Chapter Ten: Hebrew Weak Verbs

Chapter
10
Hebrew Weak Verbs

How to Understand Hebrew Weak Verbs
10.1
A verb in the Hebrew language comes in a unit of three consonants.
Known as the root (ׁ‫)שׁוֹרֶש‬, it is onto this tri-consonantal array various
pairs of default vowels are to be added to configure the verbal root to
perform different function of a verb: the Infinitive Absolute, the Infinitive
Construct, the Participles, the Perfect Tense, the Imperative, the Jussive
or the Cohortative or the Imperfect Tense and so on.
10.2
In Hebrew, verbs could be a strong verb or a weak verb. A strong verb
is a verb which does not contain guttural or weak consonants in its
Steffen Han January 2011 revised.
spelling at the root level or in the Perfect Tense third person masculine
singular.
10.3
The base vowel format of each verb type would be clearly seen in the
Infinitive Absolute of each ‫ בניין‬as the Infinitive Absolute is not inflected
for gender, number or person. Default vowels for the Qal Infinitive
‫ברוך בשם‬
Absolute would take the dyads of [ֹ‫ו‬+ָ○] (‫חוֹלָם מָלֵא‬+‫)קָמֶץ‬, duplicating

the vowels in the word: ‫ מָקוֹר‬infinitive, which vowel medley would be
2 Hebrew Verbal System
used in Qal weak verbs as well. The Infinitive Construct could be termed
the shortened form of the Infinitive Absolute. In some Passive binyanim
which might not have a sample of the Infinitive Absolute in the Hebrew
Bible, the Infinitive Construct could be used, or both might share the
same vowel format.
10.4
A Hebrew verb is called a weak verb when it carried in its tri-
consonantal root in the Perfect Tense third person masculine singular
one or more guttural consonants (‫ ע‬,‫ ח‬,‫ ה‬,‫)א‬, or often also known as
the laryngeals. Verbs begin with or consist of any one of another four
consonants, namely: [ּ‫ )נוּן( ]נ‬,[‫ )יוֹד( ]י‬,[‫( )וָו( ]ו‬the ‫ יונ‬group) and [‫]ר‬
(ׁ‫ )רֵיש‬which behaves like a laryngeal, also are grouped under the weak
verb category.
10.5
Monosyllable verbs and stative verbs are two more members of the weak
verb category alongside a handful of special irregular verbs.
10.6
Strictly speaking, it is not necessary though not redundant to separate the
Hebrew verbs into a category known as the weak verbs. The only matter
related to the weak verbs would be the need to adjust the vocal shewa
[ְ○] (‫)שווא נע‬, given by default, coming beneath any one of the gutturals:
,‫ ר‬,‫ ע‬,‫ ח‬,‫ ה‬,‫ א‬whenever one or more of these consonants shows up in a
verb in whichever position in the root. These consonants could not carry
the [ְ○] (‫)שווא נע‬, and therefore the composite shewa (‫ )חֲטָף שְׁוָא‬must
be used; and the laryngeals do not accept doubling, thus compensatory
lengthening of the vowel beneath the preceding consonant or virtual

doubling with rejection of ‫ דגש‬but not lengthening the preceding vowel
must come to play. For verbs which contained ‫ יונ”ה‬in the root, these
consonants would go through assimilation (or abdicated), transformed,
or become quiescent; and the brace of default vowels beneath all the
eight of them would also go through another type of changes such as
vowel reduction, compensatory lengthening, or propretonic reduction

of the head vowel. The rules that govern each procedure are rather
straightforward and unambiguous.
CHAPTER TEN: Hebrew Weak Verbs 3
10.7
Types of Hebrew Verbs
a. The Strong Verbs
The most prominent way to classify the Hebrew verb is called
the Shlemin class (‫)שְׁלַמִים‬, which means complete. Verbs in
this class, as a rule, do not contain any of these consonants: ,‫א‬
,‫ ע‬,‫ ח‬,‫ ה‬or any of these: ‫ר‬, ‫י‬, ‫ו‬, ‫נ‬, the ‫ יונ‬group. In all verbal
forms, sometimes referred to as strong verbs, verbs of this
class retain all consonants of the root during conjugation and
pluralization. The Strong verbs are regular verbs. These verbs
are the most commonly used verbs in Hebrew.
b. The Weak Verbs

Verbs which contained one or more of these consonants: ,‫ א‬,‫ע‬
,‫ ח‬,‫ ה‬or any of these: ‫ר‬, ‫ו‬, ‫י‬, ‫ נ‬are classified as weak verbs
and all weak verbs would be named after the position these
consonants sit in the verbal root according to the sequence of
‫ ←( פעל‬read from right to left).
10.8
Nomenclature
Nomenclature presents quite a bit of confusion to the student. Scholars
seemed are loath to resolve this obstacle. Given below in the Table below
showed different systems of nomenclature, all the same, they meant the
same thing.
a. Among the weak consonants, [‫ )הֵא( ]ה‬and [‫ )חֵית( ]ח‬are

known as strong laryngeals; [‫ )אָלֶף( ]א‬and [‫ )רֵישׁ( ]ר‬are the
weak laryngeals; whereas [‫ )עַיִן( ]ע‬is a variable, but more often

weak.
b. Whenever there is more than one weak consonant present in

the root of a verb, it is known as doubly weak verb, mostly the
first and the last consonant of the verb. Doubly weak verbs are
to be classified according to the abaft weak consonant in the

sequence of occurrence.
Traditional Modern 2 Modern 1 Hebrew

Pe Guttural I Guttural I-‫ע‬/‫ח‬ ‫ע‬/‫פ”ח‬
Pe ’Aleph I Aleph I-‫א‬ ‫פ”א‬
Pe Nun I Nun I-‫נ‬ ‫פ”נ‬
Pe Vav/Pe Yod I Vav/I yod I-‫י‬/‫ו‬ ‫י‬/‫פ”ו‬
‘Ayin Guttural II Guttural II-‫ע‬/‫ח‬ ‫ע‬/‫ע”ח‬

II Vav/II
‘Ayin Vav/‘Ayin Yod/ II-‫י‬/‫( ו‬Hollow verb
Yod (Hollow or Biconsonatal ‫י‬/‫ע”ו‬
Verb) verb)
Geminate
Double ‘Ayin Geminate verb ‫ע”ע‬
Verb
Lamed Guttural III Guttural III-‫ע‬/‫ח‬ ‫ע‬/‫ל”ח‬

Lamed ’Aleph III Aleph III-‫א‬ ‫ל”א‬
Lamed He III He III-‫ה‬ ‫ל”ה‬
10.9
Classification of the Weak Verbs
Each weak verb has a technical name. The name is dependent on which
position in the root the weak consonant appears and it is by the technical
name the weak verbs are classified.
10.10
There are only three groups or types of weak verbs, and each may contain
a few members. Weak verbs are classified and named after the position
of the weak consonant in which it occurs in the root following the
consecution of the Hebrew word ‫פעל‬, used as a matter of convenience,
(some sort of mnemonic effect), reading from right to left.
10.12
A verb which begins with [‫ )יוֹד( ]י‬or [‫ )אָלֶף( ]א‬are therefore referred
to as “Peh-Aleph” (‫)פ”א‬, “Peh-Yod”(‫)פ”י‬, “Peh-Nun” (‫)פ”נ‬, “Peh-
Guttural” (‫ = גְרוֹנִית = ג( )פ”ג‬guttural), and so on. A sample of weak

verbs in each class is given in the following Table:
Example of Weak Verbs:
Verb class Positions

"‫ל‬- "‫ע‬- "‫פ‬- root
3rd 2nd 1st
This is a ‫ פ"א‬verb ‫ד‬ ‫מ‬ ‫א‬ ‫אמד‬

This is a ‫ע‬/‫ ע"ח‬or ‫ ע"ג‬verb
‫ל‬ ‫ע‬ ‫פ‬ ‫פעל‬
(also II-guttural verb)
This is a ‫פ"נ‬/‫ ל"ה‬verb
‫ה‬ ‫ט‬ ‫נ‬ ‫נטה‬
(also a doubly weak verb)
This is a ‫ פ"נ‬verb ‫ן‬ ‫ת‬ ‫נ‬ ‫נתן‬
This is a ‫ ל"א‬verb ‫א‬ ‫צ‬ ‫מ‬ ‫מצא‬
This is a ‫ח"ע‬/‫ ע‬or ‫ ע"ג‬verb
‫ך‬ ‫ר‬ ‫ב‬ ‫ברך‬
(II-guttural)
This is a ‫ו‬/‫ פ"י‬verb ‫ב‬ ‫ש‬ ‫י‬ ‫ישב‬
This is a ‫ח"ע‬/‫ ע‬or ‫ ע"ג‬verb ‫ר‬ ‫ח‬ ‫ב‬ ‫בחר‬
This is a ‫ ל"ה‬verb
‫ה‬ ‫א‬ ‫ר‬ ‫ראה‬
(also a doubly weak verb)
This is a ‫ פ"י‬verb ‫ב‬ ‫ט‬ ‫י‬ ‫יטב‬
This is a Hollow verb ‫א‬ ‫ו‬ ‫ב‬ ‫בוֹא‬
This is a Geminate verb ‫ב‬ ‫ב‬ ‫ס‬ ‫סבב‬
10.13 ‫ פ"א‬verbs
I. The "‫ )פֵּא( פ‬Class Verbs ‫ אָמַר‬say
A Hebrew verb begins with a weak consonant in
‫ אָכַל‬eat
the first position of the root in the Perfect Tense
‫ אָבַה‬be willing
third person masculine singular (or using the
‫ אָפָה‬bake
Infinitive Construct) is called Peh Guttural (‫)פ”ג‬

