Verbs Part 6

Verbs Part 6

Hif'il & Hof'al

Interactive Learning Module

Conjugation Patterns

1. Introduction

  • This is the sixth module focusing on Biblical Hebrew verbs.
  • The previous modules explored the conjugation patterns for verbs in the pa'al, nif'al, pi'el and pu'al binyanim.
  • This module will turn to the hif'al binyan and its passive counterpart, the hof'al.
  • Function – As we saw in the first module on verbs, the hif'il is generally the causative form of a corresponding pa'al verb. Thus, for example, the pa'al "לַעֲבֹר" means "to pass", while the hif'il "לְהַעֲבִיר" means "to bring (something) across". [Compare the two in Bereshit 32:23-24.]
  • Form – Both the hif'il and hof'al are marked by the prefix "ה", which appears in the perfect, imperative, and infinitive conjugations, but not in the imperfect or participle forms. The hof'al can further be identified by the presence of either a kamatz katan or shuruk/kubbutz under the first root letter.
  • 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. Hif'il – Perfect (Strong Verbs)

  • The paradigm – Click here for the perfect conjugation pattern of strong verbs (including those with gutturals) in the hif'il. [Bolded letters mark penultimate stress.]Penultimate stress is when the accent falls on the second to last syllable.
  • Characteristics – The hif'il perfect conjugation is marked by the "ה" prefix and a chirik prefix vowel. Third person forms take a long chirik as the stem vowel (הִשְׁמִיד), while first and second person forms take a patach (הִשְׁמַדְתִּי).
  • Stress – All forms have penultimate stress except for second person, feminine and third person, masculine singular forms and second person plural forms.
  • I-Gutturals – I-Gutturals (including those with an aleph) uniquely take a segol prefix vowel and chataf segol under the guttural (הֶאֱמַנְתִּי). [At times, though, the guttural might simply take a silent sheva, especially when the guttural is a "ח" as in: הֶחְבִּיאָה.] The rest of the vowel pattern remains unchanged.
  • II-Gutturals – Roots with the gutturals in the second root position follow the regular pattern with no abnormalities.
  • III-Gutturals – III-Gutturals (not including ל"ה and ל"א verbs) also follow the regular pattern, except that the final "ח" or "ע" take a furtive patach in third person forms (הִשְׁמִיעַ), and, as expected, second person, feminine, singular forms take a double patach (הִשְׁלַחַתְּ).
  • ו"ו ההיפוך – When combined with the ו"ו ההיפוך, strong verbs tend to undergo a shift in stress to the final syllable in the perfect (הִפְקַ֙דְתִּי֙ becomes וְהִפְקַדְתִּ֨י). This affects vocalization in roots with gutturals in the first position, where the prefix segol and chataf-segol change to a prefix patach and chataf-patach (הֶעֱבַ֤רְתִּי becomes וְהַֽעֲבַרְתִּי֙).

