Pa'al - Strong Verbs

Interactive Learning Module

Conjugation Patterns

• This is the second module focusing on Biblical Hebrew verbs.
• The first module introduced several concepts necessary for understanding the Biblical Hebrew verbal system, including strong and weak roots, the various binyanim, and the different types of conjugations.
• This module will look at the conjugation patterns for strong verbs (the שלמים)This refers to those verbs which maintain all three root letters across inflections. including those with gutturals (האח"ע)However, the module will not discuss פ"א, ל"ה and ל"א roots as these behave somewhat differently, falling into the "silent classes of roots", with these gutturals acting as vowel letters rather than consonants in many inflections. in the pa'al binyan.
• We will briefly review the meaning and identifying marks of both the binyan and the various conjugations, and then will focus on the forms themselves.
• For each conjugation pattern, we will provide a paradigm with notes explaining the pattern and any unusual vocalization.

• The pa'al is the most basic of all the binyanim and is known also as the "קל" or "simple" stem.
• Verbs of this binyan generally express a simple (rather than intensive or causative) action in the active (rather than passive or reflexive) voice.
• The binyan has the most basic form of all seven binyanim, with no prefixes or suffixes added to it before being inflected for person, gender, tense etc. Thus, the base form comprises just the root letters (e.g. שמר כתב, זכר), with no prefixed נ, ה or הת, and no dagesh. Hence the name "בניין קל".
• The verbs of the binyan can be divided into two main categories: dynamic verbs which describe an action (e.g. walk, run, sit) and stative verbs which describe a state of being (e.g. to be old, small or heavy).In English such states are described using a state of being verb (is, are) and an adjective. In Hebrew, these are expressed through stative verbs such as קטן, זקן, כבד which are conjugated like any other Hebrew verb, though in translation they might be rendered as an adjective.
• Dynamic verbs can be either transitive or intransitive,Transitive verbs are those which take a direct object (e.g. שָׁבַרְתִּי אֶת עֹל מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל, I have broken the yoke of the king of Bavel); intransitive are verbs which do not take a direct object (הָלַכְתָּ לְפָנָי, you have walked before me) while stative verbs are generally intransitive.
• The two types of verbs often have slightly different conjugation patterns, as will be seen in coming slides.

• In the introductory verb module, we learned that all Hebrew verbs are inflected to mark person, number and gender in two main conjugation patterns, the perfect (indicating a completed act) and imperfect (indicating an ongoing action), somewhat equivalent to the past and future tenses.
• The perfect is also referred to as the "suffix conjugation", as it marks person, number and gender by adding suffixes to the various verb stems, as seen here. These suffixes are mostly fixed, regardless of the binyan or type of root.
• The imperfect is also known as the "prefix conjugation" as it marks person, number and gender mainly by adding prefixes (the letters אית"ן) to the various verb stems, as seen here. [There are a handful of suffixes as well, but the hallmark of this conjugation that sets it apart morphologically from the perfect is the prefixes.] Though the consonants of these prefixes are somewhat fixed, the vocalization is not and will change depending on the binyan and root type.
• Other conjugation patterns – There are other partial conjugation patterns, marking commands and exhortations or self-encouragement. These are known as the imperative for second person commands (Go!), the cohortative for first person ("Let me..." ) and the jussive for third person ("May he..."). There are also verbal adjectives and nouns (known as participles and infinitives), each with just a handful of forms per binyan.
• The coming slides will introduce the conjugation patterns for each of the above.

