants to achieve the result of labor without making direct efforts, or more precisely, without communicating with the “material of labor.” To do this, he must force other performers to work for him. We will call such a person “boss”. The “boss” does the work with the hands of others, with his “material”, i.e. “field of application of forces” is “subordinate”. If we talk about the relationship between the “boss” and the “material of labor,” then here the distance between “man” and “material of labor” turns out to be much greater than in the first pair. There we had a “worker” and “material” with which the “worker” works directly, he feels it, the “material” is filled with energy for him and evokes an emotional attitude. Here, the “boss” and the “material” are detached from each other, for him it is a kind of abstraction, he does not see it in person, he simply gives orders to transform the “material” into “results of labor” in a certain way. We will call such “material”, perceived with a cold mind, “raw materials”. So, we have looked at the relationship between “worker” and “material” on the one hand, and “boss” and “raw materials” on the other.
In addition, one more category can be distinguished. When we talk about a “creative worker,” we do not specify whether this person is interested in the results of the work he performs, or whether he does this work “out of love for art.” There are two options here:
- A person who does work for the sake of work
- A person who, in addition to a creative approach, is also interested in the immediate result, i.e. what he does, he does for himself. We will call such a person a “creative individual”
All this is shown in the table:
In this table, the seven items described are arranged in three columns. The first includes the "worker" and his "material". In the second there is “creative worker (teacher)”, “field of activity (student)” and at the bottom - “creative individual”. The third column is the “boss” and his “subordinate” (or “raw materials”).
In principle, this scheme expresses all possible types of relationships of a person to work and people to each other, depending on participation in the labor process, if, of course, we perceive them in general terms, without going into specific details. If we look closely at the arrangement of these categories, we will find a structure that follows the Binan system. Each of these states corresponds to a specific Hebrew binyan, namely:
- “Worker” is nothing more than פָּעַל “paal”
- The “material” of his work is נִפְעַל “nifil”
- “Creative worker, teacher” - פִּעֵל “piel”
- “Student” or “field of activity” - פֻּעַל “poʹal”
- “Creative individual” - הִתְפַּעֵל “hitpael”
- “Chief” - הִפְעִיל “hifil”
- “Subordinate” or “raw material of labor” - הֻפְעַל “hufal”
This is a very harmonious, clear diagram that conveys a person’s attitude to activity. And if we remember that the verb is the designation of activity, the labor process, then it is clear that the Jewish system of Binyan conveys the most fundamental properties of the implementation of the idea of action in human society.
Active and passive binyans
The non-randomness of each of the binyans (and, thereby, their number), the clear delineation of the place they occupy in common system becomes especially clear in the following approach. The seven binyans are divided into two categories:
- Active, which talk about the activity of the subject, that he himself is engaged in some kind of action.
- Passive, conveying certain objects, objects, material of action, field of activity, etc.
It is clear that פָּעַל “paal” (worker), פִּעֵל “piel” (creative worker) and הִפְעִיל “hifiel” (boss) are active binyans and, in principle, הִתְפַּעֵל “hitpael” (creative) belongs to the same category ical individual) - he is also active, but only in his own interests. But נִפְעַל “nif'al” (material), פֻּעַל “pual” (field of activity) and הֻפְעַל “huf’al” (subordinate, raw material) - undoubtedly convey objects of action and are passive. Thus, the four active binyans, as it were, define the crystal lattice of the entire binyan system, since the passive binyans are attached to the corresponding active ones. Therefore, if we find a strict relationship between the four active binyans, then we will justify the entire system as a whole.
Relationships between the four active binyans
Note that each work has two aspects:
- The labor process, the action itself
- The result of labor, the purpose for which this action is performed
In the process of labor, a person may be interested or indifferent to the action itself, the labor process, or the appropriation of its result. Let’s conventionally denote clearly expressed interest as 1, and not expressed in any way as 0. Accordingly, we have four different combinations in the approach:
- interest in action
- interest in appropriating the result of an action
- disinterest in either one or the other
- interest in one and disinterest in another
Each of these combinations corresponds to one of our active binyans:
פָּעַל "paal" (worker)
He is not interested in the action or the result, he just does the job (0/0). The semantics of binyan פָּעַל itself does not emphasize this interest. A person who looks at something, sees something, writes something, may be interested in this, however, in the binyan פָּעַל itself this is not expressed in any way by means of grammar.
