Pa'al changes

From UniLang Wiki

This page describes the various changes that the basic Pa'al pattern undergoes due to specific root consonants. Similar changes occur in the other conjugations.

Contents 1 Guttural Consonants: א, ה, ח, ר, ע 2 בג"ד כפ"ת 3 Weak Verbs - הגזרות 3.1 Silent Initial נחי פ"א - א 3.2 Silent Final נחי ל"א - א 3.3 Initial חסרי פ"נ - נ 3.4 Initial י, Medial חסרי פי"צ - צ 3.5 The Semivowels ו and י 3.6 Initial Semivowel - חסרי פ"ו/י 3.7 Medial Semivowel - חסרי ע"ו/י 3.8 Final Semivowel - חסרי ל"ו/י 3.9 Double Final Consonant - (כפולים (ע"ע 3.10 Complex - מורכבים

Guttural Consonants: א, ה, ח, ר, ע

Hebrew doesn't like the guttural consonants with no vowel (schwa), or vowels other than A either after or before them - those combinations are considered difficult to pronounce. The schwa therefore often - but not always - changes into a half-vowel, while vowels change into more 'open' ones: i/u to e/o to a. Those changes in the verb system are systematic, and exist today even though the original guttural pronounciation is often lost.

Guttural consonants also never take strong dagesh.

• ר only causes changes due to strong dagesh; in Pa'al conjugation there is no strong dagesh so ר causes no changes.

• א behaves differently if it is the initial or final letter of the root. That would be described later.

• ה, ח, ע: most changes in conjugation Pa'al are due to schwa being replaced with a half-vowel.

The following table lists (only) the changed forms for each verb form, for each location of a guttural consonant in the root. If there are no changes, the table cell is left empty.

	Initial Guttural	Medial Guttural	Final Guttural
	to edit, set up	to ask, borrow	to tear
Past tense	עֲרַכְתֶּם 'arakhtem¹ עֲרַכְתֶּן 'arakhten	שָאֲלָה sha'ala¹ שָאֲלוּ sha'alu	—5
Present participle	—	שוֹאֲלִים sho'alim¹ שוֹאֲלוֹת sho'alot	קוֹרֵעַ qorea' 6
Future tense	אֶעֱרֹך e'erokh תַעֲרֹך ta'arokh תַעֲרְכִי ta'arkhi ...1, 2, 3	—4	—4
Imperative	!עֲרֹך 'arokh! !עֲרֹכְנָה 'arokhna!	!שַאֲלִי sha'ali!1, 2 !שַאֲלוּ sha'alu!	—5
Infinitive	לַעֲרֹך la'arokh 1 ,2	—	לִקְרֹעַ liqroa' 6
Gerund	עֲרִיכָה arikha ¹	—	—
Passive participle	עֲרוּכָה 'arukha עֲרוּכִים 'arukhim עֲרוּכוֹת 'arukhot¹	—	קָרוּעַ qarua' 6

¹ Schwa changed into a half-vowel.

² Vowel preceding guttural consonant changed.

³ Other future forms follow the a-a vowel pattern; only 1^st person singular uses e-e.

⁴ As described for regular conjugation, the future uses the vowel A instead of O.

⁵ Yes, these forms just keep the schwa under the guttural.

⁶ Patah gnuva put under guttural consonant at end of word.

בג"ד כפ"ת

Verbs whose roots include any of the letters בג"ד כפ"ת are conjugated regularly, except that the בג"ד כפ"ת letters themselves are pronounced (and vocalized) according to the rules here. Therefore, I'll just give the specific effects of these rules in conjugation pa'al and the base forms (masculine signular 3rd-person) of a couple of such verbs. The full conjugation of the verb "to write" can also be found here.

	Passive Participle	Gerund	Infinitive	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
To write	כָּתוּב	כְּתִיבָה	לִכְתֹּב	!כְּתֹב	יִכְתֹּב	כּוֹתֵב	כָּתַב
	katuv	ktiva	likhtov	ktov!	yikhtov	kotev	katav
To break	שָבוּר	שְבִירָה	לִשְבֹּר	!שְבֹר	יִשְבֹּר	שוֹבֵר	שָבַר
	shavur	shvira	lishbor	shvor!	yishbor	shover	shavar

• An initial בג"ד כפ"ת letter is pronounced strongly in all cases except the future and infinitive (i.e. whenever it is the first letter of the word).
• A medial בג"ד כפ"ת letter is pronounced strongly only in the future and infinitive (where the initial root letter has a silent schwa).
• A final בג"ד כפ"ת letter is always pronounced weakly.