• There are three conjugation patterns for verbs in the perfect (similar to the past tense), kal binyan, each named after the form taken by the third person, masculine singular verb.
• The verbs of each pattern take the same suffixes, but have different identifying stem (or: "thematic") vowels, those vowels associated with the second root consonant:A "stem" refers to the letters of the verb before prefixes and suffixes are added, here equivalent to the root letters.
• Pa'al – The pa'al (פָּעַל) is the main pattern, used for dynamic verbs and a handful of stative verbs.One common stative verb taking this pattern is the word "גָדַל". Its stem vowel is a patach (as in: "שָׁמַר").
• Pa'el – The pa'el (פָּעֵל) pattern is used for most stative verbs and is marked by a thematic tzere (as in: "כָּבֵד")
• Pa'ol – The pa'ol (פָּעֹל) pattern, the least common of the three, is also used for stative verbs and is marked by a thematic cholam (as in: "קָטֹן")
• Each pattern will be discussed independently in the coming slides, but see here for a comparison of all three patterns with the distinct stem vowels highlighted.
• Note: Person is marked on the table through the numbers 1, 2, and 3 (first, second and third person respectively). Masculine gender is marked by "m", feminine gender by "f" and common gender by "c".Common gender refers to a form that is used for both masculine and feminine subjects. Singular forms are marked by "s" and plural ones by "p".]
• Two general notes that pertain to all three patterns:
• Gender – There is no distinction for genderBoth masculine and feminine forms look identical. in the first person singular and plural forms and in the third person plural form.
• Stress – Most of the words are stressed on the final syllable, with the exception of the first person singular and plural and the second person, masculine, singular which all have penultimate stress (i.e. are stressed on the second to last syllable, "מלעיל").

• This slide will discuss the pa'al conjugation pattern taken by dynamic verbs.
• The paradigm – See the attached table for a paradigm of the pattern. [Suffixes are marked in red, while any penultimate stress in is indicated through the bolding of the stressed consonant.]
• Notes on the form – The basic form is the third person masculine singular, vocalized with a kamatz-patach (שָׁמַר), without any suffix. This is the dictionary form of the verb.Note that even though we learned in the vowel module that closed, stressed syllables tend to prefer long vowels, verbs are exceptional and will nonetheless take a patach in such syllables, as seen here. This, however, will not be true of participles, which take the form of verbal nouns and thus follow vocalization rules for nouns, taking only a long vowel in a closed, stressed syllable. The vocalization of the stems of the other forms at times varies slightly, depending on the attached suffix:These forms may simply be memorized, but a brief explanation of some of the vocalization variations might help one understand the forms.
• The stem maintains the kamatz-patach (פָּעַל) vocalization in the first person forms (שָׁמַרְתִּי, שָׁמַרְנוּ) and the second person singular forms (שָׁמַרְתָּ, שָׁמַרְתְּ).
• In the second person plural forms, the suffixes (תם/תן) are stressed, causing propretonic reduction of the initial kamatz of the stem to a sheva (שְׁמַרְתֶּם), or, if under a guttural, to a chataf (עֲמַדְתֶּם).See the second unit on vowels that when a long kamatz finds itself in an open syllable two positions before the stress (a propretonic syllable), it reduces to a sheva or, if under a guttural, to a chataf. Thus, here when one adds the suffix "תֶּם" to the stem "שמר" the kamatz under the "ש" finds itself two syllables away from the stress (ש|מר|תם) and reduces to a sheva, resulting in "שְׁמַרְתֶּם".
• Finally, in the third person, feminine, singular and in the third person, plural forms (שָׁמְרָה, שָׁמְרו), the suffixes uniquely begin with a vowel (ָה and וּ). This opens the final stem syllable and causes the vowel of the second root letter to reduce from a patach to a vocal sheva (שָׁמְרָה, שָׁמְרוּ) or, if under a guttural, to a chataf (בָּחֲרָה).
• Roots ending with "ת" or "נ" - When the final root consonant is identical to that which begins a suffix (as when a root ends in "ת" or "נ"), only one of the two identical consonants is written, with the missing one marked by a dagesh chazak.
• Thus we find "כָּרַתִּי" rather than "כָּרַתְתִּי" and "שָׁכַנּוּ" rather than "שָׁכַנְנוּ". See here for the full conjugation of the root "כרת"; the blue highlights where the missing "ת" is marked with a dagesh.
• The root נתן is exceptional in that the final "נ" assimilates into both the suffixes ending with "נ" and those ending with "ת". Here, too, the missing "נ" is marked by a dagesh chazak. See the full inflection here; the blue highlights where the assimilated "נ" is marked with a dagesh.
• Gutturals – Roots with gutturals (excepting ל"ה and ל"א verbs, which will be discussed in the next module) behave as expected, taking chataf's where other letters would take a vocal sheva (as seen above). The only anomalous form is the second person, feminine, singular of roots with a guttural in the third root position (such as ידע or לקח). These exceptionally take a patach rather than a sheva under the third letter of the root, reading: "שָׁמַעַתְּ" or "לָקַחַתְּ".
• See a paradigm here, with exceptional vocalization marked in red.