פִּעֵל “piel” (creative worker, teacher)
This is undoubtedly an interest in action, since we are talking about a creative approach, but at the same time the attitude towards appropriating the result is completely indifferent (1/0). We have already said that this is a kind of idealistic approach to activity.
הִתְפַּעֵל “hitpael” (creative individual)
But הִתְפַּעֵל is an interest both in the action and in appropriating its result (1/1).
הִפְעִיל “hifiel” (chief)
As for הִפְעִיל, it is clear that there is an interest in the result, but the boss has no interest in the action itself. He should not be involved in the execution process, he only needs the finished result (0/1).
Scheme (process/result)
Practical study of the binyan system
Active
It can be seen that פָּעַל “paal” (worker) is the initial idea, it “sets the tone” for all Hebrew verbs of the system, and the remaining binyans are peculiar overtones, representing the imposition of some additional semantic shades on the idea פָּעַל. What are these shades and how to correctly translate this particular root placed in a particular binyan?
Let us first compare פָּעַל “paal” (worker) and הִפְעִיל “hifiel” (boss), since the difference between them is especially great. They are polar and it’s easier to start with them. So, “employee” and “boss”. Suppose we mean “to sit” in פָּעַל, in הִפְעִיל it would mean: “to make someone sit/make someone sit/encourage someone to sit.” In Russian, of course, this corresponds to the verb “to plant.” And if we choose the meaning “to stand” as פָּעַל, then in הִפְעִיל we get: “to force to stand/to induce to stand,” i.e. "put". A similar example: the meaning “eat/eat” in פָּעַל will turn into הִפְעִיל the meaning “to feed”, i.e. "to encourage someone to eat."
A great way to translate הִפְעִיל is to take פָּעַל the corresponding root, add the word “force” or “induce”, and then think about how to translate this combination into Russian: is there one verb for this, or do you need to use a phrase that is exactly the same or slightly different? . For the above examples, we had one word, although a comparison of the verbs “eat” and “feed” shows that a change of root may occur here.
Let us now take the verb כָּתַב (“katav” - to write) in פָּעַל, it corresponds in הִפְעִיל to the form הִכְתִּיב “hihtiv”, which means “to encourage to write.” The dictionary gives the meaning of this verb "dictate". To dictate is nothing more than to encourage a person to write.
The verb רָקַד “rakad” means “to dance”, הִרְקִיד “hirkid” - “to make someone dance/make someone dance.” פָּגַשׁ “pagash” - “to meet”, הִפְגִישׁ “hifgish” - “to arrange a meeting”. In each specific case, we make up a pair of “force to do” (“force to write”, “force to dance”, “force to meet”), and then decide how to convey this in the most natural way in Russian.
We examined the case when the action of הִפְעִיל extends to an object, which, in turn, is the subject of the action of פָּעַל. Indeed, you can force someone to dance who is able to dance himself. Thus, in פָּעַל - he is the subject, he dances (רָקַד), and in הִפְעִיל - he is the object, he is forced to dance (הִרְקִיד). In this case, it is clear that we have a pair here - “boss” and “subordinate”. The boss gives orders, the subordinate carries out the action. What action? The same one that corresponds to פָּעַל of a given root. From הִרְקִיד we extract the root (רקד), which in פָּעַל means “to dance.” הִרְקִיד - “boss”, רָקַד - “subordinate”.
And what will happen if the action הִפְעִיל extends to performing a certain procedure. “Pasting” - in principle, perform the same procedure, but with the goal of achieving an additional effect: “pasting a room with wallpaper”, i.e. the action of “pasting” turns out to be richer than “gluing”. In addition to the “gluing” procedure itself, there is also a purpose for this action. This expediency of action is very typical for the binyan פִּעֵל “piel” (creative worker, teacher) in the variant of the meaning we called “realizer.” A creative worker expands the scope of his activity and uses the action of פָּעַל to achieve some additional goal.
