Biblical Hebrew

by Chris Heard

Getting to Know פעל Verbs

Table of ContentsBefore You BeginAbbreviationsUsing פעל verbsRecognizing פעל verbsForming פעל verbsCredits

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Before You Begin …

… ensure that you recognize the various inflections of the קל verbs.

… ensure that you understand how interact with guttural דגש and שואconsonants and with ר.

Also, remember that certain patterns can create predictable

variations. This slideshow focuses on core patterns. It does not

illustrate every possible variation.

Furthermore, this slideshow is intended to supplement,

not replace, classroom instruction and practice.

Abbreviations

1, 2, 3 indicate grammatical personm, f, c indicate grammatical genders, p indicate grammatical numberR1, R2, R3 indicate root letters

Using פעל Verbs

The פעל is the third most frequently used בנין in the תנ״ך

(after the קל and הפעיל), appearing over 6,450 times.

Like the קל, the פעל operates in the active voice.

In cases where Biblical Hebrew uses the same שרש in both the tends קל the ,פעל and the קלto be declarative and the פעל

to be factitive.

Example: כבדExample: כבדExample: כבד

כבד (קל) he was honored

כבד (פעל) he considered [someone] honored

Example: למדExample: למדExample: למד

למד (קל) he learned

למד (פעל) he taught

In other cases, a שרש may be represented in both קל and with no obvious semantic ,פעלrelationship between the two

forms.

Some שרשים may appear only in the פעל, not in the קל at all.

Example: צוה “to command”

So you might use the פעל as a factitive verb (if the שרש also

appears in קל) or as a declarative verb (if the שרש

doesn’t appear in the קל).

For most verbs, it’s probably better just to learn “this שרש means so-and-so in the פעל”

than to try to derive the פעל’s sense from the same שרש in

the קל.

Recognizing פעל Verbs

In many cases, a דגש in R2 is your key to recognizing a פעל.

Each conjugation does have special considerations, though.

Recognizing the פעל Perfect

If a verb follows the suffix pattern, has an i-class vowel

under R1, and has a דגש in R2, it’s probably a פעל perfect.

שלח

שלמ

דבר

 קטל

 

 

 

  

תם

תי

R1’s i-vowel and the דגש in R2 indicate a פעל.

The suffix indicates a perfect.

 

 

 

 

ה

בער

מחר

ברך

 נחם

 

 

תן 

תי

A guttural in R2 may or may not change R1’s vowel.

The suffix indicates a perfect.

Alert! When R2 is a guttural, use R1’s vowel to distinguish the פעל perfect

from the קל perfect.

כחש

כחש

 

 

3ms קל perfect “to grow lean”

3ms פעל perfect “to deny”

Recognizing the פעל Imperfect

If a verb has an imperfect prefix, check for a שוא in the prefix, an a-vowel under R1, and a דגש in R2. If

you see those, you have a פעל imperfect.

ת

חלקי

דבר

כבסת

ובשלת

 י

The prefix’s שוא, the a-vowel, and the דגש in R2 indicate a פעל.

The affixes indicate an imperfect.

    

    

    

    

Recognizing the פעל Imperative

The פעל imperative looks just like the פעל imperfect, but

without the prefix.

If R3 is ה, R2’s vowel may lengthen in the imperative.

If it looks like a פעל perfect, but R1 has an a-vowel, it’s

probably a פעל imperative.

Recognizing the פעל Infinitives

The פעל infinitive* and adverbial infinitive** look exactly like the

2ms פעל imperative.

* Or “infinitive construct.” ** Or “infinitive absolute.”

Exception: If R3 is ה, the 2ms imperative and the adverbial infinitive end in –, but the

infinitive ends in ות–. ה

Recognizing the פעל Participle

The ms פעל participle looks just like the 3ms פעל imperfect, but with a מ as the prefixed letter.

Summary

You see an unfamiliar verb. Might it be a פעל?

Remember that a פעל will have a דגש in R2* and will start with one of these:•no prefix• an imperfect prefix with a שוא• a prefixed מ

* Unless R2 is a guttural.

If your probable פעל has no prefix, check R1.