• This slide will discuss the pa'el and pa'ol conjugation patterns taken by stative verbs:As mentioned in the previous slides, there are also several stative verbs which follow the pa'al paradigm.
• Pa'el – Most statives verbs, including roots such as טהר, זקן, and כבד, follow the pa'el (פָּעֵל) pattern, so called after the third person, masculine, singular form which takes a kamatz-tzere (טָהֵר, זָקֵן כָּבֵד).
• This pattern is identical to the pa'al with the exception of this third person form. See the full paradigm here.
• Pa'ol – A limited number of stative verbs, including: יכל, קטן, שכל, יקש and יגר, follow the pa'ol (פָּעֹל) pattern, so called after the third person masculine, singular form which takes a kamatz-cholam (יָכֹל, שָׁכֹל, קָטֹן).
• This conjugation pattern, too, is very similar to the pa'al, but with the second root letter consistently taking a cholam (or in second person plural forms, a kamatz katan)As the second person plural is stressed on the last syllable, the original cholam now finds itself in a closed, unstressed syallabe which must take a short vowel; thus the cholam reduces to a kamatz katan. in place of the patach. See the full paradigm here.
• Summary comparison – For a comparison of the perfect conjugations of pa'al, pa'el and pa'ol verbs, with the thematic vowel of each form colored in red, see here.
• Statives vs. Adjective – Often stative verbs will have an associated adjective whose masculine singular form will be identical to the third person, masculine singular verb form. Other forms of the adjective, however, are clearly distinct.
• Thus, for example, "זָקֵן" can be translated verbally to mean "[he] grew old" or adjectivally to mean "old". The verb "זָקְנָה" (she grew old), however, is distinct in form from the feminine adjective "זְקֵנָה" (old), being vocalized differently. Compare the stative verb and adjective forms here.

• There are two main paradigms for the imperfect (similar to the future tense), one for most dynamic verbs, and one for stative verbs, a select few dynamic verbs (including שכב, למד,and רכב), and roots with the gutturals "ע" or "ח" in the second or third positions.The so called ל"א and ל"ה verbs (those with an "א" or "ה" in the third root position) follow distinct paradigms which will be discussed in the next module.
• The verbs of each pattern take the same prefixes and suffixes, but have different "thematic vowels.
• Imperfect: Cholam pattern – The first paradigm is marked by the cholam taken by the second root consonant (יִשְׁמֹר); see the attached table.Prefixes and suffixes are marked in red, while any penultimate stress in is indicated through the bolding of the stressed consonant.
• Imperfect: Patach pattern – The second paradigm is marked by the patach taken by the second root consonant (יִשְׁכַּב); see the attached table.As gutturals tend to prefer patachs, it is not surprising that they take this pattern.
• To compare the two paradigms, side by side, see here.
• Notes on the conjugation patterns follow:
• Gender – In both paradigms of this conjugation, there is no distinction for gender in the first person singular and plural forms, but, in contrast to the perfect, there is a distinction in the third person plural forms.
• Stress – All the forms are stressed on the final syllable, with the exception of the second and third person, feminine, plural which are stressed on the second to last syllable.
• Identical forms – The forms for the second person, masculine, singular and third person, feminine, singular are identical, as are the forms for the second and third person, feminine, plural. Context is usually enough to disambiguate.There are, nonetheless, several cases where commentators debate the meaning of such words and whether they are second or third person. For several examples, see Ambiguous Person.
• Prefix vowel – The imperfect prefixes (which can be remembered through the mnemonic אית"ן) all open with a chirik, with the exception of the first person, singular which opens with a segol.
• Vowel reduction – In both paradigms, the stem cholam or patach reduces to a vocal sheva (or a chataf) in the second person, feminine, singular (תִּשְׁמְרִי) and in the second and third person masculine plural forms (תִּשְׁמְרוּ, יִשְׁמְרוּ). [As these suffixes begin with a vowel (a chirik or shuruk), they cause the final stem syllable to open, and the vowel of the second root letter to reduce.]See the similar phenomenon in the perfect.

