Verbs Part 4

Verbs Part 4

Nif'al

Interactive Learning Module

Conjugation Patterns

1. Introduction

  • This is the fourth module focusing on Biblical Hebrew verbs.
  • The previous two modules explored the conjugation patterns for strong and weak verbsStrong verbs (שלמים) are those which maintain all three root letters across inflections, while weak verbs are those which contain at least one root letter which is either silent or absent in various inflections. in the pa'al binyan.
  • This module will turn to the nif'al binyan, generally viewed as the counterpart to the pa'al.
    • Function – Like the pa'al, the nif'al expresses a simple (rather than intensive or causative) action, but in the passive, reflexive,This refers to an action that is done by the subject to itself, as in: "He dressed himself". or reciprocalThis refers to actions performed mutually by each person to the other, as in: "they fought each other". voice.For further discussion of the meaning and function of words in the nif'al and how the nif'al compares to the pa'al and other binyanim, see here.
    • Form – The nif'al conjugation is marked by the "נ" prefix, which appears in the perfect conjugation, the participle, and one form of the infinitive absolute, but which is assimilated into the first root letter (and marked by a dagesh) in the imperfect and related conjugations.
  • The module will introduce the various conjugations of both strong and weak verbs, providing a paradigm for each pattern with notes explaining the pattern and any unusual vocalization.

2. The Perfect (Strong Verbs)

  • The Paradigm – Click here for the perfect conjugation pattern of strong verbs (including those with gutturals) in the nif'al. [Bolded letters mark penultimate stress.]Penultimate stress is when the accent falls on the second to last syllable.
  • Characteristics – The nif'al perfect conjugation is marked by the nun prefix, a chirik prefix vowel, and a patach stem vowel.The stem vowel is the one under the second root letter (excepting second person, feminine, singular and third person, plural forms).
  • I-Gutturals – I-Gutturals (including those with an aleph) generally follow the pattern of "נֶהֱרַס", with a segol under the nun and a chataf segol under the guttural. [Third person feminine and plural forms instead take a segol under the guttural.]
  • II-Gutturals and III-Gutturals – These behave as expected, with II-Gutturals taking chataf patachs instead of vocal shevas, and III-Gutturals having a double patach in the second person, feminine, singular.This is similar to the pa'al.

3. The Perfect (Weak Verbs)

  • The Paradigm – Click here for the perfect conjugation pattern of weak verbs (including פ"נ, פ"י, ל"א, ל"ה and ע"ו classes of roots) in the nif'al. [Penultimate stress is marked in bold.]
  • פ"נ verbs – These are conjugated just like their strong counterparts, except that there is assimilation of the nun of the root which is marked by a dagesh in the second root consonant.
  • פ"י verbs – In the nif'al, the yud of the root is replaced by a vav,See the previous module that many פ"י verbs were originally פ"ו verbs. This relationship between vav and yud can be seen in nouns as well. See, for example, Bereshit 11:30 where the word "וָלָד" is used in place of "יֶלֶד". so that the verbs open with "נוֹ". The rest of the vocalization is as expected.
  • ל"א verbs – As we saw in the kal binyan, here too, the aleph quiesces (becomes silent) in many forms, causing a lengthening of the previous vowel. In first and second person forms, the vowel lengthens to a tzere, while in the third person, masculine, singular it lengthens to a kamatz.
  • ל"ה verbs – As in the kal binyan, here, too, third person singular forms take a kamatz-heh ending and in first and second person forms, the heh drops and is replaced by yud. In the nif'al, however, in these cases the stem vowel takes a tzere rather than the chirik found in pa'al forms.
  • ע"ו verbs – In contrast to the kal perfect, in the nif'al, the vav of these roots is present throughout the conjugations, appearing sometimes as a cholam and sometimes as a shuruk. There is a also a connecting cholam vowel before suffixes (appearing in all inflections except for third person forms). The prefix vowel is a kamatz which undergoes propretonic reduction to a sheva in many forms.See the unit on vowels that when a kamatz finds itself two syllables before the stress it tends to reduce to a sheva.In contrast to other perfect paradigms, here the third person feminine singular and third person plural forms have penultimate stress; as such, the prefix vowel of those forms maintains its kamatz and does not reduce to a sheva.This is helpful in distinguishing perfect and participle forms, as the latter are accented on the final syllable.
  • ע"ע verbs – These verbs are not well attested to in the nif'al so some of the forms are speculative. The inflection pattern shares several features with that of ע"ו verbs. These forms, too, take a kamatz prefix vowel which reduces to a sheva in many inflections, have a connecting cholam vowel before suffixes, and the third person, feminine and plural forms have penultimate stress. The doubled root letter is missing from all forms, and marked by a dagesh.

