Nif'al

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Contents 1 General 2 בג"ד כפ"ת 3 Guttural 3.1 Initial 3.2 Medial 3.3 Final

General

Conjugation nif'al is often considered the passive of Pa'al, but it also has many verbs with a middle sense, such as נִכְנַס to enter - these have active meaning but do not take direct objects (intransitive) and usually describe an action the subject does upon itself.

Nif'al is characterized by a נ preceding the root letters - but this is visible only in the past and present. In all other forms the נ is assimilated into the next consonant, creating a strong dagesh; except for the future an initial הִ is also added, to avoid the strong dagesh in the beginning of a word.

The verb used for the paradigm is נִשְמַר, used as the passive of שָמַר to guard but also having the meaning to guard oneself, be careful. The latter meaning is less common in speech today, but exemplifies well the middle meaning and makes the imperative form meaningful. The final ר gives no trouble in conjugation nif'al, so נִשְמַר is conjugated like a regular strong ("whole") verb.

Imperative	Future	Present	Past
	eshamer אֶשָּמֵר		nishmarti נִשְמַרְתִּי	אני
hishamer הִשָּמֵר	tishamer תִּשָּמֵר		nishmarta נִשְמַרְתָּ	אתה
hishamri הִשָּמְרִי	tishamri תִּשָּמְרִי		nishmart נִשְמַרְתְּ	את
	yishamer יִשָּמֵר	nishmar נִשְמָר	nishmar נִשְמַר	הוא
	tishamer תִּשָּמֵר	nishmeret נִשְמֶרֶת	nishməra נִשְמְרָה	היא
	nishamer נִשָּמֵר		nishmarnu נִשְמַרְנוּ	אנחנו
hishamru הִשָּמְרוּ	tishamru תִּשָּמְרוּ		nishmartem נִשְמַרְתֶּם	אתם
hishamarna הִשָּמַרְנָה	tishamarna תִּשָּמַרְנָה		nishmarten נִשְמַרְתֶּן	אתן
	yishamru יִשָּמְרוּ	nishmarim נִשְמָרִים	nishməru נִשְמְרוּ	הם
	tishamarna תִּשָּמַרְנָה	nishmarot נִשְמָרוֹת		הן

Infinitive: ləhishamer לְהִשָּמֵר

Gerund: hishamrut הִשָּמְרוּת. The Gerund of Nif'al is rarely used.

בג"ד כפ"ת

As in conjugation Pa'al, בג"ד כפ"ת consonants simply follow their own rules throughout the conjugation.

• The initial consonant always follows a vowel in the past and present, so a בג"ד כפ"ת consonant is pronounced weak. In all other forms, the נ of nif'al is assimilated into the first consonant, so it is pronounced strong.
• The medial consonant follows a silent schwa in the past and present, and is therefore pronounced weak. In all other forms it follows a vowel and therefore pronounced strong.
• The final consonant is always pronounced weak (it follows either a vowel or a mobile schwa).

The initial consonant is exemplified below by the verb נִכְנַס to enter; both the medial and final - by נִשְׁכַּב to lie down (note the difference from שָׁכַב to lie, be in a lying position).

Gerund	Infinitive	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
hikansut הִכָּנְסוּת	ləhikanes לְהִכָּנֵס	hikanes הִכָּנֵס	yikanes יִכָּנֵס	nikhnas נִכְנָס	nikhnas נִכְנַס
hishakhvut הִשָּכְבוּת	ləhishakhev לְהִשָּכֵב	hishakhev הִשָּכֵב	yishakhev יִשָּכֵב	nishkav נִשְכָּב	nishkav נִשְכַּב

Guttural

Initial

The guttural letters הא"ח ר"ע do not all behave the same in Nif'al. However, all of them cannot take a strong dagesh, which appears in all forms of Nif'al except for the past and present. Instead, the dagesh is dropped completely, and the preceding vowel (always an -i-) undergoes compensatory lengthening and becomes (long) -e-.

• For ר, this is the only change, so the base forms of נִרְדָּם to fall asleep are as follows:

Gerund	Infinitive	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
heradmut הֵרָדְמוּת	ləheradem לְהֵרָדֵם	heradem הֵרָדֵם	yeradem יֵרָדֵם	nirdam נִרְדָּם	nirdam נִרְדַּם

• For ח, the preceding vowel becomes -e- in the past and present as well (although a short -e- in that case), which can be seen in נֶחְסַם to be blocked:

Gerund	Infinitive	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
hekhasmut הֵחָסְמוּת	ləhekhasem לְהֵחָסֵם	hekhasem הֵחָסֵם	yekhasem יֵחָסֵם	nekhsam נֶחְסָם	nekhsam נֶחְסַם

• Initial א, ה, ע take a half-vowel in the past and present instead of a schwa, in addition to the previous changes. Thus נֶאֱסַף to be collected, picked up:

Gerund	Infinitive	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
he'asfut הֵאָסְפוּת	ləhe'asef לְהֵאָסֵף	he'asef הֵאָסֵף	ye'asef יֵאָסֵף	ne'esaf נֶאֱסָף	ne'esaf נֶאֱסַף

In the past 3rd person feminine and plural the half-vowel, followed by a schwa, becomes a full vowel, though this doesn't affect modern pronunciation: נֶאֶסְפָה, נֶאֶסְפוּ.

Medial

Final

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Languages >> Hebrew >> Grammar >> Verbs >> Conjugations >> Nif'al