verbs. There are four or five members under this ‫ אָחַז‬seize
family. It is also known as First Guttural verb, ‫ אָבַד‬perish
sometimes written as I-Guttural verb or "‫( פ‬Peh) verb type. These

are different names of the same verb type. Members of "‫ )פֵּא( פ‬verbs
included the following groups:
a. Pe-Alef (‫)פ”א‬, (e.g. ‫ אָכַל‬,‫)אָבַד‬. There are only six members

in ‫ פ”א‬class in used in the ‫תנ”ך‬, as shown in the Table above.
These six verbs receive different head vowel during inflection
in the Qal binyan.
b. Pe-Guttural (‫ פ”גרונית‬or ‫ע‬/‫)פ”ח‬, (e.g. ‫ עָמַד‬,‫)חָזַק‬. Verbs

under this group begin with ,‫ ח‬,‫ ע‬or ‫ר‬. Other verbs beginning
with [‫ )אָלֶף( ]א‬which are not a member of ‫ פ”א‬class are to be
classified under Pe-Guttural class as these aleph-first verbs are
to be conjugated like ‫ע‬/‫ פ”ח‬verbs.
c. Pe-Nun (‫( )פ”נ‬e.g. ‫ נָפַל‬,ׁ‫)נָגַש‬. All verbs begin with [‫)נוּן( ]נ‬
as well as a few other irregular verbs: ‫ לקח‬,‫ חלך‬,‫—נתן‬only
a handful of these—are also grouped under this category. In
some Hebrew grammar books, a ‫ פ”נ‬verb is also known as ‫פ”נ‬
‫חַסְרַי‬, which means ‫ פ”נ‬verb but with a missing first [‫)נוּן( ]נ‬.
d. Pe-Yod (‫( )פ”י‬e.g. ‫)יָטַב‬: there are ‫ פ”י‬verbs

only six or seven members in ‫פ”י‬ ׁ‫יָבֵש‬ to be dry
class, thus known as true ‫ פ”י‬verbs, ‫יָנֵק‬ to suck
as shown in the Table.
‫יָשַׁר‬ to be straight
‫יָטַב‬ to be good
e. Pe-Yod/Vav (Pe-Yod based on Pe-
‫יָקַץ‬ to wake up
Vav) (e.g. ‫ יָרַא‬,ׁ‫)יָרַש‬. Verbs under
‫יָלַל‬ to groan
this group actually begin with a
‫יָמַר‬ to go to the right
[‫ )וָו( ]ו‬but ended up in [‫)יוֹד( ]י‬
initial in the Perfect Tense third
person singular masculine—try compare it with the Infinitive
Construct of the verb. More appropriately these verbs should
be known as ‫י‬/‫ פ”ו‬verbs.

10.14
II The [‫ )עַיִן( ]ע‬Class Verbs.
a. The Ayin-Guttural (‫( )ע”ג‬e.g. ‫ בָּחַר‬,‫ )בָּרַך‬verbs. Verbs under
this class would have a guttural in the middle or ’‫ ע‬position of
the root.
b. The Ayin-Vav and Ayin-Yod or biconsonantal or Hollow verb

(e.g. ‫מוּת‬, ‫ קוּם‬,‫ בּוֹא‬,‫ שִׂים‬,ׂ‫)בּוֹש‬. Verbs of this class come
under the category of Hollow verbs, which usually is treated
separately in grammar textbooks as monosyllable verbs.
c. The Double-Ayin or Ayin-Ayin or Geminate Verb (e.g. ‫)סבב‬

(doubling of consonant of the last, pillion syllable.). Like wise,
these verbs occupy a separate section in grammar textbooks.
The main feature of these verbs would be the two identical last
consonants in the root, which would be visible mostly in the
Infinitive Absolute and Active voice binyanim.
10.15
III The '‫ )לָ֫מֶד( ל‬Class Verbs
a. The Lamed-Guttural (‫( )ל”ג‬e.g. ‫ שָׁמַע‬,‫שלַח‬ ָׁ ) verbs. These verbs
would have a guttural as the astern consonant of the root so much
so that these verbs carry a ָ‫( פָּ֫תַּח גְּנוּב‬pathach furtive) beneath
the last consonant, mostly [‫ ]ע‬and [‫ ]ח‬in the Infinitives.
b. The Lamed-Alef (‫( )ל”א‬e.g. ‫ )מָצָא‬verbs end in the ‫ אלף‬letter,

which could not be given any vowel, but the preceding vowel
is commissioned with a [ָ○] (‫ )קמץ‬in the Perfect Tense third

person singular masculine.
c. The Lamed-He (‫( )ל”ה‬e.g. ‫ ) ָגּלָה‬verbs share much features akin

to the ‫ ל”א‬verbs where the astern ‫ ה‬could not be assigned a
vowel, hence the preceding vowel is given an immutable [ָ○]
(‫ )קמץ‬in the Perfect Tense third person singular masculine.

10.16
IV Special Irregular verbs (e.g. ‫ נָתַן‬,‫ לָקַח‬,ְ‫ הָלַך‬,‫)הָיָה‬. A handful of these
verbs are found in use in the ‫ תנ”ך‬which could not be easily grouped
into anyone of the main groups of weak verbs. They are individual verb
of the irregular type.
10.17
Conjugation of the weak verbs: How does it work.
During conjugation, the presence of a weak consonant will demand
changes to the vowels, shift of accent, movement of the weak consonant
and ‫ דגש‬or no ‫דגש‬, which may invoke compensatory lengthening the
vowel of the preceding consonant or virtually lengthening which rejects
the ‫ דגש‬without lengthening the vowel under the preceding consonant
or syllable, and at certain point a helping vowel might be called to duty.
These changes of vowel during inflexion follow a set of fixed rules.
These rules could be easily learned and understood.
10.18
The ‫ )פֵּא־אָלֶף( פֵּ"א‬or I-‫ א‬verbs
a. Only six verbs beginning with [‫)אָלֶף( ]א‬ ‫ פ"א‬verbs

would be classified under this category. ‫ אָמַר‬say
The rest of the verbs beginning with [‫]א‬ ‫ אָכַל‬eat
(‫ )אָלֶף‬outside these six will be conjugated ‫ אָבַה‬bewilling
as ‫ע‬/‫ )פ"גרונית( פ"ח‬verbs, hence they ‫ אָפָה‬bake
would be placed under that group. ‫ אָחַז‬seize
‫ אָבַד‬perish
b. Only in the Qal stem would the vowels of

these ‫ פֵּ"א‬verbs be affected in conjugation.
When these verbs assume other stem, they would be inflected
according to the strong verb pattern of each binyan.
c. There are, however, a few first-‫ א‬words which would have both
the strong and quiescent form: ‫ אחז‬it seized, ‫ אסף‬to gather,

‫ אלף‬to learn, to be familiar with, etc.
d. All of these six ‫ פֵּ"א‬verbs are given in the Table above.
e. The default vowels of the Qal Infinitive Absolute of these

six verbs would be similar to the regular, strong verb, like
the vowels in: ‫מָקוֹר‬, while the [ֹ‫ )הולם מלא( ]ו‬is written as
[ֹֹ○] (‫)הולם חסר‬, as ‫ אָחֹז‬to seize, to hold fast: the Infinitive
construct for this word would be: ‫אֲחֹז‬. The Infinitive Absolute
of the others would be: ‫אָמֹר‬, which could be written as ‫אָמוֹר‬
(‫)אֱמֹר‬, ‫)אֱכֹל( אָכֹל‬, ‫)אֱבֹה( אָבֹה‬, ‫)אֱפֹה( אָפֹה‬, ‫)אֲבֹד( אָבֹד‬,
f. The default vowels of the Qal Infinitive Construct for these

six verbs would be a combination of [ֹֹ○+ֱ○] ‫חוֹלָם‬+‫)חֲטַף סֶגוֹל‬
‫ )חָסֵר‬with one or two exceptions.
g. The rationale is that as a general rule when a vocal shewa [ְ○]

(‫ )שווא נע‬is supposed to be placed under the first position of
the root, (e.g. Qal infinitive Construct, Qal Imperative, Qal
Cohortative, Qal Jussive and Qal Imperfect), only the laryngeal
(,‫ ר‬,‫ ע‬,‫ ה‬,‫ ח‬,‫ )א‬which is sitting atop of it would cause the [ְ○]
(‫ )שווא נע‬to be changed to a composite shewa (‫)חתף שווא‬
according to the preference of each consonant for the choice
of which type of composite shewa would be chosen, for these
gutturals could not sustain the [ְ○] (‫ )שווא נע‬beneath them, like
the way a normal Qal Infinitive Construct does. Interestingly,
the Qal Infinitive Construct for the ‫שורש‬: ‫ אסר‬could be
expressed as ‫( לֶאְסֹר‬Numbers 30:3, Psalm 105:22, Psalm 149:
8).
h. In the case of these six verbs, the head [‫)אָלֶף( ]א‬, a weak
consonant which preferred the vowel [ֶ○] (‫ )סֶגוֹל‬to be assigned
under it whenever it sits at the "‫ פ‬position in the Qal Infinitive
Construct, Qal Imperative, Qal Imperfect, Qal Jussive, Qal
Cohortative or vaw conversive, thus it would schlep a composite
shewa [ֱ○] (‫ )חֲטַף סֶגוֹל‬beneath it, for instant to eat would be
‫ ;לֶאֱכֹל‬to speak would be ‫לֶאֱמֹר‬. In addition, only one of

the [‫ )אָלֶף( ]א‬is to be shown up in the first person common
singular I will eat, which expression under usual condition is
supposed to be written as ‫ ;אֶאֱכַל‬but it is practically impossible

to articulate the two contagious [‫ )אלפים( ]אא‬and thus one will
be abdicated, resulting in ‫ אֹכַל‬I will eat. Apparently, this would
happen only in these six words. In other aleph-first verbs which
are grouped under ‫ פ"ג‬verbs, double ‫ א‬would be visible.
i. Unlike the strong verbs, these six ‫ פֵּ"א‬verbs in the Imperfect