Let's take, for example, יָשַׁב (“yashav” - sit), which also means “to live”, i.e. to constantly be, “sit” in some place. In פִּעֵל the verb יִשֵׁב “isheʹv” means “to inhabit the earth/populate it.” We see that this or that territory becomes a place of residence and is involved in action in this capacity. Or, for example, in פָּעַל the verb חָשַׁב “khashav” means “to think”, in פִּעֵל it sounds: חִשֵׁב “khishav” - “to calculate/calculate”, i.e. there is a certain object that becomes the sphere of action of thinking (as if, a place in a figurative sense). This corresponds to the Russian word for “to consider” or “to calculate/calculate.”
The third translation option פִּעֵל is the performance of one or another action in the most complete, perfect manner, in its expanded form. In other words, we are talking here about the exhaustion of the potential opportunities inherent in this action. We call this creative aspect “developer.” For example, שָׁלַח “shalakh” (פָּעַל) means “to send,” but שִׁלֵח “shileh” (פִּעֵל) means “to take on the road/send/send.” Here we see the action being brought to its most developed form. Another example that has become a classic: שָׁבַר “shavar” - “to break”, to take and break somewhere in one place, שִׁבֵּר “shiber” - “to break/smash into pieces”, i.e. bring the breaking action to its logical conclusion.
Let us finally consider the fourth of the active binyans - הִתְפַּעֵל “hitpael” (creative individual). It is usually called a reciprocal binyan, meaning that an action performed by someone on himself, as it were, returns to the one who does it. The subject of the action itself is its object. Compare: “to shave (someone)” and “to shave (yourself).” The Hebrew verb “to shave” - הִתְגַלַח "hitgalah" in the binyan הִתְפַּעֵל says that someone acts and is the object of this action - an action on oneself.
Similarly: הִתְלַבֵּשׁ “hitlabesh” - “to dress/dress oneself”, הִתְרַחֵץ “hitrahets” - “to wash/wash oneself”. In a more general sense, we can say that the action הִתְפַּעֵל is performed for oneself, in one’s own interests, as we called it the “creative individual.” A special case of this is an action extended to oneself. For example, הִתְלַמֵד “hitlamed” - “learns.” Here we can talk about self-education or the fact that a person is studying somewhere. לוֹמֵד “lomed” - it’s just sitting and studying, maybe under pressure, maybe not, nothing like that is indicated in the word לוֹמֵד, but the word מִתְלַמֵד “mitlamed” emphasizes precisely the fact that a person does this consciously, understanding your interest. This is the specificity of הִתְפַּעֵל - awareness of interest.
If we are talking about an inanimate object, then in binyan הִתְפַּעֵל it seems to be animated, we metamorphically assume that it has its own interest, own goals, and this is what he strives to achieve, “pretending” to be inanimate. For example, galgol הִתְפַּשֵׁט “hitpashet” (“to spread”) is something, a certain phenomenon spreading to some territory. One would like to say that it has set goals for itself and is now busy achieving them. Some element of animation is present in any הִתְפַּעֵל. And, indeed, this is a binyan of interest, and interest is naturally associated with animation.
It is clear that this refers to the awareness of binyan, and not to the actual translation. For example, the verb לְהִתְפָּרֵק “lehitparek” means “to be divided into component parts.” It is returned to the verb לְפָרֵק “lefarek” - “to dismantle/divide” (compare: פֶּרֶק “perek” - “head/part”). If something inanimate, a certain system, a structure is divided into its component parts, then it is as if the internal will of this system is implied - for some reason it decided to split up!
Mottos of active binyans
You can also use the so-called Binyan mottos - capacious words that seem to encode different shades of meaning. For the motto פָּעַל “paal” (worker), we choose the word “to act.” For פִּעֵל “piel” (creative worker, teacher) there will be three such mottos:
- “Assist”, in the case when we are talking about help, for example, a teacher - a student (לִמֵד “limed” - to promote learning/teach)
- “Act”, i.e. extend the action to a certain territory, locality, sphere (the word “to act” sounds unusual in Russian, but it very accurately designates this aspect of the binyan פִּעֵל in Hebrew)
- “Exhaust the possibilities of action” - if we are talking about an action performed in its entirety, in an expanded form
It is clear that the purpose of the motto is to serve only as a hint at one or another variant, and the choice of specific words for this translation depends on the meaning of the root in each individual case. For הִפְעִיל “hifiel” (boss), the motto can be the word “to engage” in the case of motivating someone to action, or “to act with someone else’s hands” when we are talking about the relationship “boss-raw materials”.