Weak Verbs - הגזרות

Weak verbs are sometimes refered to as "irregular", but Hebrew grammar regards them as standard sub-classes of verbs which behave similarly. Those sub-classes are characterized by certain consonants in certain positions in the root.

Verbs whose roots include guttural or בג"ד כפ"ת consonants are considered "whole" (שלמים), despite the changes described above - weak verbs are the ones in which root consonants are silent, assimilated or dropped altogether.

Many verbs, however, behave like "whole" verbs despite their roots being weak. It must be learnt separately for each verb whether it follows the "whole" conjugation or the weak one... but except for the few true irregulars, these are the only two options.

Verb classes are generally denoted by one of the letters .פ.ע.ל followed by a consonant. The first letter determines the position in the root according to the order in the root .פ.ע.ל, and the second is the "problematic" consonant.

Silent Initial נחי פ"א - א

The conjugation of these verbs is quite similar to that of other verbs with an initial guttural, except for the future:

	Passive Participle	Gerund	Infinitive	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
To eat	אָכוּל	אֲכִילָה	לֶאֱכֹל	!אֱכֹל	יֹאכַל	אוֹכֵל	אָכַל
	akhul	akhila	le'ekhol	ekhol!	yokhal	okhel	akhal

• The future forms are all based on יֹאכַל:

... ,אֹכַל, תֹּאכַל, תֹּאכְלִי

In the 1st person singular a double א is avoided.

The כ is weak in the future since the א is silent instead of having a schwa.

• The verbs אהב to love, אמר to say, אבד to be lost, אפה to bake follow this conjugation.

Other פ"א verbs use the regular future - but with -e- around the א, e.g. אסף to collect → יֶאֱסֹף.

• In the imperative and infinitive, -e- is used instead of -a- around the guttural, for all פ"א verbs (אמר has the irregular infinitive לוֹמַר).

In the other conjugations, פ"א verbs behave as regular verbs with an initial guttural.

Silent Final נחי ל"א - א

These verbs follow a simple rule: whenever the א is the final letter or is supposed to have a schwa, the schwa is dropped and the א is unpronounced (but remains written). The preceding vowel is lengthened, although this doesn't affect modern pronunciation. The verb קרא to read; to call is an example:

Passive Participle*	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
		(eqra) אֶקְרָא		(qarati) קָרָאתִי	אני
	(qra) קְרָא	(tiqra) תִּקְרָא		(qarata) קָרָאתָ	אתה
	(qir'i) קִרְאִי	(tiqr'i) תִּקְרְאִי		(qarat) קָרָאת	את
(qaru) קָרוּא		(yiqra) יִקְרָא	(qore) קוֹרֵא	(qara) קָרָא	הוא
(qru'a) קְרוּאָה		(tiqra) תִּקְרָא	(qoret) קוֹרֵאת	(qar'a) קָרְאָה	היא
		(niqra) נִקְרָא		(qaranu) קָרָאנוּ	אנחנו
	(qir'u) קִרְאוּ	(tiqr'u) תִּקְרְאוּ		(qratem) קְרָאתֶם	אתם
	(qrana) קְרָאנָה	(tiqrana) תִּקְרָאנָה		(qraten) קְרָאתֶן	אתן
(qru'im) קְרוּאִים		(yiqr'u) יִקְרְאוּ	(qor'im) קוֹרְאִים	(qar'u) קָרְאוּ	הם
(qru'ot) קְרוּאוֹת		(tiqrana) תִּקְרָאנָה	(qor'ot) קוֹרְאוֹת		הן

The infinitive and gerund are לִקְרֹא (liqro) to read and קְרִיאָה (qri'a) reading respectively.

* The passive participle only exists for the to call meaning and is rarely used.

Initial חסרי פ"נ - נ

The characteristic of this verb class is the assimilation of the root נ into the next consonant in some forms - namely, the future, imperative, and rarely the infinitive: the נ is dropped, and the next consonant takes a strong dagesh (affecting the pronunciation of בג"ד כפ"ת consonants).