Tense the [‫ )אלף( ]א‬in the head syllable will be quiescent
while the default vowel of the personal pronoun preformatives,
the ‫אית"ן‬, unlike the strong verb, will take [ֹֹ○] (‫)חוֹלָם חָסֵר‬
whereas the pillion vowel would be treated as stative verbs,
that is, these six [‫ )אלף( ]א‬verbs will take [ַ○] (‫ )פַ֫תַּח‬as stem
vowel.
j. Of the six, the root ‫ לאמר‬to speak employs a slightly different

combination of vowels in the Qal Infinitive Construct: instead
of ‫ ;לֶאֱמֹר‬it is written as ‫ צרי( לֵאמֹר‬instead of ‫)סגול‬. For
the expression of I will speak, it is written as ‫אֹמַר‬. In wav
consecutive, for the expression and I said (and I will say), it
is written as ‫ קמץ( וָאֹמַר‬instead of ‫ ;)פתח‬for the expression
of and he will say (and he said), it is written as ‫סגול( וַיֹּ֫אמֶר‬
instead of ‫)פתח‬.
k. Paradigm of wav consecutive is Wav consecutrive

given in the Table. plural singular
ּ‫וַיֹּאמְרו‬ ‫וַיֹּ֫אמֶר‬
l. The conjugation of the Qal ‫וַתֹּאמַ֫רְנָה‬ ‫וַתֹּ֫אמֶר‬
Infinitive Absolute, Qal Active ּ‫וַתֹּאמְרו‬ ‫וַתֹּ֫אמֶר‬
Participle and Qal Passive ‫וַתֹּאמַ֫רְנָה‬ ‫וַתֹאמְרִי‬

Participle of these six verbs are ‫וַנֹּ֫אמֶר‬ ‫וָאֹמר‬
to follow that of the strong verb -
in the Qal binyan.
m. For the inflection of other binyanim other than Qal stem of

these verbs, default vowel pattern for the strong verb of each
binyan will be used.
10.19
The ‫ פ”ג‬verbs: I-Gutturals verbs or (‫)א‬+‫ח‬/‫ פ"ע‬verbs
Verbs under this class include roots beginning with ‫ ר‬,‫ ע‬,‫ ח‬and those to
be known as ‫גרונית‬/‫ פ”א‬that begin with [‫ )אלף( ]א‬in the first position
of the root other than the six already grouped under ‫ פ"א‬verbs.
10.20
The vowel patterns of ‫ח( פ”ג‬/‫ )פ"ע‬would duplicate the vowels inherently
given in the Infinitive Absolute of each derived stem or binyan, with some
slight deviation in the Niph’al: the vowel under the [‫ )נון( ]נ‬of the Niph’al
verbal prosthesis assumes a [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬in response to the present of [ֱ○]
(‫ )חטף סגול‬under the head consonant of the root, as in the sample word:
‫ נַעֲזוֹב‬to leave, or, a [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬under the Niph’al prosthesis [‫)הא( ]ה‬,
as shown in the sample: ‫ הֵעָזוֹב‬to be abandoned, an alternative Niph’al
Infinitive Absolute for the root: ‫עזב‬, where there is an assimilation of
[‫ )נון( ]נ‬by default in the original prosthesis but with a guttural coming
next after the [‫)נון( ]נ‬, there would be no assimilation of [‫)נון( ]נ‬, thus
compensatory lengthening of the vowel under the preceding consonant
or syllable must take place. The same root in the Intensive and Causative
stems or other binyanim that carry default prosthesis, which serves as the
head syllable of each stem, would be the same as the regular, strong verb
of each binyan.
10.21
In the Qal Infinitive Construct, where there is still no division between
dynamic verbs and stative verbs, a composite shewa relevant to each
type of gutturals leads ahead a [ֹֹ○] (‫ )חוֹלָם חָסֵר‬which plays the role as
the stem vowel, for example: ‫עֲמֹד‬.
10.22
A distinction between dynamic verb and stative verb would be made
in the Imperative Mood, the Imperfect Tense and the Perfect Tense
of these verbs in the Qal binyan. The default [ְ○] (‫ )שווא נע‬beneath
the head syllable in the Qal Infinitive Construct would be replaced by
composite shewa [ֲ○] (‫( )חֲטַף פַּתָּח‬i) for ‫( ע‬in the Qal Imperative and Qal
Imperfect) and ‫( ח‬in the Qal Imperative); and (ii) [ֱ○] (‫ )חטף סגול‬for ‫א‬
(Qal Imperative and Qal Imperfect) and ‫( ח‬in the Qal Imperfect Tense)
of "‫ פ‬verbs as guttural consonant could not receive [ְ○] (‫ )שווא נע‬while
the stem vowel would remain as [ֹֹ○] (‫ )חוֹלָם חָסֵר‬in dynamic verbs in
Qal Imperfect Tense; the stative verbs would load a [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬as stem
vowel for the Qal Imperfect Tense and the Qal Imperative Mood, Qal
Jussive and Qal Cohortative.
10.23
Nevertheless, for the consonants [‫ )אָלֶף( ]א‬and [‫ )חת( ]ח‬in ‫ פ"ג‬verbs,
instead of the [ְ○] (‫)שווא נע‬, these verbs would accept composite shewa
[ֱ○] (‫ )חטף סגול‬in most cases. By the operation of shewa rule, the [ְ○]
(‫ )שווא נע‬under the preformatives (PC) for the Imperfect Tense, that
is the ‫אית"ן‬, will assume the appropriate changes in response to the
composite shewa, which give rise to the final shape of the vowel for
‫ אית"ן‬in ‫ פ"ח‬and ‫ג‬/‫ פ"א‬verbs.
10.24
Other rules for pluralization, abdication of the hind consonant and
reduction of the stem vowel, propretonic reduction of the head vowel,
etc., shall be applicable.
a. Not all ‫א‬-first verbs, however, are called ‫ פ"א‬verb: ‫ג‬/‫ פ"א‬verbs
are treated as dynamic or fientive verb;
b. These verbs, with the exception of six special ‫א‬-first verbs known
as ‫ פ"א‬verbs, are to be conjugated like first-guttural verbs, making
adjustment only to the head vowel (i) in cases where vocalic
sufformative is added in the Qal Imperfect Tense, the vowel in the
prosthesis, the ‫אית"ן‬, which actually is transformed from [ְ○] ‫)שווא‬
(‫נע‬, would be reduced to [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬under the rule or propretonic

reduction of head vowel during conjugation; (ii) for the inflection
of consonantal sufformative or in cases where no sufformative is
needed, the prosthetic vowel of the pronominal preformative will
employ [ֶ○] (‫ )סגול‬in response to the composite shewa beneath the
[‫ )אָלֶף( ]א‬of the root; (iv) the status of the [‫ )אָלֶף( ]א‬will not be
affected during conjugation: it is to be retained even in cases of

first person singular I where an additional [‫ )אָלֶף( ]א‬is prefixed
to the root; (v) the stem vowel for these verbs will be [ֹֹ○] ‫)חוֹלָם‬
(‫ חָסֵר‬as in a strong verb; (vi) for other binyanim of these ‫א‬-first
but actually treaded as I-guttural verbs, the inflection pattern for
strong verb of each binyan will be used.
c. The Qal Infinitive Absolute, the Qal Participles: Active as well

as Passive of these verbs will follow the conjugation of the Qal
strong verb; inflection of other non-Qal binyanim of these verbs
will follow the strong verb pattern of each binyan.
10.25
The vowel scheme and conjugation of these ‫א‬+‫ח‬/‫ פ”ע‬verbs in the Qal
Perfect Tense and Qal Participles, active as well as passive, would be
the same as the regular, strong verbs. In the case of Qal Active Participle
feminine singular, it would assume the segholate noun pattern, while the
passive would assume the alternative [ָ○] (‫ )קמץ‬pattern.
10.26
Conjugation of other non-Qal stems of ‫א‬+‫ח‬/‫ פ"ע‬verbs would follow the
rules and vowel scheme of the regular, strong verbs of each binyan.
10.27
The ‫ פ"נ‬verbs or I-‫נוּן‬
There are one or two verbs in Hebrew that are grouped under ‫ פ"נ‬verbs
but not led by the consonant [‫)נוּן( ]נ‬, for a sample word: ַ‫( לָקוֹח‬watch
out for the ָ‫)פָּ֫תַּח גְּנוּב‬. The word ‫ נָתוֹן‬has a [‫ )נוּן( ]נ‬at the initial position
in the Perfect Tense third person masculine singular, but not in the Qal
Infinitive Construct, in which case it has only two consonants: ‫)לְ(תֵּת‬.
10.28
The vowel pattern of ‫ פ"נ‬verbs are quite regular at the Qal Infinitive
Absolute; but not so in the Qal Infinitive Construct. Some of these
verbs are doubly weak verbs and some of these verbs are treated as
stative verbs. For the regular ‫ פ"נ‬verbs, the vowels in the Qal Infinitive
Construct would follow the regular, strong verbs, while the stative might
take on segholate nouns singular type vowel, as some of these verbs