3. Hif'il – Perfect (Weak Verbs)

  • The Paradigm – Click here for the perfect conjugation pattern of weak verbs in the hif'il.Many of the changes in inflection exhibited by these weak verbs are similar to those seen in other binyanim. [Penultimate stress is marked in bold.]
  • פ"נ verbs – The initial nun of the root assimilates into the second root consonant and is marked by a dagesh (הִגַּדְתִּי). Otherwise, these roots follow the regular hif'il inflection pattern .
  • פ"י verbs – The yud is replaced by vav (in the form of a cholam),See previous modules that many פ"י verbs were originally פ"ו verbs., so that the verbs open with "הוֹ" (as in: הוֹשַׁבְתִּי). The rest of the vocalization is as expected.
    • Pseudo פ"י verb – The root "הלך" exceptionally acts as a פ"י verb in the hif'il (הוֹלִיךְ)‎.The same phenomenon is found in the imperfect kal.
  • ל"א verbs – In first and second person forms the aleph becomes silent, causing the previous vowel to lengthen to a tzere (הִמְצֵאתִי).This should be familiar from the nif'al, pi'el and pu'al conjugation patterns. Third person forms follow the regular hif'il paradigm (הִמְצִיאוּ).
  • ל"ה verbs – As in other binyanim, here, too, third person singular forms take a kamatz-heh ending (הִפְנָה), and in first and second person forms, the heh drops and is replaced by yud. In these latter cases the stem vowel takes either a tzere or a chirik (הִגְלִיתָ or הִגְלֵיתִי). Occasionally, certain roots take a segol rather than a chirik prefix vowel. [Compare הֶגְלָה and וְהִגְלָה.]
    • When ל"ה verbs have either a guttural, a nun or a yud in the first root position they combine characteristics of each inflection pattern. See the table here for examples.
  • Hollow verbs – In the hif'il, the pattern for ע"ו and ע"י verbs is identical. All forms open with the characteristic heh prefix, but generally take a tzere (which reduces to a chataf patach in many forms)See the unit on vowels that when a tzere finds itself two stops before the stress, it reduces to a sheva or chataf. As such, in inflections where this is the case, there is reduction of the vowel. rather than a chirik as the prefix vowel (הֵקִימוּ). For the rest of the vocalization, there are two paradigms. The more prevalent pattern has a connective cholam before the suffix (הֲקִימֹתִי), while the less prevalent pattern does not (הֵקַמְתִּי).In modern Hebrew, one generally uses the pattern without the connecting cholam.
    • When hollow verbs have either an aleph or other guttural in the third root position, they combine characteristics of each inflection pattern. See the table here for examples.
  • ע"ע verbs – The inflection pattern for geminate verbs is similar to that of hollow verbs. These roots also have a connecting cholam vowel before suffixes and take a tzere (or a reduced chataf patach) rather than a chirik as their prefix vowel (הֵפֵר). [Verbs which have a guttural in the first root position, take a patach prefix vowel where other verbs would take a chataf patach (הַחִלּוֹתָ).] In contrast to other hif'il third person forms, these take a tzere stem vowel (הֵסֵב). [However, when there is a guttural in the second and third positions, or when the verb is stative, third person forms take a patach (הֵרַע and הֵדַק ).] As expected, the missing doubled root letter is marked by a dagesh.
  • ו"ו ההיפוך – When combined with the ו"ו ההיפוך, most weak verbs in the hif'il undergo a shift in stress to the final syllable in the perfect.
    • In contrast to the kal binyan this is true even of ל"א verbs (וְהוֹצֵאתִ֣י).
    • ל"ה verbs are inconsistent; sometimes they maintain the original penultimate stress (וְהַעֲלִ֤יתָ) and sometimes there is a shift (וְהַעֲלֵיתָ֖).In general where the word takes a chirik-yud there is no shift and when it takes a tzere-yud there is.

4. Review Exercise

5. Hif'il – The Imperfect (Strong Verbs)

  • The Paradigm – Click here for the imperfect conjugation pattern of strong verbs (including those with gutturals) in the hif'il. [Penultimate stress is marked in bold.]
  • Characteristics – In the imperfect conjugation, the characteristic heh of the hif'il does not appear. The prefix takes a patach, the first root letter takes a sheva, and the stem vowel is a long chirik (יַשְׁלִים). [Second and third person, feminine, plural forms instead take a tzere in this second root position (תַּשְׁלֵמְנָה).]
  • Stress – All forms with suffixes (second person, feminine, singular and second and third person plural forms) have penultimate stress.
  • I-Gutturals – I-Gutturals follow the regular pattern except that the guttural takes a chataf patach instead of the sheva of other roots (יַאֲזִין).
  • II-Gutturals – These exhibit no abnormalities.
  • III-Gutturals – III-Gutturals (excepting ל"ה and ל"א verbs) generally follow the regular pattern except that they take a furtive patach in forms which end in chet or ayin (יַשְׁמִיעַ). In addition, second and third person, feminine, plural forms take a patach stem vowel (תַּשְׁלַחְנָה)‎.As we have often seen, gutturals tend to have a preference for patachs due to ease of pronunciation.
  • ו"ו ההיפוך – As hif'il imperfects take a shortened form (עתיד מקוצר) when combined with a ו"ו ההיפוך, these will be discussed in their own slide.