• Verbs which have a guttural in the first position (I-Gutturals) have a slightly different inflection pattern for the imperfect than the ones seen until now.
• They, too, fall into one of the two imperfect paradigms, with either a cholam or a patach under the second stem consonant (depending on whether they are dynamic or stative verbs). However, the vocalization of the prefix and the first root consonant (the guttural) differs from that of the standard imperfect pattern.
• The prefix of I-guttural verbs with a stem cholam, will take a patach (except for the first person singular), and the guttural will take a chataf-patach as in: "יַעֲמֹד".
• The prefix of I-guttural verbs with a stem patach, will take a segol, and the guttural a chataf-segol as in: "יֶחֱזַק".
• Note: In the second person feminine singular (תֶּחֶזְקִי, תַּעַמְדִי) and second and third person masculine plural (תֶּחֶזְקוּ, תַּעַמְדוּ and יֶחֶזְקוּ, יַעַמְדוּ) forms, the chataf is replaced by a vowel. This is due to the "rule of sheva". In these forms, where the second root consonant normally takes a vocal sheva, there would otherwise be a chataf followed by a sheva which Biblical Hebrew does not tolerate. As such, the chataf lengthens to its corresponding vowel.

• In the previous module we learned that when one wants to relay a sequence of consecutive actions in Biblical Hebrew, the verbs take a unique form known as either the consecutive perfect or consecutive imperfect, marked by the ו"ו ההיפוך. [In English this is known either as a vav conversive or a vav consecutive.]
• Tense/aspect reversal – The presence of the vav indicates that the tense/aspectSee the previous module that tense refers to whether something occurred in the past, present, or future, while apsect refers to whether an action is perceived as completed or ongoing. of the verb is reversed, so that what looks like a perfect verb (one which indicates a completed or past action) is actually imperfect (indicating a future or ongoing action) and vice versa.
• Thus, "וְשָׁמַרְתָּ" means: "You shall heed" (not: "and you heeded") and "וַיִּשְׁמֹר" means: "he heeded" (not: "and he will heed").
• Form of the perfect with ו"ו ההיפוך (consecutive perfect) – Strong verbs of this form look exactly like a perfect verb except that they are prefixed with a vav (וְקָטַל). See a paradigm here. [Bolded letters mark penultimate stress.]
• Vocalization – The vocalization of the vav follows all the rules of the regular conjunctive vav (a vav that means "and"). Thus the basic form is "וְ". Before verbs beginning with ב, מ, פ, or which open with a sheva, the vav will be vocalized with a shuruk, and before verbs opening with a chataf, it will take the vowel of the chataf.See --- for details.
• Stress – In contrast to regular perfect verbs, when written with a ו"ו ההיפוך, there is usually a shift in stress to the final syllable in the first person singular and second person masculine singular forms.Thus, the only form with penultimate stress is the first person plural. However, this shift in stress does not always take place, and ל"ה and ל"א verbs will often be stressed on the second to last syllable.
• Form of the imperfect with ו"ו ההיפוך (consecutive imperfect) – Strong verbs of this form look exactly like the imperfect, but they are prefixed with a vav (vocalized with a patach) and take a dagesh in the following letter (וַיִּקְטֹל). See a paradigm here.
• Note that in the first person, the first letter after the vav is an aleph which, being a guttural, does not take a dagesh; as such, the vowel under the vav is lengthened to a kamatz.