This, however, happens only in some initial-נ verbs, and most of these are old-fashioned; one of the few common ones is נסע to travel:

Imperative	Future
	esa אֶסַּע	אני
sa סַע	tisa תִּסַּע	אתה
s'i סְעִי	tis'i תִּסְּעִי	את
	yisa יִסַּע	הוא
	tisa תִּסַּע	היא
	nisa נִסַּע	אנחנו
s'u סְעוּ	tis'i תִּסְּעוּ	אתם
sa'na סַעְנָה	tisa'na תִּסַּעְנָה	אתן
	yis'u יִסְּעוּ	הם
	tisa'na תִּסַּעְנָה	הן

The infinitive in this case is regular: לִנְסֹעַ (the verb נָפַל to fall does have the infinitive לִפֹּל, but its imperative forms aren't used so I didn't put it as an example). The rest of the verb forms are regular.

Unlike most verbs, the imperative forms of פ"נ verbs which do lose the initial נ are very commonly used in speech.

Initial י, Medial חסרי פי"צ - צ

This small group of roots is most often conjugated like initial-נ verbs, rather than initial-semivowel verbs as one might expect. However, such verbs in conjugation pa'al do follow the initial-semivowel conjugation (see below)... mostly behaving like "whole" verbs. The only verb with a special behaviour is יָצָא to exit, with the future יֵצֵא, imperative צֵא and infinitive לָצֵאת.

The Semivowels ו and י

The semivowels vav (assumed to have originally been pronounced w) and yod in verb roots very often change into a vowel, which in most cases is determined by the conjugation rather than by the original consonant - i.e. yod can change into an o/u vowel and vice versa. On other cases, the semivowel is completely dropped. Therefore, roots with semivowels are grouped together. It is often difficult to even know for sure what the original semivowel was.

Initial Semivowel - חסרי פ"ו/י

Verbs with an initial semivowel behave normally in the past, present, participles and gerund. In the future, imperative and infinitive, some verbs completely drop the semivowel, as is exemplified by יָשַב to sit:

Infinitive	Imperative	Future
lashevet לָשֶבֶת		eshev אֵשֵב	אני
	shev שֵב	teshev תֵּשֵב	אתה
	shvi שְבִי	teshvi תֵּשְבִי	את
		yeshev יֵשֵב	הוא
		teshev תֵּשֵב	היא
		neshev נֵשֵב	אנחנו
	shvu שְבוּ	teshvu תֵּשְבוּ	אתם
	shevna שֵבְנָה	teshavna¹ תֵּשַבְנָה	אתן
		yeshvu יֵשְבוּ	הם
		teshavna¹ תֵּשַבְנָה	הן

¹ Today these forms are usually pronounced teshevna.

Common verbs which conjugate similarly are יָרַד to go down, יָדַע to know, יָלַד to give birth (female only), and the future form of the irregular הָלַך to go, walk. Similarly to פ"נ verbs, the imperative of these verbs is also very commonly used in speech.

Other פ"ו/י verbs follow the pattern of "whole" verbs, except that the yod with schwa becomes silent: thus יָשַן to sleep has the future יִישַן, imperative יְשַן and infinitive לִישוֹן.

Medial Semivowel - חסרי ע"ו/י

Verbs having a medial semivowel drop it completely in the past and present, while in the future/imperative and infinitive they convert it into a long vowel, depending on the root semivowel. The gerund always has long -i-, and for many verbs is not used. There is no passive participle; a participle from another conjugation (e.g. nif'al) may be used instead.

Gerund	Infinitive	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
qima קִימָה	laqum לָקוּם		aqum אָקוּם		qamti קַמְתִּי	אני
		qum קוּם	taqum תָּקוּם		qamta קַמְתָּ	אתה
		qumi קוּמִי	taqumi תָּקוּמִי		qamt קַמְתְּ	את
			yaqum יָקוּם	qam קָם	qam קָם	הוא
			taqum תָּקוּם	qama קָמָה	qama קָמָה	היא
			naqum נָקוּם		qamnu קָמְנוּ	אנחנו
		qumu קוּמוּ	taqumu תָּקוּמוּ		qamtem קָמְתֶּם	אתם
		qomna קֹמְנָה	taqomna תָּקֹמְנָה		qamten קָמְתֶּן	אתן
			yaqumu יָקוּמוּ	qamim קָמִים	qamu קָמוּ	הם
			taqomna תָּקֹמְנָה	qamot קָמוֹת		הן

Note that the past and present forms of the 3rd person singular (he/she) are identical.