6. Hif'il – The Imperfect (Weak Verbs)

  • The paradigm – Click here for the imperfect conjugation pattern of weak verbs in the hif'il. [Penultimate stress is marked in bold.]
  • פ"נ verbs – The nun of the root assimilates into the second root consonant and is marked by a dagesh. Otherwise, these roots follow the regular hif'il inflection pattern (יַצִּיל).
  • פ"י verbs – As in the perfect, the yud of these roots is replaced by a vav (in the form of a cholam) throughout the inflection. The vocalization of the rest of the inflection is identical to that of strong verbs (יוֹלִיד).See above that also the root הלך follows the pattern of פ"י verbs in the hif'il (אוֹלִיךְ).
  • ל"א verbs – As expected, the aleph becomes silent in many of the forms. This affects vocalization in the second and third person, feminine, plural forms which take a segol stem vowel rather than the tzere taken by other root classes (תַּחֲטֶאנָה).
  • ל"ה verbs – These roots take the same endings that they do in other binyanim. In all forms without an inflectional suffix, they take a segol-heh ending (אַרְבֶּה etc.). In forms with a suffix, the heh drops before the ending (תַּרְבּוּ) and in the second and third person feminine plural forms the heh is replaced by a yud (תַּרְבֶּינָה).See above that the original third root letter of ל"ה verbs was a yud so this is not unusual. The rest of the vocalization follows the normal hif'il pattern, except that in the second and third person, feminine, plural forms the stem vowel is a segol.
  • Hollow verbs – There is no distinction between ע"ו and ע"י roots in the hif'il. All these roots all take a kamatz (rather than a patach) prefix vowel, but otherwise are vocalized like strong verbs (יָכִין).
  • ע"ע verbs – These roots take a kamatz prefix vowelIn second and third person, feminine, plural forms this reduces to a sheva due to prepretonic reduction, as the vowel is two stops before the stress. and a tzere stem vowel (יָחֵל). Second and third person, feminine, plural forms instead take a chirik stem vowel (תְּחִלֶּינָה).As the syllable is closed and unstressed, it cannot take a long vowel. As usual, the missing doubled root letter is marked by a dagesh in forms with a suffix.As the final letter of a word cannot take a dagesh it is not marked in other forms.
    • There is also attestation of several alternative forms of geminates in the hif'il in which the first root letter takes a dagesh (יַסֵּב), as seen on the table.
  • Combined Forms – Often two different classes of roots might co-exist (a root can be both פ"נ+ל"ה or פ"י+ל"א etc.) In such cases the roots combine characteristics of each inflection pattern. See examples in the table here.
  • ו"ו ההיפוך – As hif'il imperfects take a shortened form (עתיד מקוצר) when combined with a ו"ו ההיפוך, these will be discussed in their own slide.

7. Review Exercise

8. Hif'il – Jussive and ו"ו ההיפוך Forms

  • This slide will explore the forms of both the jussiveThis form expresses desire, emphasis, or self-encouragement in the third person, often translated as: "May he..." or "Let him..." and consecutive imperfect (ו"ו ההיפוך).
  • Jussives – For a paradigm of the pattern, click here. In most binyanim the jussive of most roots is identical in form to the imperfect. In the hif'il, however, singular jussive forms vary slightly from the imperfect:
    • Most verbs – Most verbs take a shortened form of the imperfect, with a tzere stem vowel replacing of the chirik-yud of the imperfect (יַשְׁמִיד becomes יַשְׁמֵד).
    • III-Gutturals – As is often the case with gutturals in the third root position, these take a patach stem vowel instead of the chirik-yud of the imperfect (יַשְׁלִיחַ becomes יַשְׁלַח).
    • ל"ה verbs – ל"ה jussives, as in other binyanim, take an abbreviated version of the imperfect, with the segol-heh ending dropping. This shortening often produces a consonant cluster, leading to the insertion of a secondary vowel between the two root letters and a change in the prefix vowel. Thus, for example: a) יַפְנֶה becomes יֶפֶן b) יַעֲלֶה becomes יַעַל c) תַּרְבֶּה becomes תֶּרֶב d) יַרְאֶה becomes יַרְא. [In all these forms, the stress is on the first syllable.]
  • ו"ו ההיפוך – For a paradigm of the pattern, click here. In the first person singular and all suffixed formsThese include the second person, feminine, singular form and all second and third person plural forms. the form of the verb with a vav-conversive is identical to the imperfectIt is, of course, prefixed with the vav of the ו"ו ההיפוך and marked with a dagesh where possible. (וַיַּקְרִיבוּ and וָאַשְׁמִיד). However, when non-suffixed forms (excepting first person singular forms)These include the first person plural, second person masculine singular and both third person singular forms. take a vav-conversive, they follow the form of the shortened jussive.
    • שלמים – The vav-conversive form of strong verbs is identical to the jussive (וַיַּקְרֵב). [Though often there is retraction of stress when the vav is added, since in these forms the first syllable is closed, there is no shift, and hence no change in vocalization.]
    • פ"נ roots – The jussives of these roots also have a closed first syllable (due to the dagesh - יַגֵּד) and thus there is no shift of stress or change in vowels when joined with the vav-conversive (וַיַּגֵּד).
    • פ"י, ע"ו and ע"ע roots – The jussives of these root classes all have an open first syllable (יוֹשֵׁב, יָקֵם, יָסֵב), so there is a shift of stress to the penultimate syllable when a וי"ו ההיפוך is joined. The final syllable, now being closed and unstressed, must take a short vowel and so there is reduction of each of the long vowels to a short one: a) יוֹשֵׁב becomes וַיּוֹשֶׁב b) יָקֵם becomes וַיָּקֶם and c) יָפֵר becomes וַיָּפֶר.
    • ל"ה roots – Verbs from the ל"ה class are identical in form to their jussives which already had penultimate stress (וַיֶּפֶן).