The motto of the binyan הִתְפַּעֵל “hitpael” (creative individual) may be “to act in one’s own interests.”
Let us summarize the meaning of the studied active binyans by choosing a general formulation for the meaning of each of them. If for the original פָּעַל “paal” we are talking about “action”, then in פִּעֵל “piel” is “deployment of action” (in the three described directions), in הִפְעִיל “hifiel” is “control of action”, and הִתְפַּעֵל “hitpael” » - “acting in one’s own interests.”
Passive
In addition to the four binyans discussed above, there are three more that can be called passive, with some nuances that will be discussed below.
נִפְעַל “nif'al” (material) - passive to פָּעַל “paal” (worker)
פֻּעַל “pual” (student or field of activity) - passive to פִּעֵל “piel” (creative worker, teacher)
הֻפְעַל "huf'al" (subordinate or raw material of labor) - passive to הִפְעִיל "hif'il" (boss)
Sounds indicating passivity or activity of binyans
The passivity of פֻּעַל “pual” (student or field of activity) and הֻפְעַל “hufal” (subordinate or raw material of labor) is indicated by the sound “u” contained in their bases. In Hebrew verbs, “u” is a sign of passivity, and “i” or “e” are signs of activity. Compare פִּעֵל "pi" uh l" (creative worker, teacher) - פֻּעַל "p at al" (student or field of activity), הִפְעִיל "h And f'il" (chief) - הֻפְעַל "h at f'al" (subordinate or raw material of labor).
Passive phrase structure
Above we already talked about the structure of a passive phrase, a passive (or passive) construction. Let us briefly recall: אֲנִי מְלַמֵד אֶת הַתַלְמִיד (“ani malamed et hatalmid” - I teach a student). This phrase is active, and it uses the active binyan פִּעֵל “piel” (creative worker, teacher). I am the source of this action, I am the subject, and the phrase begins with me, and the object of this phrase, (the one towards whom this action is directed), the student, is the complement.
We can rearrange the phrase if we are primarily interested in the fate of the object of action - the student. We put it in first place in the phrase, make it the subject, and start the phrase with it. We say הַתַלְמִיד (“hatalmid” - student), then we must place the verb in the “reflected”, passive form, translate from binyan פִּעֵל “piel” (creative worker, teacher) into binyan פֻּעַל “pual” (student or field of activity): מְלֻמָד (“melumad” - studying/trained). Then it is indicated by whom - עַל-יָדַי (“al-yaday” - by me). We get: הַתַלְמִיד לֻמַד עַל-יָדַי (“hatalmid lumad al-yaday” - the student was taught (or we are teaching) by me).
For the meaning of הֻפְעַל “hufal” (subordinate or raw material of labor), the following example can be given: הַצֶ’ק הֻחְתַם אֵצֶל הַמְנַהֵל (“hachek huhtam etzel hamenahel” - the check was signed by the boss). It is clear that we are talking about the fact that the check was not easily signed, but that it was taken for signature, i.e. indirect “action by someone else’s hands”
Let us now consider the binyan נִפְעַל "nif'al" ("work material" binyan פָּעַל "paal" (worker). It can be assumed that נִפְעַל has a slightly different meaning than just the passive to פָּעַל. The meaning of נִפְעַל is broader than the simple passivity. To explain this, we note that that all verbs in Hebrew can be divided into two groups:
- Action verbs
- State verbs
פָּעַל refers to action verbs, for example: דוֹלֵק (“dolek” - burns). But נִפְעַל refers to verbs of state: נִדְלָק (“nidlak” - “lights up”, i.e. goes into a state of combustion), נִרְתַח (“nirtah” - boils), etc.
In the next lesson we will look at many practical examples, illustrating the disassembled binyan system.
And now let's get acquainted with the FUTURE TIME of the PAAL breed.
In the future tenseyou should start from the infinitive. Do you want to say something in the future tense? Remember the infinitive right away.