could be ‫ע‬/‫ ל”ח‬verbs.
10.29
The default vowel patterns in the Qal binyan follow that of the regular,
strong verbs, with different stem vowels between dynamic and stative
verbs: [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬for stative verbs and the vowel [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬for irregular
verbs in the Qal Infinitive Construct, the Qal Imperative and the Qal
Imperfect Tense. With the exception of the verb ‫ נחם‬he felt sorry, the
consonant [‫ )נוּן( ]נ‬of the root of ‫ פ"נ‬verbs would be assimilated, hence
exhibiting a [‫ )נוּן( ]נ‬in the Qal Imperfect Tense for dynamic verbs; and
in the Qal Imperative and Qal Imperfect for stative verbs. In the case of
Niph’al ‫ פ"נ‬verbs, the initial [‫ )נוּן( ]נ‬would merge with the [‫ )נוּן( ]נ‬of
the prosthesis, leaving visible the ‫דגש‬.
10.30
Conjugations of ‫ לתת‬and ‫לקח‬:
a. The vowels in the Qal Infinitive Absolute of these two verbs
would be the same as the vowels in: ‫מָקוֹר‬, thus these two would
appear: ‫ נָתוֹן‬to give, ַ‫ לָקוֹח‬to take.
b. In the Infinitive Construct, both would assume two different form

of the feminine noun ending: ‫ לָתֵת‬,‫ תֵּת‬to give; ‫ לַקַחַת‬,‫ קַחַת‬to
take. In effect, both the [‫ ]○ַ○ַת‬and [‫ ]○ֵת‬in one way or the other
are in reminiscence of the segholate feminine noun ending.
c. The Qal Imperative of these two irregular verbs assume two forms
each: ‫ תְּנָה‬,‫ תֵּן‬give; ‫ קְחָה‬,‫ קַח‬take in the masculine singular but

the inflections for other persons and genders in the Qal Imperative
would be the same as the regular, strong verbs: ‫ תְּנִי‬you lady give;
‫ קְחִי‬you lady take; ‫ תֵּנָה‬you men give; ּ‫ קְחו‬you men take; ‫תֵּנָה‬
you women give; ‫ קַחְנָה‬you women take. The Jussive Mood
takes [ֶ○] (‫ )סגול‬for the role of the theme vowel, hence for the
expression of let him give would be: ‫יִתֶּן‬.
d. The inflection of these two irregular verbs in the Qal Imperfect

Tense would be the same as the regular, strong verbs. In the case
of zero vowel sufformative conjugation, the two would appear
as: ‫ יִתֵּן‬he will give, ‫ יִקַּח‬he will take. The other four zero vowel
sufformative conjugation in the Imperfect Tense would require the
‫אית”ן‬. The consonantal sufformative conjugation does not need
a helping vowel but the assimilation of the astern [‫ )נוּן( ]נ‬of the
root would take place in all cases: ‫ תִּתֵּנָּה‬you women will give,
compare with ‫ תִּקַּחְנָה‬you women will take, in which case there is
no assimilation of the [‫ )נוּן( ]נ‬to have occurred.
e. The inflection of Qal Perfect Tense of the two irregular ‫ פ"נ‬verbs

would be the same as the regular, strong verbs. In zero vowel
sufformative conjugation, the two would appear as: ‫ נָתַן‬he gave,
‫ לָקַח‬he took. Likewise, assimilation of the astern [‫ )נוּן( ]נ‬of the
root would take place in consonantal sufformative conjugation:
‫ נָתַתִּי‬I gave, compare with one sample where no assimilation of
the hind consonant: ‫ לָקַחְתִּי‬I took. One more sample: ּ‫ נָתַנּו‬we
gave, compare it with: ּ‫ לָקַחְנו‬we took.
f. There are two Qal Participles—the active and the passive—each

has a yoke of default vowels in the masculine singular: ‫ נֹתֵן‬he
gives, ‫ לֹקֵח‬he takes. The declension of feminine singular in
the Qal Active Participle for the expression of she takes, which
assumes the segholate feminine singular ending, would be: ‫נֹתֶ֫נֶת‬.
The passive form of the same expression would be: ‫נְתוּנָה‬, which
is the alternative feminine singular [ֶָ○] (‫ )קמץ‬ending for the Qal
passive and some Pu’al Passive Participle. The same word in
the passive feminine plural would be: ‫נְתוּנוֹת‬. The Qal Active
Participle of masculine plural would be the same as the regular,

strong verb: ‫( נֹתְנִים‬the men are) giving, which is a vocalic
sufformative conjugation: ‫( לֹקְחִים‬the men are) taking. The same
expressions in the feminine plural would be: ‫( נֹתְנוֹת‬the women
are) giving.
10.31
The ‫ו‬/‫ פ”י‬verbs
The ‫ו‬/‫ )פֵּא יוֹד־וָו( פ”י‬verbs are another major category of weak verbs
Hebrew Verbal System
16
in Hebrew. There are about less than ninety ‫ו‬/‫ פ”י‬verbs in use in the
‫תנ”ך‬. In older textbooks, ‫ו‬/‫ פ”י‬verbs are spread out across Class I,
Class II and Class III, etc. Most of these ‫ו‬/‫ פ”י‬verbs originally had
the consonant [‫ )וָו( ]ו‬in the head consonant of the root, but ended up
in having a [‫ )יוד( ]י‬in the Qal Perfect Tense third person masculine
singular. As matter stands now, there are only a few ‫ו‬/‫ פ”י‬verbs that are
originally ‫ פ"י‬verbs, known as true ‫ פ"י‬verbs.
10.32
True ‫ פ"י‬verbs
The verbs in the Table are given by ‫ פ”י‬verbs
Paul Joüon and T. Muraoka, A Grammar ׁ‫ יָבֵש‬to be dry
of Biblical Hebrew (Roma: Editrice ‫ יָנֵק‬to suck
Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1993, p198.), ‫ יָשַׁר‬to be straight
suggesting only six or seven of the ‫ו‬/‫פ”י‬ ‫ יָטַב‬to be good
are original ‫ פ"י‬verbs and thus termed as
‫ יָקַץ‬to wake up
true ‫ פ"י‬verbs; the rest of the other ‫ו‬/‫פ”י‬
‫ יָלַל‬to groan
verbs would be known as ‫ פ"ו‬verbs. The
‫ יָמַר‬to go to the right
main feature of true ‫ פ"י‬verbs is that the
controversial [‫ )יוד( ]י‬the head consonant
would be immutable throughout the conjugations and treated as stative
verb, which means these verbs would carry the vowel [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬as the
key or pillion vowel in the Imperfect Tense. Stative verb with a laryngeal
or guttural may not load the [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬as stem vowel.
10.33
With the exception of ‫ ישר‬to be straight, which found to have appeared
in the Qal, Hiphil as well as Pi’el and Pu’al, the other members of the
group are confined only to Qal and Hiphil used in the ‫תנ”ך‬.
10.34
The Qal Infinitive Absolute of true ‫ פ"י‬verbs, expectedly, are given
the full default vowels for Qal Infinitive Absolute together with its full
spelling of the root, as in the verb: ‫יָטוֹב‬. The [‫ )יוד( ]י‬in each of these
seven true ‫ פ"י‬verbs is not a prosthesis but the head consonant of the
root, which would be immutable and hence must be expressed together
with the standard default vowels imitating the vowels in ‫ בְּנוֹת‬for the Qal
Infinitive Construct: ‫ יְטֹב‬to be good.
10.35
The full conjugation of each form of the true ‫ פ"י‬verb would model after
the strong, regular verbs. In the case of the Qal Imperative of true ‫פ"י‬
verb, the paradigm would be: ‫ יְטַ֫בְנָה‬,ּ‫ יִטְבו‬,‫ יְטְבִי‬,‫יְטַב‬, and the theme
or stem vowel—it is treated as stative verb—loads a [ַ○] (‫)פתח‬, which
would be the same in Qal Imperfect for these verbs. By the same token,
the Cohortative, the Jussive, and even the Wav Conversive would appear
as: ,‫ אִ֫יטְבָה‬,‫ יִ֫יטַב‬,‫ וַיִּ֫יטַב‬respectively. The head syllable, as could be
seen in the aforesaid samples, has actually gone through two steps of
morphological changes: (i) the [ְ○] (‫ )שווא נע‬beneath the ‫ אית”ן‬by the
rule of contiguous ‫ שוואים‬has been changed to a [ִ○] (‫ ;)הִירִיק‬but when
(ii) the head [‫ )יוד( ]י‬of a word, usually a ‫ )פֵּא יוֹד( פ"י‬verb, is forced
into the second position by inflection with the [ְ○] (‫ )שווא נע‬hanging
beneath the [‫)יוד( ]י‬, which makes them appear virtually somewhat
like [‫)הִירִיק מָלֵא( ]○ִי‬, as the vowels shown in this dummy example:
(‫)תְיְטט←תִיְטט←תִיטט‬. To ease articulation, it is necessary to turn the
pairing of [ְ○+ִ○] (‫שווא נע‬+‫ )היריק‬into [‫ )הִירִיק מָלֵא( ]○ִי‬by dropping
the [ְ○] (‫)שווא נע‬. The conjugation used in the Imperative of the true ‫פ"י‬
verbs would be applicable to the configuration of the Imperfect Tense of
these verbs.
10.36
The inflection for the Qal Participles, the Qal Imperfect and the Qal
Perfect of true ‫ פ"י‬verbs would be just like the strong, regular verbs.
10.37
The ‫ פ”ו‬group
The ‫ פ”ו‬group could be parceled out into two types: one would have
the assimilation of the head consonant, which originally would be a [‫]ו‬
(‫)וָו‬, such as ‫ )וצע( יצע‬to spread under; ‫ יצת‬to burn; ‫ יָצַג‬to place; ‫יצק‬
to pour; ‫ יצר‬to form; ‫ ילד‬to bring forth, ‫ יצא‬to go forth, to go out, ‫יסף‬
to add or to increase, ‫ ישב‬to dwell, ‫ ירד‬to descend, ‫ חלך‬to go, ‫ ידע‬to
know, ‫ יחד‬to be united, ‫ יקע‬to be dislocated, to name a few. Since verbs