9. Review Exercise

  • Conjugate the following roots in the hif'il consecutive imperfect (with a ו"ו ההיפוך) and check yourself by finding the root in the linked verse:
  • Similar forms – The roots שוב, שבה and ישב can look alike when inflected. What root and what binyan is each of the following:
    • וַיָּשׇׁב, וַיָּשֶׁב, וַיֵּשֶׁב, וַיּוֹשֶׁב, and וַיִּשְׁבְּ‎?וַיּוֹשֶׁב is a hitpa'el form of the root "ישב" (he made someone settle). וַיֵּשֶׁב is the pa'al of "ישב" (he settled). וַיָּשֶׁב is the hitpa'el of "שוב" (He made something return) and וַיָּשׇׁב is the pa'al of "שוב" (he returned). Finally, וַיִּשְׁבְּ is the pa'al of "שבה" (he took captive). This root is not attested to in the hitpa'el.
  • Ambiguous forms – Some words appear identical in both the kal and hif'il. Compare וַיַּרְא in Bereshit 1:10 and Melakhim II 11:4.
    • What does each mean? [See Dayyakot LeRashbam and Ibn Ezra's Lexical Commentary on Bereshit 1:4 who note the identical forms, each pointing out that the kal form, though very prevalent, is actually unexpected. How so?]

10. Hif'il – Partial Conjugations

  • This slide will explore the forms of imperatives, infinitives, and participles.
  • Imperatives – Masculine singular forms of hif'il imperatives (of both strong and weak verbs) are identical to the jussive but with a "ה" replacing the prefix (יַשְׁלֵם becomes הַשְׁלֵם). Other forms are identical to the second person imperfect forms, with a "ה" replacing the prefix (תַּשְׁלִימוּ becomes הַשְׁלִימוּ). Roots from the ל"ה class take both a long and short form for the masculine singular (הַרְבֵּה or הֶרֶב). See here for a paradigm.
  • Infinitive construct – The infinitive construct is generally identical to the third person, masculine, singular imperfect, but with a "ה" replacing the prefix. The main exception is the ל"ה class of roots which take an "ות" ending (הַרְבּוֹת)‎.This should be familiar from other binyanim. See here for a paradigm.
  • Infinitive absolute – The infinitive absolute is identical in form to the singular masculine imperative (following the pattern of "הַשְׁלֵם").Verbs from the ל"ה class take the long form of the imperative (הַרְבֵּה). See here for a paradigm.
  • Participles – The stem of the participle generally matches the third person imperfect form, but is prefixed with a mem. Verbs from the ע"ו and ע"ע classes uniquely take a tzere prefix vowel (as they do in the perfect).As such, there is propretonic reduction to a sheva in the feminine and plural forms of these roots. See here for a paradigm.

11. Review Exercise

  • Review – Conjugate the following roots in the hif'il and check yourself by finding the root in the linked verse:
  • Advanced exercise – Open Shemot 15:22. How does the verse describe the travels of the nation? How does Torah (see here ) normally describes their travels? What binyan is each form?
    • See Rashbam who explains the difference between the forms (and notes other similar forms that might be easily confused).
    • What might account for the anomalous formulation? Why, specifically here, did Moshe have to play an active role in getting the nation to travel? See Rashi and compare his suggestion with other opinions brought in Torah Sheleimah.