4. Review Exercise

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5. The Imperfect (Strong Verbs)

  • The Paradigm – Click here for the imperfect conjugation pattern of strong verbs (including those with gutturals) in the nif'al. [Penultimate stress is marked in bold.]
  • Characteristics – In the imperfect conjugation, the nun of the nif'al assimilates into the first root letter and is marked by a dagesh. The prefix takes a chirik (excepting first person singular forms), the first root letter takes a kamatz, and the stem vowel is a tzere (יִכָּתֵב). [Second and third person, feminine, plural forms instead take a patach in this second root position (תִּכָּתַבְנָה).]
  • I-Gutturals – When the first root letter is a guttural (which cannot take a dagesh) there is compensatory lengthening of the prefix vowel to a tzere (יֵהָרֵס).
  • II-Gutturals – These exhibit no abnormalities, excepting the replacing of vocal sheva's with chatafs.
  • III-Gutturals – Due to the guttural in the final position, in these forms the tzere under the second root letter is replaced by a patach.As we have often seen, gutturals tend to have a preference for patachs due to ease of pronunciation.

6. The Imperfect (Weak Verbs)

  • The paradigm – Click here for the imperfect conjugation pattern of weak verbs in the nif'al. [Penultimate stress is marked in bold.]
  • פ"נ verbs – In the nif'al imperfect the nun of the root does not assimilate,A nun has a tendency to assimilate when it immediately precedes a consonant but not if it is followed by a vowel. Thus, in the nif'al perfect, where the nun of the root would have taken a silent sheva, it assimilates, but in the nif'al imperfect, where it takes a kamatz, it does not assimilate. so the paradigm is identical to that of strong verbs.Note that the dagesh in the nun of these forms is due to the assimilation of the nun marking the nif'al, not to the assimilation of the nun of the root.
  • פ"י verbs – As in the nif'al perfect, the yud of these roots is replaced by a vav throughout the inflection. Here, however, it is vocalized, acting as a consonant rather than a vowel letter. The vocalization of the rest of the inflections is identical to that of strong verbs, except that the aleph prefix of the first person singular takes a chirik rather than a tzere.
  • ל"א verbs – As expected, the aleph becomes silent in many of the forms. However, here, this only affects vocalization in the second and third person, feminine, plural forms in which the stem vowel takes a segol (rather than the patach taken by other root classes).Often the quiescence of the aleph causes the stem vowel to lengthen, but in the nif'al imperfect, the stem vowel is already a long tzere regardless, so there are minimal modifications and the paradigm is almost identical to that of strong verbs.
  • ל"ה verbs – These roots take the same endings that they do in the kal. In all forms without an inflectional suffix, they take a segol-heh ending (אֶבָּנֶה, תִּבָּנֶה etc.). In forms with a suffix, the heh drops before the ending (תִּבָּנִי), and in the second and third person feminine plural forms the heh is replaced by a yud (תִּבָּנֶינָה).See above that the original third root letter of ל"ה verbs was a yud so this is somewhat expected. The rest of the vocalization follows the normal nif'al pattern, except that in the second and third person, feminine, plural forms the stem vowel is a segol.This is similar to the pattern seen with ל"א verbs; in both cases the root letter that precedes the vowel letter, be it aleph or heh, takes a segol rather than a patach. As in the kal, the jussive and ו"ו ההיפוך take a shortened form of the imperfect, without the final vowel.
  • ע"ו verbs – The vav of the root appears as a cholam in all the inflections, differentiating the vocalization of the verbs of this paradigm from other nif'al imperfect forms. Stress also differs, with all the suffixed inflections having penultimate stress. [Note: As this class of roots is not as well attested to in the nif'al as are other classes of roots, some of the forms do not appear at all in Tanakh and are speculative.]
  • ע"ע verbs – These verbs are also not well attested to in the nif'al so that some of the forms might be contested. As expected, the missing doubled root letter is marked by a dagesh. Stress patterns are similar to those of ע"ו roots, with all suffixed forms taking penultimate stress.

