pealim | The Hebrew Café

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

Verbs are certainly one of the hardest parts of modern Hebrew. This article starts a series of articles on the פְּעָלִים that are the nightmare of any Hebrew learner, not only for beginners. This introductory post will discuss the basic characteristics of Hebrew verbs; while in the following articles, we will dig deeper into each one of the בִּנְיָינִים.

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.

Continue reading “Verbs in Modern Hebrew (Introduction)” →