Site for researching all meanings of Hebrew Bible.
Grammar:Tutorial/Irregular verbs
Affiliate recommendation
Explore linguistics, Hebrew, and Bible study books ๐
Interested in how languages work? Discover books on linguistics, phonetics, grammar, etymology, semantics, Hebrew language studies, Biblical Hebrew, modern Hebrew, Bible study resources, commentaries, concordances, and the science of human language.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Perfect of 3-weak verbs
The verbs, whose dictionary form (3rd, sing., masc.) ends with ื, are called 3-weak. That ื is not a part of the root, thus the root has two letters.
These verbs are declined as shown in the following example with the verb ืื ื:
| person | gender | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd | masculine | ืื ื | ืื ื |
| feminine | ืื ืชื | ||
| 2nd | masculine | ืื ืืช | ืื ืืชื |
| feminine | ืื ืืชื | ||
| 1st | ืื ืืชื | ืื ืื ื |
Imperfect of 3-weak verbs
These verbs are declined as shown in the following example with the verb ืื ื:
| person | gender | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd | masculine | ืืื ื | ืืื ื |
| feminine | ืชืื ื | ืชืื ืื ื | |
| 2nd | masculine | ืชืื ื | ืชืื ื |
| feminine | ืชืื ื | ืชืื ืื ื | |
| 1st | ืืื ื | ื ืื ื |
Note however that in Gen. 1:4 imperfect, 3rd person, sing., masc. of the word ืืจื (from ืจืื) doesn't end with ื but the ื is omitted.
Active participle of 3-weak verbs
3-weak participles are declined like this:
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | ืื ื | ืื ืื |
| feminine | ืื ื or ืื ืื | ืื ืืช |
Perfect of empty verbs
The verbs having ื or ื as the second letter in the three-letter root are called empty verbs, because this ื or ื is omitted in certain grammatical forms. (Some grammarians consider these as having two letter roots. According to Victor Porton, it is more convenient to consider them as three-letter roots because we need to distinguish between ื and ื.)
The perfect of empty words is formed similar to perfect of regular verbs but with two letters (the first and the last letter of the root) instead of the full root.
In imperfect the second letter of the root is not omitted. Before the suffix ื ื in imperfect of empty verbs sometimes is added the letter ื. (WRONG: Sometimes it is omitted in imperfect: Gen. 4:8, word ืืืงื.
In participles of empty verbs the second letter of the root is omitted.
Perfect and imperfect of double verbs
The verbs whose two last letters of the root are identical are called double verbs. In some forms of perfect the last letter is replaced with ื. An example with perfect of the word ืกืื (encircled):
| person | gender | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd | masculine | ืกืื | ืกืืื |
| feminine | ืกืืื | ||
| 2nd | masculine | ืกืืืช | ืกืืืชื |
| feminine | ืกืืืชื | ||
| 1st | ืกืืืชื | ืกืืื ื |
Some of double verbs follow the regular declension.
In imperfect of double verbs one of the double letters is omitted.
Imperfect of 1-ื
For 1-ื verbs the letter ื is omitted after prefixes in imperfect.
ื is also sometimes omitted in imperative of 1-ื verbs.
In infinitive or these verbs the first ื in the root is omitted and added ืช after the root.
Some of the verbs 1-ื are declined in the same way as 1-ื .
Imperfect of 1-ื verbs
In the first person, singular of 1-ื (having ื as the first letter of the root) verbs that ื is omitted (so leaving only one ื instead of two consecutive ืื).