ע"י verbs are conjugated almost identically, using -i/e- instead of -u/o- in the future/imperative and infinitive: שָׂם to put, future הן תָּשֵׂמְנָה) יָשִׂים), imperative שִׂים, infinitive לָשִׂים.

Nearly all ע"ו/י verbs follow the above conjugation. The imperatives are again very common in speech.

Final Semivowel - חסרי ל"ו/י

Verbs with a final semivowel generally convert it into long -i- in the past, except for the 3rd person where each form is specific. In the present and future/imperative the regular ending is -e- with a silent ה, dropped before suffixes in forms which have them. The infinitive adds a ת while the gerund and passive participle use a consonant י. Here is the conjugation of קָנָה to buy:

Passive Participle	Gerund	Infinitive	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
	qniya קְנִיָה	liqnot לִקְנוֹת		eqne אֶקְנֶה		qaniti קָנִיתִי	אני
			qne קְנֵה	tiqne תִּקְנֶה		qanita קָנִיתָ	אתה
			qni קְנִי	tiqni תִּקְנִי		qanit קָנִית	את
qanuy קָנוּי				yiqne יִקְנֶה	qone קוֹנֶה	qana קָנָה	הוא
qnuya קְנוּיָה				tiqne תִּקְנֶה	qona קוֹנָה	qanta קָנְתָה	היא
				niqne נִקְנֶה		qaninu קָנִינוּ	אנחנו
			qnu קנוּ	tiqnu תִּקְנוּ		qnitem קְנִיתֶם	אתם
			qnena קְנֶינָה	tiqnena תִּקְנֶינָה		qniten קְנִיתֶן	אתן
qnuyim קְנוּיִים				yiqnu יִקְנוּ	qonim קוֹנִים	qanu קָנוּ	הם
qnuyot קְנוּיוֹת				tiqnena תִּקְנֶינָה	qonot קוֹנוֹת		הן

Note: the base form (3rd person singular masculine past) has a silent ה, but the original root had ו/י. There are also five roots which truly have a final ה, in which case the base form has it with a mapiq: גָּבַהּ to grow taller. The five true ל"ה roots are גבהּ, נגהּ, כמהּ, תמהּ, מהמהּ memorable by the acronym ג"ן כת"ם ("orange garden").

Practically all ל"ו/י verbs follow the above conjugation (except for some complex roots - see below).

Double Final Consonant - (כפולים (ע"ע

When the two final consonants of the root are identical, they may assimilate into one such consonant, with a strong dagesh of course. However, in Modern Hebrew this almost never occurs in conjugation pa'al; only a few rather-fossilized forms remain, such as the future יָחֹן and the infinitive לָחֹן from חָנַן to give pardon (the past form may too be contracted to חָן).

Complex - מורכבים

Sadly, there is no rule forbidding a root from belonging to more than one weak root class. Generally, the special rules for each class are applied separately.

For example, אָפָה to bake, mentioned above, is both פ"א and ל"ו/י. The future form is יֹאפֶה: the silent א with -o- from the פ"א conjugation, and the final silent ה preceded by -e- from ל"ו/י.

The verb בָּא to come is the only ע"ו/י-ל"א verb used in conjugation pa'al. Its base form are as follows:

Infinitive	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
lavo לָבוֹא	bo בּוֹא	yavo יָבוֹא	ba בָּא	ba בָּא

The א becomes silent as usual for ל"א: e.g. in the past בָּאתִי I came and in the future תָּבֹאנָה you/they (f.pl.) will come. The only thing to note is the -o- vowel in the future/imperative and infinitive.

(Note: the gerund bi'a בִּיאָה exists, but is rarely used and is also a euphemism for sexual intercourse).

Verbs with both a medial and a final semivowel are an exception: they behave as final-semivowel verbs, with the medial one behaving as a regular consonant. Thus, for instance, the base forms of טָוָה to weave:

Gerund	Infinitive	Imperative	Future	Present	Past
tviya טְוִיָה	litvot לִטְווֹת	tve טְוֶה	yitve יִטְוֶה	tove טוֹוֶה	tava טָוָה

There are admittedly more common verbs of this complex class, such as הָיָה to be and חָוָה to experience, but they don't use all of the forms.

Similarly, verbs which are both פ"נ and ע"ו/י never assimilate the initial נ, behaving as regular ע"ו/י verbs.

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