12. Hof'al – The Perfect

  • This and the next slide will turn to the hof'al conjugation pattern, the passive counterpart of the hif'il.
  • The paradigm – Click here for the perfect conjugation pattern of strong verbs (including those with gutturals) in the hof'al. Click here for the perfect conjugation pattern of weak verbs. [Bolded letters mark penultimate stress.] As can be seen, the patterns are quite similar to those of the hfi'il.
  • Characteristics – The hof'al perfect conjugation is marked by the "ה" prefix and either a kubbutz/shuruk or kamatz katan prefix vowel. The first root letter takes a sheva (or chataf) and the stem vowel is a patach.
  • Prefix Vowel – It is not always possible to predict which prefix vowel a root will take, though certain verbal forms only take one or another:
    • Strong verbs can take either a kamatz katan or a kubbutz.As many verbs are never found in the hof'al in Tanakh, it is hard to know which form they would take.
    • I-gutturals always take a kamatz katan (הָָעֳמַד).
    • פ"נ verbs always take a kubbutz (הֻגַּד)
    • פ"י, ע"ו and ע"ע classes prefer a shuruk (הוּשַׁב, הוּקַם).
    • ל"ה verbs prefer a kamatz katan (הָָגְלָה), but if they are also פ"נ, they will take a kubbutz (הֻכָּה).
    • ל"א verbs are unpredictable.
  • Stress – All forms are stressed on the final syllable except for first person forms and the second person, masculine singular.
  • Gutturals – Gutturals (see here) follow the same pattern as strong verbs, except that I-Gutturals take a chataf-kamatz under the first root letter instead of the sheva, and, as expected, II-Gutturals take chatafs in place of vocal shevas, while III-Gutturals have a double patach in the second person feminine forms.
  • Weak verbs – Weak verbs (see here) exhibit variations which should be somewhat familiar by now:
    • פ"נ verbs – The initial nun of the root assimilates into the second root consonant and is marked by a dagesh. Otherwise, these roots follow the regular inflection pattern (הֻגֵּד).
    • פ"י verbs – The yud is replaced by vav in the form of a shuruk; the rest of the vocalization is as expected (הוּשַׁב).
    • ל"א verbs – As expected, in first and second person forms the aleph becomes silent, causing the previous vowel to lengthen to a tzere (הֻמְצֵאתִי), while in third person masculine forms, it lengthens to a kamatz (הֻמְצָא).
    • ל"ה verbs – As in other binyanim, 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 these latter cases the stem vowel can take either a tzere or a chirik.
    • Hollow verbs – In the hof'al the pattern for ע"ו and ע"י verbs is identical and both forms follow expected vocalization (הוּבָא).
    • Geminates – These forms are somewhat rare in Tanakh. Two possible patterns are presented, one with a connecting vowel before suffixes and one without.

13. Hof'al – The Imperfect

  • The Paradigm – Click here for the imperfect conjugation pattern of strong verbs (including those with gutturals) in the hif'il. Click here for the imperfect conjugation pattern of weak verbs. [Penultimate stress is marked in bold.]
  • Characteristics – In the imperfect conjugation, the characteristic heh of the hof'al does not appear. The prefix takes either a kubbutz/shuruk or kamatz katan (as per the guidelines in the previous slide), the first root letter takes a sheva (or a chataf kamatz) and the stem vowel is a patach (יָָשְׁמַד).
  • Stress – Second and third person feminine forms take penultimate stress; all others are stressed on the final syllable.
  • Gutturals – Gutturals (see here) follow the same pattern as strong verbs, except that I-Gutturals take a chataf-kamatz under the first root letter instead of the sheva (יָָעֳמַד), and II-Gutturals take chatafs in place of vocal shevas (תֻּפְחֲדִי).
  • Weak verbs – Weak verbs (see here) exhibit expected variations:
    • פ"נ verbs – The nun of the root assimilates into the second root consonant and is marked by a dagesh. Otherwise, these roots follow the regular hif'il inflection pattern (יֻגַּד).
    • פ"י verbs – As in the perfect, the yud of these roots is replaced by a vav (in the form of a shuruk) throughout the inflection. The vocalization of the rest of the inflection is identical to that of strong verbs (יוּשַׁב).
    • ל"א verbs – As expected, the aleph becomes silent in many of the forms, resulting in the lengthening of the stem vowel to a kamatz in non-suffixed forms (יֻמְצָא) and to a segol in second and third person, feminine, plural forms (תֻּמְצֶאנָה).
    • ל"ה verbs – These roots take the same endings that they do in the hif'il (אָָגְלֶה, תָָּגְלִי, תָָּגְלֶינָה ).
    • Hollow verbs – These roots are vocalized according to the regular hof'al pattern (אוּקַם).
    • ע"ע verbs – These forms are somewhat rare in Tanakh.

14. Hof'al – Partial Conjugations & Review

  • Very few verbs are attested to in Tanakh in the hof'al in the imperative and infinitives, and thus these forms will not be discussed here.
  • Participles – The stem of the participle generally matches the third person imperfect form, but is prefixed with a mem and takes a kamatz rather than patach stem vowel. See here for a paradigm.
  • Review – Conjugate the following roots in the hof'al and check yourself by finding the root in the linked verse:

15. For Further Study