under this group would end up without the [‫)יוד( ]י‬, it could simply
known as the ‫ פ”ו‬verbs.
10.38
While the other verbs, such as ‫ ירא‬to be afraid or fear, ‫ יגע‬to be weary,
‫ ישן‬to fall asleep, ‫ ירש‬to possess or inherit, ‫ יעץ‬to counsel, just to
name a few, would keep the [‫ )יוד( ]י‬in the conjugation of each form of
the verb, some what in close affinity with the true ‫ פ"י‬verbs in the Qal
Perfect and Qal Imperfect in conjugation as well as in the stem vowel,
which enable these verbs to be termed as pseudo-‫ פ"י‬verbs, a suggestion
here; while in the Niphal Perfect, all forms of the Causative stem: the
Hiphil and Hophal, the [‫ )יוד( ]י‬but would go through assimilation in
resemblance the ‫ פ”נ‬verbs. Properly understood, many of these verbs
would actually go through a mixed conjugation. In want of a better
term, these verbs could jolly well be known as ‫י‬/‫ )פֵּא וָו־יוֹד( פ”ו‬verbs
because most of these verbs are originally ‫ פ”ו‬verbs but ended up with
a [‫ )יוד( ]י‬appearing in the head of the ‫ שורש‬in the Qal Perfect Tense
third person masculine singular, as the word: ‫ יָשַׁב‬to dwell; ‫ יָלַד‬to give
birth to. The initial [‫ )וָו( ]ו‬would resurface when preformatives were
added to the root in the conjugation of the Imperfect Tense.
10.39
The Qal Infinitive Absolute of ‫י‬/‫ פ”ו‬verbs would display the default
vowels identical with the brace used in the word: ‫ מָקוֹר‬as in the strong,
regular verbs, which would help to install: ‫ יָרוֹש‬to possess, to inherit;
‫ יָשׁוֹב‬or ‫ יָשֹׁב‬to sit down to hold meeting. While in the Qal Infinitive
Construct of these verbs would assume a form of vowel format similar
to the segholate noun: ‫)לָ(רֶ֫שֶת‬, ‫)לָ(שֶׁ֫בֶת‬.
10.40
Conjugation for the Participles of pseud-‫ פ"י‬groups as well as the other
group which abdicates the [‫ )יוד( ]י‬in the secondary forms (the Infinitive
Construct, the Imperative, the Imperfect but resurface in the primary
forms: the Perfect and the Participles, all chiefly in the Qal stem) would
be rather consistent with the strong, regular verbs, as for an example in
the Active Participle: ‫ יוֹרְשִים‬,‫ יוֹעֵץ‬,‫ יְרֵאִים; יוֹרֵש‬,‫ יִרְאָה‬,‫יֹרֵא‬. In the

case of the Passive Participle, it would be: ‫ יְעוּצִים‬,‫ יְעוּצָה‬,‫יָעוּץ‬. What
is not given here is feminine plural forms for these two sample words.
10.41
The Qal Imperative for these ‫י‬/‫ פ”ו‬would be configured on the segholate
word format. A distinction between active or dynamic verb and stative
verb would be made in the Qal Imperative and Qal Imperfect Tense.
The active verbs would assume a [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬both as the head as well as
the stem or theme vowel; whereas the stative verbs would take on the
vowel pairing of [‫ )הִירִיק מָלֵא( ]○ִי‬as the head vowel and totes [ַ○]
(‫ )פתח‬as the theme or stem vowel. As a general rule when used as stem
vowel, [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬is usually linked with active verbs, while the vowel
[ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬often than not collates with stative verbs. Stative verb with a
guttural or laryngeal may not have [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬as stem vowel. The head
consonant [‫)יוד( ]י‬, however, would resurface in the Imperfect Tense and
the Preterite. Conjugation of these ‫ו‬/‫ פ”י‬verbs in the Qal Perfect Tense
would be stable, as it is in the Qal strong, regular verbs with default
vowel format as in ‫עָבַר‬. As far as the Qal Preterite is concern, ‫ו‬/‫פ”י‬
verbs do not display a distinction of dynamic and stative verbs. Take
note in the configuration of the Imperfect Tense of the double ‫צריים‬,
both as the head vowel under the pronominal preformatives, the ‫אית”ן‬,
and the stem (treated as active stem) vowel.
10.42
The Infinitives Construct of the other verbs which abdicates the [‫]י‬
Steffen Han January 2011revised.
(‫ )יוד‬in the secondary forms (the Infinitive Construct, the Imperative,

the Imperfect but resurface in the primary forms: the Perfect and the
Participles, all chiefly in the Qal stem) would be similar to the ‫י‬/‫פ”ו‬
(pseudo-‫ )פ”י‬group, in which case the Infinitive Construct of these verbs
resembles segholate nouns: ‫ )לָ(שֶׁבֶת‬,‫ צֶאֶת‬,‫ לֶכֶת‬,‫דַּעַת‬. The Infinitive
Construct in Hebrew, rather similar to English, is ushered by the
signatory consonant ‫ל‬, but tucks a [ָ○] (‫ )קמץ‬beneath it, as shown by the
vowels in the preceding sample words. Members of this group consist of:
Hebrew Verbal System
20
‫ יצא‬to go out, ‫ ידע‬to know, ‫ ילד‬to conceive, ‫ ירד‬to descend, ‫ ישב‬to

dwell, ‫ יסף‬to increase, to mention a few.
10.43
To install the Imperative for this group which abdicates the [‫ )יוד( ]י‬in the
secondary forms (the Infinitive Construct, the Imperative, the Imperfect
but it resurfaces in the primary forms: the Perfect and the Participles, all
chiefly in the Qal stem), the astern [‫ )תָּו( ]ת‬in the Infinitive Construct,
which could play the role of a paragoge, would bow out, thus: ,‫דַּ֫עְנָה דַּע‬
,ּ‫ דְּעו‬,‫ דְּעִי‬would be the Imperative for to know; ‫ צְאֶ֫נָה‬,ּ‫ צְאו‬,‫ צְאִי‬,‫צֵא‬
would be the Imperative for to go out; ָ‫ שֵׁ֫בְנ‬,ּ‫ שֵׁבו‬,‫ שֵׁבִי‬,‫ שֵׁב‬would be the
Imperative for to dwell; ‫ לֵ֫כְנָה‬,ּ‫ לְכו‬,‫ לְכִי‬,ְ‫ לֵך‬would be the Imperative
for to go. Traditionally, The word ‫ הלך‬is classified under the ‫ו‬/‫פ”י‬
verbs.
10.44
There are a handful of these verbs instead of abdicating the [‫ )יוד( ]י‬but
have it assimilated into the following consonant, usually a [‫)צָדִיק( ]צ‬,
which means that these verbs would go through the conjugation similar
to ‫ פ”נ‬verbs. So far, only four or five of these vebrs have been identified
belonging to this group.
10.45
The word ‫ ידע‬is a mixed case with [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬as the head vowel but drag
a [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬as the pillion vowel.
10.46
The verb ‫ יכל‬to be able is a special case for consideration.
10.48
Most if not all of the ‫י‬/‫ פ”ו‬verbs found in use in the ‫ תנ”ך‬came in the
Simple Passive and Causative—both active and passive—formats. As it
is no longer necessary to make a distinction between dynamic and stative

