The Hebrew language is composed of many roots.

The verbal stems – the בּׅנְיָנׅים (plural form, pronounced as bin-ya-nim) – are the patterns that shape them into actual words. בִּנְיָן (singular form, pronounced as bin-yan), literally means building, is a firm structure into which the root is inserted to form the verb.

There are seven verbal stems in the Hebrew Language: hif’il, huf’al, nif’al, pa’al, pi’el, pu’al, it’pa’el.

בַּשָּׂפָה הָעׅבְרׅית יֵשׁ שִׁבְעָה בּׅנְיָנׅים: הִפְעִיל, הֻפְעַל, נִפְעַל, פָּעַל, פִּעֵל, פֻּעַל וְהִתְפַּעֵל.

In our last post we delved into the root א.י.ר, and its infinitive לְאַיֵּיר (means “to illustrate”). This root in Hebrew is conjugated in the verbal stem pi’el (פִּעֵל). The verbal stem פִּעֵל is one of the easiest בּׅנְיָנׅים in Hebrew. You can tell this just by looking – no prefix or suffix to its basic form. The prefixes and suffixes that will be added to the root in this בִּנְיָן will be only belong to the pronouns.

פִּעֵל is an active verbal stem. The roots in this בִּנְיָן are not passive.

Let’s check, for example, the conjugations of the root ס.פ.ר according to the tenses. The infinitive of this root is לְסַפֵּר (pronounced as le-sa-per), meaning “to tell”.

	I	He	She	You (single male)	You (single female)	They            (males / males +          females)	They (only females)	We
Past	סׅפַּרְתּׅי	סׅפֵּר	סׅפְּרָה	סׅפַּרְתָּ	סׅפַּרְתְּ	סׅפְּרוּ	סׅפְּרוּ	סׅפַּרְנוּ
Present	מְסַפֵּר	מְסַפֵּר	מְסַפֶּרֶת	מְסַפֵּר	מְסַפֶּרֶת	מְסַפְּרׅים	מְסַפְּרוֺת	מְסַפְּרׅים
Future	אֲסַפֵּר	יְסַפֵּר	תְּסַפֵּר	תְּסַפֵּר	תְּסַפְּרׅי	יְסַפְּרוּ	תְּסַפֵּרְנָה	נְסַפֵּר

 

Past tense: the first letter of the root is always dotted with םׅ (hiriq). No prefix in the past tense.

Present tense: the vowel of the first letter is םַ (patach). Only מְ as a prefix in the present tense for all the pronouns.

Future tense: the vowel of the first letter is םַ (patach). Four prefixes for the future tense: the letters אית”ן.

בִּנְיָן פִּעֵל stresses the activity of the doer. Many verbs in בִּנְיָן פִּעֵל bear the meaning of causing, making this action happening. Verbs like: לְחַזֵּק (to strengthen), לְקַצֵּר (to shorten), לְלַמֵּד (to teach), לְגַדֵּל (to bring up, to rear), לְפַתֵּחַ (to develop), לְחַנֵּךְ (to educate), לְפַטֵּר (to fire), לְקַבֵּץ (to gather). The verb לְרַכֵּז (pronounced as le-ra-kez), for instance, means “to assemble”. It conjugated as follow:

	I	He	She	You (single male)	You (single female)	They            (males / males +          females)	They (only females)	We
Past	רִכַּזְתִּי	רִכֵּז	רִכְּזָה	רִכַּזְתָּ	רִכַּזְתְּ	רׅכְּזוּ	רׅכְּזוּ	רִכַּזְנוּ
Present	מְרַכֵּז	מְרַכֵּז	מְרַכֶּזֶת	מְרַכֵּז	מְרַכֶּזֶת	מְרַכְּזִים	מְרַכְּזוֺת	מְרַכְּזִים
Future	אֲרַכֵּז	יְרַכֵּז	תְּרַכֵּז	תְּרַכֵּז	תְּרַכֵּזִי	יְרַכְּזוּ	תְּרַכֵּזְנָה	נְרַכֵּז

 

Some of the verbs in בִּנְיָן פִּעֵל bear the meaning of a continues action. Something that didn’t happen once or mildly, but for a long time or with extra intensity. For example, the infinitive לְקַפֵּץ (pronounced as le-ka-petz), means “to hop”, “to skip”. Unlike the infinitive לׅקְפוֺץ (pronounced as lik-fotz), which has the same root ק.פ.ץ, but uses another בִּנְיָן and has the meaning of “to jump”.

	I	He	She	You (single male)	You (single female)	They            (males / males +          females)	They (only females)	We
Past	קׅפַּצְתּׅי	קׅפֵּץ	קׅפְּצָה	קׅפַּצְתָּ	קׅפַּצְתְּ	קׅפְּצוּ	קׅפְּצוּ	קׅפַּצְנוּ
Present	מְקַפֵּץ	מְקַפֵּץ	מְקַפֶּצֶת	מְקַפֵּץ	מְקַפֶּצֶת	מְקַפְּצׅים	מְקַפְּצוֺת	מְקַפְּצׅים
Future	אֲקַפֵּץ	יְקַפֵּץ	תְּקַפֵּץ	תְּקַפֵּץ	תְּקַפְּצׅי	יְקַפְּצוּ	תְּקַפֵּצְנָה	נְקַפֵּץ

 

Other verbs in בִּנְיָן פִּעֵל with a continues or a powerful meaning are: לְחַזֵּר (to court), לְשַׁמֵּר (to preserve), לְקַטֵּר (to continuously complain), לְמַגֵּר (to overthrow), לְשָׁרֵשׁ (to uproot).

The punctuation of פִּעֵל is different from the examples above only when the verb’s root second letter is א or ר. In this case the second letter will not receive the diacritic dot, and its vowel םְ will be םֲ. The vowel in the first letter of the root will change as well. The vowel םׅ will become םֵ, and the vowel םַ will become םָ. As we will notice in the verb לְתָאֵר (pronounced as le-ta-er, means “to describe”).

	I	He	She	You (single male)	You (single female)	They            (males / males +          females)	They (only females)	We
Past	תֵּאַרְתּׅי	תֵּאֵר	תֵּאֲרָה	תֵּאַרְתָּ	תֵּאַרְתְּ	תֵּאֲרוּ	תֵּאֲרוּ	תֵּאַרְנוּ
Present	מְתָאֵר	מְתָאֵר	מְתָאֶרֶת	מְתָאֵר	מְתָאֶרֶת	מְתָאֲרׅים	מְתָאֲרוֺת	מְתָאֲרׅים
Future	אֲתָאֵר	יְתָאֵר	תְּתָאֵר	תְּתָאֵר	תְּתָאֲרׅי	יְתָאֲרוּ	תְּתָאֵרְנָה	נְתָאֵר

 

Try to conjugate these verbs according to the tenses: לְצַלֵּם (to film), לְאַבֵּד (to lose), לְקַשֵּׁר (to connect),לְכַבֵּד  (to respect), לְקַשֵּׁט (to decorate), לְדָרֵג (to classify), לְשַׁעֵר (to imagine), לְשַׁלֵּם (to pay), לְחַשֵּׁב (to calculate), לְסַדֵּר (to organize), לְקַבֵּל (to receive). To practice their meaning use these verbs to built sentences. If you have any question leave me a comment. בְּהַצְלָחָה! (good luck!)

 

Keep Calm and Learn Hebrew

---

---