In our case, it is LIKHTOV.
Let’s not go deeper into the weeds and write about the original Hebrew infinitive, which has little in common with our established understanding of the initial form of the verb. Initially, the infinitive in Hebrew denotes a noun of action (writing, closing, washing, etc...), and the letter ל, with which all infinitives begin, was later added to the infinitive, and denotes the well-known preposition le-, that is, the preposition to, and is an additional part of the infinitive. It turns out that the pure infinitive is htov כתוב. That is, in the word to write it looks like this: לכתוב LICHTOV.
So, this is the part of HTOV that we will need for support in the education of the future tense.
Do you want to say: “I will write”? Then add the letter “E” א to “KHTOV” in front and you get E KHTOV.
ANI EKHTOV - אני אכתוב - I will write (m.b. and f.b.)
You will write (m.s.) - ATA TI+KHTOV -TI KHTOV - אתה ת כתוב
You will write (female) - AT TI+KHTEVI -TI XTEV AND - את ת כתב י
He will write - hu I+KHTOV - IHTOV - הואי כתוב
She will write - hi and TI + KHTOV - TIKHTOV - היא ת כתוב
We will write - ANAHNU NI+KHTOV - NI KHTOV - אנחנו נ כתוב (hint: In the past tense, “well” came after the root, and in the future N comes before the root)
You write (M.B. and F.B.) - ATEM/ATEN TI+HTEVU -TI HTEV U- אתם/אתן ת כתב ו
They will write (m.b. and f.b.) - hem/hen IH+TEVU - AND KHTEVU - הם/הן י כתבו (hint: he will write - ichtov - he is the 3rd person, they are also the 3rd person person, plural only, therefore, in the third person there should be a “th” in front).
NOTE! You (m.p.) and she - the verbs are no different!
NOTE! To say in the imperative mood: “Write!”
In Hebrew, the future tense is used, and literally it will be: “You will write!” And if “Write!”, then
"You will write!". Above, all 3 imperative moods are in italics and underlined for convenience.
Imperative mood
In a simple conversational style
the imperative mood in Classical Biñan Paal is not used “TIHTOV”, but simply “KTOV!”
We take the infinitive, cut off the first LAMED (LI KHTOV). We get KTOV!
("Haf" is changed to "kaf" because only the voiced letter "KAF" can appear at the beginning of a word)
WHO IN! Write! is colloquial Hebrew. You will hear this form all the time.
It is more beautiful and correct to use “TIKHTOV” in the imperative mood - write!
This is a literary, classical, literate style.
"TIHTEVI!" - WRITE! (TO WOMAN)
"TIHTEWU!" - WRITE! (MN.H)
Bo! - come (colloquial style)
Tavo! - come over (classic style)
Leh! - go away! (colloquial style)
TELEH! - go away (classic style)
NOTE! Participles in Hebrew are sometimes indicated by the present tense. That is: I WRITE, WRITE, WRITE, can be translated as: writing, writing.
You know all three tenses and can fully tell everything you want about yourself, using all the other Paal verbs according to the template.
Now about short participles, which are similar to adverbs:
WRITTEN - U A - kA tU in
WRITTEN - according to the same principle: ktU va (emphasis on the last syllable)
WRITTEN (M.R.) - IM U - ktU vim (emphasis on the last syllable)
WRITTEN (J.R.) - according to the same principle: ktU here (emphasis on the last syllable).
כתוב,כתובה, כתובים, כתובות
Note.
In plural do not confuse the pronunciation:
CT U vim, ktU here and ko twim, ko tvot.
Do not confuse them under any circumstances, remember the location of the vowels right away! An adverb and a present tense verb are different from each other.
And don't get confused:
CT U va (written) and ka twa (she wrote).
Now you know EVERYTHING. =)
Still, Hebrew is an amazing language. Those who are not closely acquainted with him are sure that nothing could be more complicated. Well, maybe Arabic and Japanese. I once thought so myself. But after just a couple of lessons, I learned to read these letters that were scary at first glance. Another surprise was the logical and flexible grammar system. I assure you, English is many times more difficult.