verbs outside the Qal binyan, the vowel patterns of these verbs would be
fairly consistent, exhibiting vowel features characterizing the verbs in
the active voice only; and further more, most of these verbs are basically
‫ פ”ו‬verbs in the first place, hence the [‫ )וָו( ]ו‬resurfaced and cuddles a [ּ‫]ו‬
(‫שוּרוּק‬
ׁ ), which is immutable, in these three binyanim, merged with the
prosthesis syllable, to transform the head syllable, for instance in the case
of the root ‫ ישב‬in the Niph’al binyan, into a combination of ‫ה ָוּשֵׁב‬
ִ for the
infinitives—Absolute as well as Construct and the secondary forms or
the Infinitive derivatives: the Imperative, the Imperfect, but assume the
vowel [ֹ‫ )הולם מלא( ]ו‬in the primary forms: the Perfect and the Passive
Participle as the prosthesis syllable: the stem vowel would be the vowel
[ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬the secondary forms; and [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬for the primary form, the
Perfect Tense. As a general rule, the vowel [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬is the standard
stem vowel for verbs in the active voice in the secondary forms, whereas
[ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬is used for the Perfect Tense—active and Passive voice of the
verb. There is not active participle for the Niph’al binyan.
10.49
The same operative principles shall be applicable to install the ‫י‬/‫ פ”ו‬for
the Causative binyanim. The head prosthesis of Infinitive Absolute of
Hiphil binyan is given as a combination of ֹ‫הו‬, partners with the vowel
[ֵ○] (‫)צרי‬, the standard stem vowel for verbs in the active voice. Both
the head prosthesis and the key epenthesis would be immutable in the
Hiphil binyan. The Promoninal sufformatives (SC) or Preformatives
(PC) would be added to the base form, the Infinitive Construct, which
is given the epenthesis [‫ )היריק מלא( ]○ִי‬by default, the key signature
for the Causiative active voice of the verb, tailing after the head default
syllable ֹ‫הו‬. The default base with the epenthesis would be used as the
basis for zero vowel and vocalic sufformative conjugation for all forms
of the verbs in Hiphil binyan, including the Infinitive Construct and the
Infinitive derivatives: the Imperative and the Imperfect; the primary
forms: the Perfect and the Active Participle—Hiphil binyan does not
have a passive participle. For inflection of consonantal sufformative, the

vowel [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬would be used on the primary form, the Perfect; while
the [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬would be used in the inflection of the secondary forms: the
Imperative and the Imperfect. To setup the active participle for Hiphil
binyan, the prosthesis in the Infinitive base would be replaced by the
prosthesis for participle, forming a combination as in: ‫מוֹשִׁיב‬, taking the
root ‫ ישב‬as a sample. As Hiphil is an active voice, there would be not
passive participle for this binyan.
The '‫ ל‬verbs

10.50
As a general rule in the Hebrew language, no [ְ○] (‫ )שווא נע‬would be
assigned to a guttural or laryngeal and no doubling of itself, hence no
‫ דגש‬would be allowed. With these two conditions, a problem is created
when a guttural or laryngeal appears in a position of the verbal root which
requires a [ְ○] (‫ )שווא נע‬or doubling of consonant during inflection,
chiefly in the first and the third position of a verbal root. Verbs with
weak consonant in the "‫ פ‬position is known as I-Guttural verbs, which
include verbs of the following types: ,‫ו‬/‫ פ"י‬,‫ פ"נ‬,‫ח‬/‫ פ"ע‬,‫פ"א‬.
10.51
Verbs with weak consonant in the third position of the root are known
as III-Guttural verbs. There are four groups of '‫ )למד( ל‬verbs: the ,‫ל"א‬
,‫ ל"ע‬,‫ ל"ח‬,‫ל"ה‬. These four could be lumped into two sub-groups for
easy management: (i) ‫ ל"ה‬,‫( ;ל"א‬ii) ‫ ל"ע‬,‫ל"ח‬. All of these verbs are not
available in the Passive voice of each respective binyan.
The ‫ ל"א‬verbs
10.52
Why a consonant in the third position of the root is special is that when
a consonant falls into this position it is going to receive the [ְ○] (‫)שווא נע‬
under normal consonantal sufformative conjugation. When the ‫ א‬shows
up in the third position of the root, it would reject the purported [ְ○] ‫)שווא‬
(‫ נע‬without compensation, leaving the ‫ א‬in that position quiescent.
10.53
The effect of this might not be visible in the Infinitive Absolute simply
because the vowels of the Infinitive Absolute of ‫ ל"א‬verb would be the

same as the standard default vowels of the strong verb of each binyan,
which could be seen from the vowels in the sample word: ‫ מָצוֹא‬to find,
to encounter, where the same [ֹ‫ )הולם מלא( ]ו‬would be written as [ֹ○]
(‫ )הולם חסר‬in the Niph’al and Pi’el (or Pa'el) Infinitive Absolute. The
vowel [ֹ‫ )הולם מלא( ]ו‬is an alternative default stem vowel for Pi’el
binyan in the regular verb. The Infinitive Absolute for the two passive
binyanim: the Pu’al and Hophal (two in Hophal) are not available in ‫ל"א‬
verbs. The vowels for Hithpa’el Infinitive Absolute would be the same
as the vowels used in the strong verb of that binyan, already reflected in
the nomenclature of the binyan.
10.54
The vowels to be used in the Infinitive Construct of ‫ ל"א‬verbs are
keeping close to the patterns of the default vowels used in the regular,
strong verbs in each binyan in the Infinitive Construct, again only verbs
in the active voice of non-Qal binyanim would be available, may be due
to the nature and meaning of a passive verb.
10.55
With the exception of the Qal Imperative of ‫ ל"א‬verbs where the pillion
syllable is given a [ָ○] (‫ )קמץ‬as the stem vowel by default in zero vowel
conjugaion, as displayed by the vowels in the sample word: ‫ מְצָא‬to find,
to discover, to encounter, the theme vowel for all other binyanim is given
a [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬in zero vowel sufformative conjugation, like ‫ מַצֵּא‬in the
Pi’el binyan: only in the active voice of the Imperative of ‫ ל"א‬a verb is
available. The stem vowel for consonantal inflection in the Imperative

of all binyanim as well as other members of the secondary form, such as
the Imperfect Tense, is given a [ֶ○] (‫)סגול‬, a short vowel to balance up
the long vowel in the consonantal pronominal. In vocalic sufformative
conjugation for the Imperative, the astern ‫ א‬is incompetent to form a
syllable with a vocalic pronominal, hence it must be left quiescent, relying
on the preceding consonant to form the pillion syllable, as shown by the

vowels in the word: ּ‫מִצְאו‬, but the [‫ )הִירִיק מָלֵא( ]○ִי‬as the pronominal
sufformative for second person feminine singular partners well with the
quiescent ‫ א‬to form a pillion syllable, as reflected in the vowels for the
word: ‫מִצְאִי‬.
10.56
The inflectional procedures operative in the Imperative would be
applicable to conjugation in the Imperfect Tense as well as other
members of the secondary forms.
10.57
In zero vowel sufformative conjugation for the Perfect Tense of ‫ ל"א‬verbs,
a [ָ○] (‫ )קמץ‬is assigned to the Simple binyanim as well as passive voice
of non-Qal binyanim to configure the pillion syllable, but a [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬is
allocated to verbs in the active voice of non-Qal binyanim, except Hiphil
binyan which has its own signatory epenthesis the vowel [‫מלא( ]○ִי‬
‫)היריק‬, to do the same task, while the default prosthesis of each non-Qal
binyan is immutable. The inflection of vocalic sufformative conjugation
in the Perfect Tense would go through the same procedure as those in the
Imperfect Tense, namely the abdication of the hind consonant and the
shortening of the stem vowel, which may or may not trigger propretonic
reduction of head vowel as the presence of contiguous ‫ שוואים‬in the
prosthesis has been treated by default. In consonantal sufformative
conjugation for the Perfect Tense, a [ָ○] (‫ )קמץ‬is assigned to the Qal
and Hophal binyanim, while a [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬is employed in all other non-
Qal binyanim, active as well as passive voice, except the Hophal binyan.
The Niph’al is treated with an active stem vowel, namely the [ֵ○] (‫)צרי‬
while the ‫ ל"א‬is quiescent. The vowel under the default prosthesis would
be immutable in all forms of conjugation for the preterite verbs.
10.58
There are four members in the Active Participle for the ‫ ל"א‬verbs,
namely the Qal, Pi’el, Hithpa’el and the Hiphil; and another four in the
Passive Participle, namely the Qal, Niph’al, Pu’al and Huphal but there
is no Hophal passive participle for ‫ ל"א‬verbs. In zero vowel sufformative
conjugation of both the Active participle and Passive Participle of these

verb types, the vowel patterns are the same as in the regular, strong
verbs where, in the case of Qal binyan, the vowels would be identical
with the vowels in ‫ פֹּעֵל‬and ‫פָּעוּל‬, or the base vowels in the name of
the Participles in each binyan. Apart from the default head prosthesis,
the active voice binyanim would load a [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬to install the pillion
syllable in the active binyan Participle while the vowel [ָ○] (‫ )קמץ‬is
used as stem vowel for the passive binyan Participle. Only the Hophal
(passive) Participle feminine singular vocalic sufformative conjugation
assumes the segholate noun pattern with a [‫ )תָו( ]ת‬ending but loads a
[ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬instead of the [ֶ○] (‫ )סגול‬as stem vowel; declension for the
remainder three Passive Participles would be done in a manner similar
to the alternative feminine ending for vocalic sufformative conjugation,
that is, vocalic [‫ָה‬---] (‫ )קמץ־הא‬combination. Declension for the plural
Participle, both active and passive, masculine and feminine would be
identical with the regular, strong verb but the astern ‫ א‬in these verbs
would be quiescent: ‫קְטֹלְנָה‬.
The ‫ ל"ה‬verbs
10.59
The Qal Infinitive Absolute of ‫ ל"ה‬verbs are rather consistent in the
sense that these verbs utilize the same set of default vowels as that of the
Qal Infinitive Absolute of the regular verbs, as shown by the the vowles
in the word: ‫ בָּנֹה‬building, although the pillion vowel is written as [ֹ○]
(‫ )הולם חסר‬instead of the full spelling [ֹ‫)הולם מלא( ]ו‬. There are two
forms of Niph’al Infinitive Absolute for ‫ ל"ה‬verbs: (i) ‫( ;נִבְנֹה‬ii) ‫הִבָּנֵה‬.
Like wise the vowel pattern expressed in the name of the base form of
each binyan is used as the vowels for the Infinitive Absolute in other
non-Qal binyanim of ‫ ל"ה‬verbs.
10.60
In the case of the Infinitive Construct of ‫ ל"ה‬verbs in all binyanim, the
astern ‫ה‬, which is already given in the Infinitive Absolute, is abdicated
for the syllable ‫ות‬---, a distinguish feature of feminine noun ending,