• If R1 has an i-vowel, it’s a פעל perfect.• If R1 has an a-vowel, it’s a פעל

infinitive, imperative, or adverbial infinitive (listed by frequency).

If your probable פעל has an imperfect prefix, it’s obviously an imperfect.

If your probable פעל has a .prefix, it’s a participle מ

And that’s all it takes to recognize most !verbs פעל

Forming פעל Verbs

If you compose sentences in Biblical Hebrew, eventually

you’ll need to use the פעל. This is pretty easy to do, if you watch

out for gutturals and ר.

Forming the פעל Perfect

Start by applying the appropriate sufformative to

the root, to show person, gender, and number.

Now consider the three root letters in your word. If all three are strong (not gutturals or ר),

forming the piel is easy: …

… simply vocalize R1 with a חירק and lengthen

(double) R2 with a דגש.

Of course, you still need to vocalize R2, and how you do this depends on

the sufformative.

• If your verb has no sufformative (it’s 3ms), vocalize R2 with a צרי.• If your verb has a sufformative that’s a

vowel (3fs or 3cp), give R2 a vocal שוא.• If your verb has a sufformative that

begins with a consonant (all other cases), vocalize R2 with a פתח.

If your verb has a guttural in R3, or a guttural or ר in R2, the

vowels will be a little different. Your best bet is to look the שרש up in a lexicon to see how its פעל is vocalized, rather than trying to

apply rules to figure it out.

That said, here are a few typical patterns for פעל

forms with weak root letters.

• If R2 is ה or ח or ע, it will refuse the like צרי Such an R2 might take .דגשstrong פעל forms, or פתח instead.• If R2 is א or ר, it will refuse the דגש,

and R1 and R2 will both usually take a צרי.• If R3 is a ח or ע, R2 will usually take

a פתח.

Do not be upset if you find exceptions to these general

patterns, and remember that sufformatives can affect the

vowel patterns as well.

Forming the פעל Imperfect

Start by applying the appropriate preformative and

sufformative to the root, to show person, gender, and

number.

All imperfect preformatives take a vocal שוא in the פעל

(except the 1cs א, which requires a חטף–פתח).

In the פעל imperfect, R1 regularly takes a פתח

(except when R2 is א or ר, which makes R1 take קמץ).

If R2 can accept a דגש, give it one.

R2’s vowel is the most variable vowel in the פעל imperfect. It’s usually a

… but ,צרי

• If the sufformative starts with a vowel sound (2fs, 3mp, 2mp), give R2 a vocal שוא.• If R3 is ח or ע, R2 will

probably want a פתח.• If R3 is ה, follow the normal

third-ה (or ל״ה) pattern.

If your verb has a guttural in R3, or a guttural or ר in R2, use a lexicon to confirm the proper

vocalization.

Forming the פעל Imperative

To form the פעל imperative, simply form a second-person imperfect, then remove the

preformative.

Forming the פעל Infinitives

In most cases, you form the infinitive* and adverbial פעלinfinitive** just like you form

the פעל imperative.* Or “infinitive construct.” ** Or “infinitive absolute.”

However, gutturals in R3 can cause variation.

If R3 is ה, replace the ה with ות when forming the infinitive

(this is very common in other as well). The adverbial בניניםinfinitive remains identical to

the imperative.

If R3 is a ח or ע, you form the adverbial imperative by giving R2 a צרי and R3 a פתח גנובה.*

* Or “furtive patach.”

Forming the פעל Participles

To form the masculine singular מ participle, simply prefix פעל

to the imperative form.

To form the feminine singular participle, append to the masculine אלתsingular participle.-

To form the masculine and feminine plural participles, give R2 a vocal שוא and append the

normal suffixes for plural nouns.

CreditsDead Sea photo by Wikimedia Commons contributor Xta11. Used under a CC-SA license.

All other content by Dr. Chris Heard, Associate Professor of Religion, Pepperdine University. Released under a CC-BY license.

Grammatical terminology used in this presentation follows R. Holmstedt and J. Cook, Biblical Hebrew: An Illustrated Introduction (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2013).