I know that some of you... So I decided to give him more space on the blog. For example, in this article we will conduct a short Hebrew lesson where we will examine general information about verbs. Let's find out what binyans are, how you can understand the meaning of a word by knowing its root, let's talk about agreement and tenses. It is advisable that you already read a little Hebrew, since in the article I give examples of verbs and their conjugations.
If you want to start quickly, train now. Try to understand the logic of conjugations and word formation, immediately compose your examples in writing and out loud, and also apply new knowledge in speech.
Verb agreement by person and number
The form of verbs in Hebrew varies depending on the gender, number and person of the subject or speaker. That is, as in Russian, there is 1st person (I, we), 2nd person (you, you), 3rd person (they, you, he, she).
For example, a man says the phrase “I am writing” אני כותב , and the woman אני כותבת , the phrase "we write" אנחנו כותבים - the men say, אנחנו כותבות - women.
Verb roots in Hebrew
An important role in Hebrew grammar is played by the root of the word, which usually consists of 3 or (rarely) 4 letters. It constitutes the so-called base, from which, with the help of prefixes, suffixes or endings, the verb and words with the same root of other parts of speech are formed. Knowing the meaning of a root or at least one word with it, it is possible to guess the pronunciation and spelling of words with the same root.
For example, "teach" ללמוד , "classes" לימודים , "student" תלמיד , "teach" ללמד (and a long list of similar words) are formed from the root ל.מ.ד , which means "study", "learning".
What are binyanas
Verbs in Hebrew are divided into 7 groups called binyans. Each verb is conjugated according to one of these 7 principles. It is enough to know the infinitive, practice conjugating several examples for some time, and you will be able to conjugate any verb automatically.
Since the topic is voluminous, we will look at each binyan in more detail in subsequent articles, if you are interested (let me know in the comments).
- Binyan pa'al- means a simple action, active voice, forms the basis for almost all other verb forms. Example: "check" לבדוק (livdok).
- binyan nif'al- passive form of binyan pa'al.
- binyan pi'el- means intense action, active voice. Example: "talk" לדבר (ledaber).
- Binyan pu'al- passive form of binyan pi'el.
- binyan hif'il- means a cause-and-effect action in the active voice. Example: "invite, order" להזמין (leazmin).
- Binyan huf'al- passive form of binyan hif'il.
- Binyan hitpa'el - return form verb, intense action. Example: "get married" להתחתן (lehithaten).
Hebrew verb tenses
Verbs in Hebrew are conjugated in 3 grammatical tenses (present, past, future). Only 3 times! Not like in English, right?))
Use the Hebrew-Verbs service to conjugate Hebrew verbs.
As I noted above, verbs are conjugated according to their binyan, and also agree in gender and number in their subjects. Let's remember the pronouns in Hebrew and look at some examples of verb conjugation in different tenses.
Pronouns
| I - אני
(ani) you (m.p.) - אתה (ata) you (female) - את (at) He - הוא (hu) she - היא (hi) | We - אנחנו
(anakhnu) you (m.p.) - אתם (atem) you (f.) - אתן (aten) they (m.p.) - הם (hem) they (female) - הן (hen) |
Do you like the article? Support our project and share with your friends!
Example tables
I have a whole notebook where I used to write down verb conjugations. Now I conjugate most of them right away (if this is an oral conversation) or check them on a special website (when I need to clarify the spelling). But for beginners, it is useful to write down the forms of verbs in order to see the overall picture of the conjugation in all tenses, persons and numbers. Let's see how this can be done using examples.
- The verb "to think" is לחשוב (lakhshov), binyan pa"al, root ח.ש.ב.
| future | past | the present | person and number |
|---|---|---|---|
| אחשוב | חשבתי | חושב | אני (m.r.) |
| אחשוב | חשבתי | חושבת | אני (female) |
| תחשוב | חשבת | חושב | אתה |
| תחשבי | חשבת | חושבת | את |
| יחשוב | חשב | חושב | הוא |
| תחשוב | חשבה | חושבת | היא |
| נחשוב | חשבנו | חושבים | אנחנו (m.r.) |
| נחשוב | חשבנו | חושבות | אנחנו (female) |
| תחשבו | חשבתם | חושבים | אתם |
| תחשבו | חשבתן | חושבות | אתן |
| יחשבו | חשבו | חושבים | הם |
| יחשבו | חשבו | חושבות | הן |
- Verb "to miss someone/something" - להתגעגע (lehitgaagea), binyan hitpa"el, root ג .ע.ג.ע.