• The imperative conjugation is used to mark commands in the second person.
• Form – It generally takes a form similar to the imperfect second persons, but without the prefixes, as seen here and here.
  • Note that in the feminine singular and masculine plural forms, there are minor adjustments to the vocalization, with the "rule of sheva" being applied.As in these forms the removal of the imperfect prefix would otherwise cause there to be two consecutive shevas which Biblical Hebrew cannot tolerate, the initial sheva of the first root consonant is instead elongated to a chirik. [Thus, we have: "שִׁמְרִי" and not: "שְׁמְרִי".] When the second root letter is a guttural taking a chataf (as in: תִּבְחֲרִי), with the removal of the prefix the initial sheva turns instead into a patach to match the vowel of the chataf (בַּחֲרִי), as per the guttural version of the "rule of sheva".
  • Guttural behave as expected, taking chatafs instead of shevas and following the guttural "rule of sheva".See the previous footnote. One other difference worth noting is the vocalization of I-Gutturals with thematic patachs. In the imperfect, the prefix (and, hence, the guttural root letter) of these patach imperfects took a segol / chataf segol (תֶּחֱזַק), but with the removal of the prefix in the imperative, the guttural takes a chataf patach (חֲזַק).
  • For a summary table of the various forms, see here.
• Variant form – Sometimes one finds a variant elongated form of the masculine singular imperative, with a kamatz-heh ending. Cholam imperfects taking this form will have an initial kamatz katan as in: שָׁמְרָה or שׇׁפְטָה while patach imperfects will have an initial chirik as in: שִׁכְבָה or שִׁלְחָה.
• The kamatz katan variant looks identical to the third person, feminine singular perfect, yet they are pronounced differently. The imperative takes a kamatz katan followed by a silent sheva, while the perfect form takes a kamatz gadol followed by a vocal sheva. Compare the command form of "שמרה" in Tehillim 25:20 with the perfect form in Iyyov 10:12.
• The chirik variant looks identical to the perfect, pi'el form, except that the latter has a dagesh in the second root consonant. Compare the command "שִׁלְחָה" in Bereshit 43:8 to the pi'el "שִׁלְּחָה" in Mishlei 31:19.
• Negative commands – To express a negative command one uses a negative (לא or אל) followed by the regular imperfect. The word "אל" is used when the directive is immediate, meaning: "don't", while "לא" is used with enduring prohibitions, meaning: "you shall not".
• Thus "לֹא תִּגְנֹב" is used to express the general prohibition against stealing (You shall not steal), while "אַל תִּגְנֹב" (Don't steal) might be used as an admonition to one about to do an act of theft.
• The particle "נא" – Often, imperatives are followed by the word "נא" (as in: אִמְרִי נָא); this is an expression of entreaty or emphasis, sometimes translated as "please". The particle is frequently attached to the imperative with a makkaf, which impacts both stress and vocalization.
• When connected with a hyphen, the two words behave as if they are one, and there a shift in stress from the final syllable of the imperative to the particle. In masculine singular forms, this results in the shortening of the cholam to a kamatz katan.When the imperative was not joined to the word "נא" by a hyphen, the cholam found itself in a closed stressed syllable, an environment which prefers long vowels. However, with the hyphenation and ensuing shift in stress, the vowel now finds itself in a closed unstressed syllable, an environment which prefers short vowels. For a more thorough discussion of the effects of a makkaf on vocalization and pronunciation, see the module on vowels.
• Thus, for example, "דְּרֹשׁ נָא" takes a cholam) but "דְּרׇשׁ־נָא" takes a kamatz katan).

• Cohortative – The cohortative expresses desire, emphasis, or self-encouragement in the first person. It will often be translated as "Let me/us..." or "May I/we". It is similar in form to the first person imperfect, but with the addition of a kamatz-heh suffix and a resulting reduction of the imperfect thematic vowel to a sheva.
• For example: אֶשְׁמֹר becomes אֶשְׁמְרָה and אֶשְׁכַּב becomes אֶשְׁכְּבָה.
• Jussive – The jussive is the third person counterpart of the above, identical in form to the imperfect (e.g. יִשְׁלַח or יִזְכֹּר). As such, meaning must be determined from context and in many places commentators dispute whether the word is being used to state a fact or a desire.
• Compare, for example, Rashbam and Ibn Ezra's understanding of Avraham's words to his servant, "הוּא יִשְׁלַח מַלְאָכוֹ לְפָנֶיךָ" in Bereshit 24:7. According to Rashbam this is a statement of certainty, "He will send..." (a simple imperfect), while according to Ibn Ezra it is a prayer, "May He send..." (a jussive).

