Introduction
Today we are going to talk about the verbs of the בִּנְיָן הִפְעִיל. These verbs usually denote an action that is caused by someone/something else. For instance:
לִזְכּוֹר = to remember
לְהַזְכִּיר = to make remember , to remind
Author: Mariana Ferreira
Introduction:
The second בִּנְיָן we are going to study in this series about Hebrew verbs is the פִּיעֶל. This category usually include verbs whose meaning is somehow more intense than the “simple” פָּעַל verb.
For example:
לִכְתֹּב – to write
לְכַתֵּב – to address
This way, we can see that לִכְתֹּב refers to writing in a broader sense, whereas לְכַתֵּב refers to writing a specific thing, “an address”, thus being more intense.
Today we are going to talk about two special cases of the בִּנְיָן פָּעַל.
- The case of the פָּעַל with a ו OR י as the SECOND LETTER of the root.
- Infinitive: the infinitive of this group consists of the ל that usually indicates the infinitive followed by the 3 letters of the root (where the second letter MUST BE a י OR ו)
Examples:
לָשִׁיר – to sing
לָגוּר – to live
- Present: here we are going to use the example of לָגוּר but the characteristics are the same no matter if the second letter of the root is a ו or a י.
As we have seen in the introductory article the פָּעַל is the “basic” verb pattern in Hebrew. However , this does not mean that the פָּעַל is simple. In order to cover the main regularities and irregularities of this pattern, I have decided to split the explanations for פָּעַל in two articles to enhance clarity.
All verbs in Hebrew consist of two things:
- Pattern (בִּנְיָין): this is the “body” or the “structure” of the verb, what gives each פֹּ֫עַל (verb) its form.
- Root (שׁ֫וֹרֶשׁ): this is the three- or four-letter system that gives meaning to each פֹּ֫עַל.