which would merge with the preceding consonant to form the pillion
syllable, playing the role as stem vowel as well. The original astern ‫ה‬,
however, would resurface in all other forms of the verb, including the
Imperative and the participles in every binyan. In the Hebrew Bible the
Old Testament, the Infinitive Construct of ‫ ל"ה‬verbs have not been made
available in the passive form of the Intensive and Causative binyanim,
that is, the Pu’al and Hophal stems.
10.61
The Imperative of ‫ ל"ה‬verb would tote the vowel [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬as stem vowel
in zero vowel sufformative inflection (2ms) in all binyanim including
Qal and Niph’al binyanim. To perform consonantal sufformative
conjugation (2fp) for the Imperative of ‫ ל"ה‬verb, a helping vowel [‫]○ֶי‬
(‫ )סֶגוֹל מָלֵא‬is required in all binyanim, while the vocalic sufformative
conjugation would be lodged to the root without the astern [‫ )הֵא( ]ה‬in
every binyan. The Imperatives of ‫ ל"ה‬verb have not been made available
in the passive form of the Intensive and Causative binyanim, namely, the
Pu’al and Hophal stems.
10.62
To configure the Imperfect Tense of ‫ ל"ה‬verbs, apart from affixing
the preformatives, the ‫אית”ן‬, there is a requirement of a helping vowel
[‫ )סֶגוֹל מָלֵא( ]○ֶי‬in consonantal sufformatives conjugation of all
binyanim, active as well as passive binyan, while in vocalic sufformative
conjugation of every binyan, the astern, original [‫]ה‬, as a paragoge, is
abdicated and shortening of the stem vowel to a [ְ○] (‫ )שווא נע‬would
take place except in cases of default immutable vowel. In the case of
zero vowel sufformative conjugation, the pillion syllable both retains the
[‫ )הֵא( ]ה‬and loads a [ֶ○] (‫ )סֶגוֹל‬as stem vowel. The Imperfect Tense
of ‫ ל"ה‬verb is available in all binyanim.
10.63
The Perfect Tense of ‫ ל"ה‬verb is available in all binyanim. The
conjugation for the Perfect Tense of ‫ ל"ה‬verbs, likewise, requires
a helping vowel [‫ )היריק מלא( ]○ִי‬in the affixing of consonantal

sufformatives in all active binyanim of the verb, while the passive
binyanim of the verb would embed one [‫ )צֵירֵי מלא( ]○ֵי‬as helping
vowel in consonantal sufformative conjugation. The strong [ּ‫ )תָּו( ]ת‬in

consonantal sufformatives inflection is softened to a weak [‫ ]ת‬without
the ‫דגש‬. In zero vowel sufformative conjugation in the Perfect Tense
for ‫ל"ה‬, the stem vowel would be a [ָ○] (‫ ;)קמץ‬it partners well with a
[‫ )הֵא( ]ה‬in the astern position of the verb, hence the name of ‫ ל"ה‬verb.
There are two formats involved in the vocalic conjugation for verbs of
‫ ל"ה‬root. The Perfect Tense third person feminine singular specially
required a [‫ )תָּו( ]ת‬to take up the position vacated by the ‫ל"ה‬, as the ‫ת‬
in ‫ בָּנְתָה‬she built, while the ‫ ל"ה‬in the Perfect Tense third person both
gender is simply abandoned without replacement or seeking the help of
another vowel, as in vowels in the sample word: ּ‫ בָּנו‬they built.
10.64
The Participles—Active as well as Passive, apart from the default
prosthesis in all binyanim out side the Qal Stem would be given a
[ֶ○] (‫ )סֶגוֹל‬as the stem vowel, including the Qal stem in zero vowel
sufformative conjugation. There would be no segholate noun format
for feminine singular Participle both active as well as passive voice for
‫ ל"ה‬verbs but the declension of feminine singular verb for these verbs
would be a vocalic format: [‫ָה‬---] (‫)קמץ־הא‬. The declension of Passive
Participle of all other binyanim would utilize the pattern of a strong verb
except the Qal Passive Participle, which is given a combination of [‫]וּי‬
(‫שוּרוּק מלא‬ ׁ ) as stem vowel in the pillion syllable of the Qal Passive
Participle.
10.65
‫ע‬/‫ ל"ח‬verbs
These are two-syllable verbs that carry a guttural ‫ ע‬or ‫ ח‬in the "‫ל‬
position, which required a ‫( פַּ֫תַּח גְּנוּבָה‬pathach furtive) underneath these
gutturals. It is shown in all binyanim only in the Infinitive Absolute. It is
shown again under certain conditions in other configurations. Other than
the vowel patterns of ‫ע‬/‫ ל"ח‬would be as normal as the regular, strong
verbs, as could be seen in the Qal Infinitive Absolute of the word: ַ‫שָׁלוֹח‬
(once more, beware of the ‫)פַּ֫תַּח גְּנוּבָה‬. There are two members of the
Infinitive Absolute for the Niph’al: the ‫ נ‬prosthesis engages the vowel
[ֹ‫)הולם מלא( ]ו‬, which is closely related to the Infintive Absolute, as
stem vowel: ַ‫ ;נִשְּׁלוֹח‬the other headed with [‫ )הֵא( ]ה‬prosthesis would

take [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬as stem vowel in the pillion syllable: ַ‫הִשָּׁלֵח‬. The Pattern
of vowels in the Infinitive Absolute of other binyanim of ‫ע‬/‫ ל"ח‬verbs
would keep close to the regular, strong verbs of each binyan.
10.66
The vowel pattern in the Infinitive Construct of all binyanim of the
‫ע‬/‫ ל"ח‬verbs, surprisingly, is rather consistent and straightforward as
all verbs of these roots would take up the [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬as the stem vowel
alongside the default prosthesis of each binyan, which is immutable
in all binyanim. The vowel [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬in fact is the only stem vowel
in use in all verbal form of ‫ע‬/‫ ל"ח‬roots, the Perfect Tense as well as
the Imperfect Tense: Just add the [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬to the pillion syllable of
anyone verbal form of these ‫ע‬/‫ ל"ח‬verbs, the task of conjugation is
well done, of course adding the relevant pronominal sufformative and or
preformative.
a) The ‫ פַּ֫תַּח גְּנוּבָה‬is shown only in Qal Infinitive Construct and

the Hiphil Infinitive Construct. In fact, the ‫ פַּ֫תַּח גְּנוּבָה‬is mostly
shown in zero vowel sufformative conjugation in the Hiphil binyan
where a long vowel such as [‫ )היריק מלא( ]○ִי‬is the stem vowel
by default: in the Hiphil Participle (active), Hiphil Imperfect and
the Hiphil Perfect, in addition to the Hiphil Infinitives; whereas
in the Qal binyan, it is only in the Qal Participles—active and
passive—where there is zero vowel sufformative conjugation the
‫ פַּ֫תַּח גְּנוּבָה‬is shown.
b) The vowel ‫ פַּ֫תַּח גְּנוּבָה‬is not shown in the Imperative Mood of all
binyanim of ‫ע‬/‫ ל"ח‬verbs.
c) In the Perfect Tense of all binyanim where there is no accent shift

in the inflection of the second person feminine singular you lady
which requires consonantal sufformative thus enriching the verb
with double ‫פתח‬, like the word: ְּ‫—שָׁלַ֫חַת‬double ‫פתח‬.