• Biblical Hebrew participles are verbal adjectives, being constructed from a verb, but functioning and looking like adjectives.This stands in contrast to modern Hebrew, where participles function mainly as present tense verbs.
• Form – As such, participles are not conjugated by person, but only by gender and number, with four forms for each (masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural). They might be active or passive.
• Active participle – See the general pattern with the inflectional suffixes marked in red here. For a summary table of both whole and guttural roots, see here.
• Basic form – Note that the basic form of the active participle is כּוֹתֵב, as found in the masculine singular, but with the addition of suffixes, the tzere reduces: כּוֹתֵב, כּוֹתֶבֶת, כּוֹתְבִים, כּוֹתְבוֹת
• Exceptional form – There is a second, less common form of the feminine singular as well: שֹׁפְטָה. [See, for example, Shofetim 4:4.]
• Gutturals – Roots with guttural behave as expected, with chatafs replacing shevas (בּוֹחֲרִים, בּוֹחֲרוֹת). When III-gutturals have an "ע" or "ח" in the third root position (שמע), the masculine, singular form takes a furtive patach (פתח גנובה), See the module on vowels that when a final syllable has a cholam, shuruk, chirik or tzere followed by "ח", "ע", or a consonantal "ה", the tongue finds it hard to transition, and so a patach is inserted between the original vowels and the gutturals. This vowel is sounded before the final guttural consonant. while the feminine has a double patach: שׁוֹמֵעַ, שׁוֹמַעַת, שׁוֹמְעִים, שׁוֹמְעוֹת.
• Passive Participle – See the general pattern with the inflectional suffixes marked in red here.
• Basic form – Note that the basic form of the active participle is כָּתוּב, as found in the masculine singular, but with the addition of suffixes, the kamatz reduces: כָּתוּב, כְּתוּבָה, כְּתוּבִים, כְּתוּבוֹת.
• Gutturals - Most gutturals do not require any changes to the general pattern.One exception is the class of ל"ה roots, which will be discussed in the next module. In these the heh is replaced by yud, but otherwise the words follow the pattern: בָּנוּי, בְּנוּיָה, בְּנוּיִים, בְּנוּיוֹת.
• Function, word order, and agreement – As mentioned in the previous module, participles, like adjectives, can function in one of three ways:
• Predicative usage – They might act as a verb in a subject-predicate sentence (the baby is sleeping). In such usage, they can either precede or follow the noun they modify and they agree with it in number and gender but not definiteness. Thus we find both: יְ־הֹוָה שֹׁמֵר אֶת גֵּרִים (Tehillim 146:9) or שׁוֹמֵר יְ־הֹוָה אֶת כׇּל אֹהֲבָיו (Tehillim 145:20).
• Attributive usage – They might serve as an adjective modifying a noun (the sleeping baby). In such usage, they follow the noun they modify, and must agree with it in number, gender, and definiteness: הַבְּרִית הַכְּתוּבָה (Devarim 29:20).
• Substantive usage – They might also act as a noun (the sleeping [one] is cute). In such usage, they agree with any verbs in number and gender: הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל. (Tehillim 121:4)