| future | past | the present | infinitive and root |
|---|---|---|---|
| אתגעגע | התגעגעתי | מתגעגע | אני (m.r.) |
| אתגעגע | התגעגעתי | מתגעגעת | אני (female) |
| תתגעגע | התגעגעת | מתגעגע | אתה |
| תתגעגעי | התגעגעת | מתגעגעת | את |
| יתגעגי | התגעגע | מתגעגע | הוא |
| תתגעגע | התגעגעה | מתגעגעת | היא |
| נתגעגע | התגעגענו | מתגעגעים | אנחנו (m.r.) |
| נתגעגע | התגעגענו | מתגעגעות | אנחנו (female) |
| תתגעגעו | התגעגעתם | מתגעגעים | אתם |
| תתגעגעו | התגעגעתן | מתגעגעות | אתן |
| יתגעגעו | התגעגעתם | מתגעגעים | הם |
| יתגעגעו | התגעגעתן | מתגעגעות | הן |
How and where to practice verb conjugation
- In a conversation with a native speaker on completely different topics. On Italki You will always find a teacher for both full-fledged lessons with grammar explanations and homework assignments, and for intensive conversation classes.
- Watching videos and reading Additional materials on the HebrewPod service, here are some examples of such lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
- Fortunately, you can always quickly check the verb conjugation online on the following sites:
Exercises for memorizing words from this table |
|
| 1. Find the correct answer among the five proposed: Russian -> | 2. Write the correct answer yourself: Russian -> transliteration of Hebrew words |
Binyan PAAL - present, past, future
Here is a table of verb tenses PAAL using the example of a verb, which in the infinitive sounds like lishmore, and means guard.
About the imperative mood
Let us repeat in a nutshell what we already know about imperative mood: it can be built in one of the following ways:1. Coincides with the future tense (masculine - Tishmore! plural - Tishmaru! but in the feminine singular. differently - tishmary!)
2. The prefix " is removed you" (Shmor!).
The imperative mood is created in the same way for the remaining binyans.
More about exceptions
Exception verbs are verbs in which at least one of the root letters is glottal, or verbs whose root at first glance consists of only two letters. In the present, past and future tenses, their sound is slightly different from the sound of a classical verb with a regular three-letter root and without glottal radicals.Just take a look at the table in the next post and try to find patterns. In particular, highlight a group of verbs like , , , in which the third radical hey. Notice how they look in the past and future tenses.
If you look at a verb in one of its forms and it seems to you that its root has only two letters, then this means one of the following options:
1. There is one more root letter, the first one, and this is noon(as in the verb -).
2. There is one more root letter, the first one, and this is yud(as in the verb -).
3. You see the first and third root letters in front of you, and there is also a second one, and this wav(as in the verb –)
4. You see the first and third root letters in front of you, and there is also a second one, and this yud(as in the verb –)
In the following table I have given only the forms for the first person, so as not to clutter this tutorial with continuous “scary” tables. You can easily form other faces if you remember the table above correct verb lishmore.
Frequently used exception verbs related to binyanu PAAL
To make sure that each exception verb is not at all on its own, but, on the contrary, exceptions, in turn, are compiled according to their own rules, take a closer look at this table. Let's highlight several groups of irregular verbs:
1. The first three verbs are , , . In a “purely radical” form, i.e. in past tense, 3rd person, m.r. – , , . It seems at first glance that these verbs have only two root letters. But it turns out that this is not so - it’s just that in the first two of them the radical fell out in the middle wav, and in the third – radical yud. Notice how these verbs change in gender, number and tense.
2. The next three verbs – , , – are also very similar to each other. The “pure root” form is , , . Pay attention to what happens in persons, genders and tenses with similar verbs, which are united by the fact that they have a third root letter - hey.
3. If the first letter of the root yud, hey or noon, then it disappears in the infinitive and in the future tense. Examples – , , .