10.67
Geminate verbs or ‫ ע"ע‬verbs
Geminate verbs are verbs having two identical hind consonants making
up a single, pillion syllable in the Perfect Tense third person singular,
as the sample root: ‫סבב‬, which Qal Infinitive Absolute is ‫סָבוֹב‬. The
vowel pattern for the Infinitive Absolute of Germinate verbs of each
binyan would be identical with the vowel scheme used in the regular,
strong verbs of each binyan, reflecting the vowels in ‫ מָקוֹר‬in the case
of Qal ‫ביניין‬.
10.68
Similarly, the vowel pattern in the Infinitive Construct, comparing with
the vowels in the counterpart of the regular, strong verbs of each binyan
would be identical, except the Niph’al which has only two syllables as
shown in the sample word: ‫ הִסֵּב‬while there are three syllables in the
regular, strong verb for Niph’al Infinitive Construct as in the sample
word: ‫נִקָּטֵל‬. The Qal Infinitive Construct of Geminate verbs are given
the vowel [ֹ○] (‫ )הלם חסר‬as the sole, head vowel instead of the usual
[ְ○] (‫ )שווא נע‬for dynamic verb as well as stative verbs. The Infinitive
Construct of non-Qal Geminate verbs would be similar to the counterpart
of the regular, strong verbs of each binyan, with the exception of Hiphil
Infinitive Construct of Geminate verb, which would assume the same
vowel patttern as the Hiphil Infinitive Absolute Geminate verb, instead
of the key epenthesis [‫ )היריק מלא( ]○ִי‬employed in the regular verbs.
10.69
Appear to be similar with Hollow verbs or bi-consonantal verbs, there
would be no confusion, however, between Hollow verbs and Geminate
verbs. In the Infinitive Construct, Hollow verbs display the middle vowel
in either a [‫ )וָו( ]ו‬which could be [ּ‫ )שׁוּרוּק( ]ו‬or [ֹ‫)הולם מלא( ]ו‬, or [‫]○ִי‬
(‫ )היריק מלא‬or [‫ )יוד( ]י‬in texts without nikkudim, making up three
consonants altogether, without counting the prosthesis; whereas Geminate
verbs would have only two consonants in the Infinitive Construct and
the Imperative, without the prosthesis. In the case of the Perfect Tense,
for Hollow verbs, only in singular zero vowel sufformative conjugation

would the verb appear in two consonants but load a [ָ○] (‫ )קמץ‬as the
sole vowel, while the Perfect Tense of Geminate verbs would have more
than one consonant and load [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬as the pillion vowel, reflecting
the same vowel patterns in the regular, strong verbs.
10.70
In the Qal Imperatives of Geminate verb, a distinction between dynamic
verbs and stative verbs must be made, and the latter would assume a
[ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬as the pillion vowel, while the vowels of dynamic Geminate
verbs of Qal Imperative would be identical as those in the Qal Infinitive
Construct for Geminate verbs. Niph’al Imperative Geminate verbs are
treated as stative verbs, which would appropriate [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬as the theme
vowel. The vowel pattern of non-Qal Imperative verbs would embrace
the same vowel pattern in the Infinitive Construct of each binyan.
10.71
In the Imperfect Tense of Geminate verbs, the vowel pattern of each
binyan duplicates those of the Imperative with the addition of pronominal
preformatives, the ‫אית”ן‬. Other than that, the vowel pattern of the
Geminate Imperfect Tense would be the same as the regular, strong
verbs. There is no Geminate Imperfect Tense for Pu’al binyan.
10.72
The vowel patterns in Qal Participle Geminate verbs both active and
passive would be identical as the regular, strong verbs. A major point
of difference is in feminine singular, a vocalic sufformative conjugation,
to undertake the [‫ָה‬---] (‫ )קמץ־הא‬declension as in the Qal Passive
Participle. Next to the Qal active and passive participle, there are two
active participles in the non-Qal binyanim, and one, the Huphal, in
the passive participle, which would take on similar declension as its
counterparts in the regular, strong verbs.
10.73
Likewise, there is no Geminate Pu’al Perfect Tense. Conjugation for
Geminate verb in the Perfect Tense would be the same as those in the
counterpart of each binyan. Quite logically, the controversial middle
consonant of the verbs would be unfolded and displayed in Pi’el and

Hithpa’el. In the conjugation of other binyanim, a helping vowel [ֹ‫מלא( ]ו‬
‫ )הולם‬is called to duty in all consonantal sufformative conjugations in

the Perfect Tense, singular as well as plural in both genders, in the
Simple binyanim and Causative binyanim. In Hiphil binyan of Geminate
verbs, the helping vowel [ֹ‫ )הולם מלא( ]ו‬would replace the theme vowel
[‫)היריק מלא( ]○ִי‬.
10.74
Similarly, a helping vowel [‫ )סגול מלא( ]○ֶי‬is required in the consonantal
sufformative conjugation of the Imperfect Tense in the Geminate verbs.

Chapter Ten: Hebrew Weak Verbs

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Chapter Ten: Hebrew Weak Verbs

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Chapter

Hebrew Weak Verbs

Absolute would take the dyads of [ֹ‫ו‬+ָ○] (‫חוֹלָם מָלֵא‬+‫)קָמֶץ‬, duplicating

lengthening of the vowel beneath the preceding consonant or virtual

vowel reduction, compensatory lengthening, or propretonic reduction

b. The Weak Verbs

a. Among the weak consonants, [‫ )הֵא( ]ה‬and [‫ )חֵית( ]ח‬are

weak laryngeals; whereas [‫ )עַיִן( ]ע‬is a variable, but more often

b. Whenever there is more than one weak consonant present in

to be classified according to the abaft weak consonant in the

Traditional Modern 2 Modern 1 Hebrew

‘Ayin Guttural II Guttural II-‫ע‬/‫ח‬ ‫ע‬/‫ע”ח‬

Lamed Guttural III Guttural III-‫ע‬/‫ח‬ ‫ע‬/‫ל”ח‬

Guttural” (‫ = גְרוֹנִית = ג( )פ”ג‬guttural), and so on. A sample of weak

Example of Weak Verbs:

Verb class Positions

This is a ‫ פ"א‬verb ‫ד‬ ‫מ‬ ‫א‬ ‫אמד‬

Infinitive Construct) is called Peh Guttural (‫)פ”ג‬

sometimes written as I-Guttural verb or "‫( פ‬Peh) verb type. These

a. Pe-Alef (‫)פ”א‬, (e.g. ‫ אָכַל‬,‫)אָבַד‬. There are only six members

b. Pe-Guttural (‫ פ”גרונית‬or ‫ע‬/‫)פ”ח‬, (e.g. ‫ עָמַד‬,‫)חָזַק‬. Verbs

d. Pe-Yod (‫( )פ”י‬e.g. ‫)יָטַב‬: there are ‫ פ”י‬verbs

be known as ‫י‬/‫ פ”ו‬verbs.

b. The Ayin-Vav and Ayin-Yod or biconsonantal or Hollow verb

c. The Double-Ayin or Ayin-Ayin or Geminate Verb (e.g. ‫)סבב‬

b. The Lamed-Alef (‫( )ל”א‬e.g. ‫ )מָצָא‬verbs end in the ‫ אלף‬letter,

is commissioned with a [ָ○] (‫ )קמץ‬in the Perfect Tense third

c. The Lamed-He (‫( )ל”ה‬e.g. ‫ ) ָגּלָה‬verbs share much features akin

(‫ )קמץ‬in the Perfect Tense third person singular masculine.

a. Only six verbs beginning with [‫)אָלֶף( ]א‬ ‫ פ"א‬verbs

b. Only in the Qal stem would the vowels of

the strong and quiescent form: ‫ אחז‬it seized, ‫ אסף‬to gather,

d. All of these six ‫ פֵּ"א‬verbs are given in the Table above.

e. The default vowels of the Qal Infinitive Absolute of these

f. The default vowels of the Qal Infinitive Construct for these

g. The rationale is that as a general rule when a vocal shewa [ְ○]

‫ ;לֶאֱכֹל‬to speak would be ‫לֶאֱמֹר‬. In addition, only one of

supposed to be written as ‫ ;אֶאֱכַל‬but it is practically impossible

i. Unlike the strong verbs, these six ‫ פֵּ"א‬verbs in the Imperfect

j. Of the six, the root ‫ לאמר‬to speak employs a slightly different

k. Paradigm of wav consecutive is Wav consecutrive

Participle and Qal Passive ‫וַתֹּאמַ֫רְנָה‬ ‫וַתֹאמְרִי‬

m. For the inflection of other binyanim other than Qal stem of

(‫נע‬, would be reduced to [ַ○] (‫ )פתח‬under the rule or propretonic

affected during conjugation: it is to be retained even in cases of

c. The Qal Infinitive Absolute, the Qal Participles: Active as well

take on segholate nouns singular type vowel, as some of these verbs

b. In the Infinitive Construct, both would assume two different form

each: ‫ תְּנָה‬,‫ תֵּן‬give; ‫ קְחָה‬,‫ קַח‬take in the masculine singular but

expression of let him give would be: ‫יִתֶּן‬.

d. The inflection of these two irregular verbs in the Qal Imperfect

e. The inflection of Qal Perfect Tense of the two irregular ‫ פ"נ‬verbs

f. There are two Qal Participles—the active and the passive—each

Participle of masculine plural would be the same as the regular,

know, ‫ יחד‬to be united, ‫ יקע‬to be dislocated, to name a few. Since verbs

to the segholate noun: ‫)לָ(רֶ֫שֶת‬, ‫)לָ(שֶׁ֫בֶת‬.

the Active Participle: ‫ יוֹרְשִים‬,‫ יוֹעֵץ‬,‫ יְרֵאִים; יוֹרֵש‬,‫ יִרְאָה‬,‫יֹרֵא‬. In the

(‫ )יוד‬in the secondary forms (the Infinitive Construct, the Imperative,

‫ יצא‬to go out, ‫ ידע‬to know, ‫ ילד‬to conceive, ‫ ירד‬to descend, ‫ ישב‬to

is no longer necessary to make a distinction between dynamic and stative

have a passive participle. For inflection of consonantal sufformative, the

The '‫ ל‬verbs

because the vowels of the Infinitive Absolute of ‫ ל"א‬verb would be the

available. The stem vowel for consonantal inflection in the Imperative