• Function – Infinitive constructs are verbal nouns which refer to the act of doing the verb (the act of eating, sleeping etc. as in the sentence: "Sleeping refreshes the body")
• For example, the bolded words in the following verse are infinitives: "טוֹב לָנוּ עֲבֹד אֶת מִצְרַיִם מִמֻּתֵנוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר" – Serving Egypt is better than our dying in the wilderness.
• Form – Infinitives are not inflected for person, number, or gender and thus take but one form for each root in every binyan.
• In the kal binyan, the form taken by strong verbs and those with gutturals (excluding ל"ה verbs) is somewhat uniform, with the first root consonant taking a vocal sheva (or chataf) and the second a cholam, קְטֹל.As such, the form is similar or identical to the masculine, singular imperative.
• Examples: שְׁמֹר, כְּתֹב, עֲבֹד, אֲכֹל, בְּחֹר, קְרֹא
• When the third root consonant is "ע" or "ח", it takes a furtive patach (פתח גנובה).
• Examples: שְׁלֹחַ, שְׁמֹעַ, בְּרֹחַ
• Suffixes – Words in the infinitive construct are often found with pronomial (pronoun) suffixes which can be either the subject or object of the action indicated by the infinitive ("your hitting", or: "the hitting of you").For example, compare usage of "עׇזְבֵךְ֙" in Yirmeyahu 2:19 (where the pronomial suffix serves as the subject) and Rut 1:16 (where it serves as the object)
  • The suffixes are fixed and identical to those attached to nouns to indicate possession;This is logical as in both cases the suffix functions as a possessive pronoun (my, your, his etc.). see the table here .
  • As is often the case, the addition of suffixes affects the vocalization of the stem, as seen in the paradigm here. Note how the words now open with a kamatz katan and lose the stem cholam (שְׁמֹר becomes שָׁמְרִי).With the addition of the suffixes, the final root letter of each form (excepting the second person plurals) now opens the final syllable of the word, being connected to the suffix and taking its vowel. The second root letter, in turn, closes the first syllable, taking a silent sheva. As such, the initial vocal sheva becomes a kamatz katan, for it is now found in an unaccented closed syllable.
• Prepositions – One of the most frequent usages of the infinitive construct is with the prepositions ב,כ,ל, expressing purpose or result ("to …") or providing a temporal reference ("when/while…")
• These prepositions are normally vocalized with a vocal sheva, but as the pa'al infinitive construct form itself opens with a sheva and Biblical Hebrew does not tolerate two consecutive shevas, the prepositions take a chirik as per the "rule of sheva". Similarly, when the first root letter is a guttural and takes a chataf, the prepositions take the vowel corresponding to the chataf.
• Negation – To negate an infinitive construct, one uses the word "בִּלְתִּי".
• Thus, "חֲזַק לְבִלְתִּי אֲכֹל הַדָּם" means: "Be strong not to eat the blood" and "פֶּן תִּשְׁכַּח אֶת יְ־הֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְבִלְתִּי שְׁמֹר מִצְוֺתָיו" means: "lest you forget Hashem your God, in not keeping His commandments".

• The infinite absolute functions primarily as an adverb, expressing intensity.
• Form – The infinite absolute is not inflected for person, number or gender, and takes one main form per binyan, with very little variation even among weak verbs. In the pa'al binyan the primary form is:קָטוֹל, with the first root consonant taking a kamatz and the second a cholam (which may be written with or without the vowel letter). Examples follow:
  • Strong verbs: כָּתוֹב, שָׁמוֹר, זָכוֹר
  • I-Gutturals: הָלוֹךְ, עָמוֹד, אָכוֹל
  • II-Gutturals: בָּחוֹר, גָּאֹל, צָעֹק
  • III-Gutturals: שָׁלֹחַ ,שָׁמוֹעַ, יָצוֹא
• As opposed to the infinitive construct, the infinitive absolute does not take any prepositional prefixes or pronomial suffixes, nor does it exist as part of a construct chain.
• Word order – Depending on its function, the infinitive absolute might precede or follow a finite verb:
• When the infinitive absolute functions emphatically to strengthen a verbal idea, it will generally precede another verb of the same root. If the other verb is an imperative it will instead follow it.
• Thus we see: שָׁמוֹר תִּשְׁמְרוּן (You shall diligently heed) but: שִׁמְעוּ שָׁמוֹעַ (You shall surely hear)
• When infinitive absolutes serves to complement a finite verb to convey simultaneous, ongoing or antithetical action, the regular verb will generally appear first, followed by an infinite absolute of the same root and a complementary infinitive absolute.
• Examples: a) וַיֵּלֶךְ הָלוֹךְ וְאָכֹל (He went on, eating as he went) b) וַיָּשֻׁבוּ הַמַּיִם... הָלוֹךְ וָשׁוֹב (The waters continually receded) c) יֵּצֵא יָצוֹא וָשׁוֹב (It went back and forth)

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