7. Review Exercise

8. Partial Conjugations (Strong Verbs)

  • This slide will explore the forms of both imperatives and infinitives (both of which are similar to the imperfect forms just discussed) and participles. These are all partial conjugations, with imperatives only existing in second person, participles taking four forms (masculine and feminine singular and plural) and infinitives taking but one form regardless of person, number or gender.
  • Imperatives – Nif'al imperatives are identical to second person imperfect forms except that a heh replaces the prefix letter (תִּכָּתֵב > הִכָּתֵב). Click here for a paradigm.
  • Infinitive construct – The infinitive construct is identical in form to the masculine, singular imperative. See here.
  • Infinitive absolute – There are two forms for the infinitive absolute, as seen here.
    • One builds off the perfect third person, masculine, singular form but replaces the stem patach with a cholam (נִכְתַּב > נִכְתּוֹב).
    • The other is built off the imperative, but replaces the stem tzere with a cholam (הִכָּתֵב > הִכָּתוֹב).
  • Participles – The stem of nif'al participles is similar to that of the perfect form, differing only in the length of the stem vowel. While perfect forms take a patach, participles take a kamatz (נִכְתַּב > נִכְתָּב). Note also that there are two possible forms for the feminine singular (נִכְתָּבָה / נִכְתֶּבֶת). See a paradigm of the conjugation here.

9. Partial Conjugations (Weak Verbs)

  • This slide will discuss imperatives, infinitives, and participles of weak verbs.
  • Imperatives – As with strong verbs, these are identical to second person imperfect forms except that a heh replaces the prefix letter. The one exception is the second person, masculine singular form of ל"ה verbs which take a tzereh-heh ending (הִבָּנֵה) rather than the segol-heh of the imperative. See the paradigm here.
  • Infinitive construct – The infinitive construct is identical to the masculine, singular imperative. Here, too, ל"ה verbs are exceptional, taking an "ות" suffix, as in the kal (הִבָּנוֹת). See here.
  • Infinitive absolute – Not all classes of weak roots are attested to in the infinitive absolute, but, as with strong verbs, some weak verbs might also take two possible forms. One form builds off the perfect third person, masculine, singular but replaces the stem vowel with a cholam (נִגּוֹף). The other is built off the imperative (הִבָּנֵה). See here.
  • Participles – As with strong verbs, the stems of weak nif'al participles are similar or identical to the stem of the third person, masculine singular perfect form. See a paradigm here and note slight variations in vocalization as below:
    • פ"נ and פ"י roots take a kamatz stem vowel rather than the patach of the perfect.
    • The masculine, singular of ל"ה verbs takes a segol-heh ending rather than the kamatz-heh of the perfect.The same is true of the pa'al participle.

9. Review Exercise

  • Conjugate the following roots in the nif'al and check yourself by finding the root in the linked verse:
  • Ambiguous forms - Sometimes a nif'al form will be identical to a first person plural form in the pa'al. Often, context is enough to disambiguate,Compare, for example, the form "נִשְׁמַע" in Yehoshua 1:17, where it clearly means: "we will listen" (in the pa'al) and the same form in Melakhim I 6:7 where it is obviously in the nif'al, meaning: "it was heard".but in each of the cases below, commentators debate the word's meaning:
    • See Bereshit 41:38. What two possible translations can the word "הֲנִמְצָא" sustain? [Which binyan is each?] See Ibn Ezra who discusses the two possibilities.He suggests that the word can mean either: "will we find" (pa'al) or: "can there be found" (nif'al).
    • See Bereshit 41:38. What two possible translations can the word "וְנִתְּנָה" sustain? See Radak who discusses the issue.He notes that that the word can either be a nif'al form meaning: "will be given to you" or a cohortative in the pa'al meaning: "and we will give".

11. For Further Study