נִסְפָּח א׳ · לוּחוֹת הַפֹּעַל / Appendix A · The Verb Charts
Every Forms Met box in this book ends with a promise: paradigm — Appendix A. This is that appendix. It holds the strong verb through all seven binyanim, one exemplar for every weak class the chapters taught, the great irregulars, the verb with its object suffixes, a field guide for naming a form on sight, and — at the end — the complete index of every sight-form the book handed you on credit.
Conventions: forms are Biblical unless noted; Modern Hebrew reads the same charts with its own names for them — the qatal is the past (עָבָר), the yiqtol is the future (עָתִיד), the participle is the present (הוֹוֶה) — and everyday Modern speech retires the special feminine-plural forms (תִּשְׁמֹרְנָה) in favor of the masculine ones, keeps no wayyiqtol, and often prefers the future or infinitive to the bare imperative. Forms marked * are constructed to complete a pattern and are not attested for that root (the Chapter 8 asterisk).
How to read the tables: person tables run from the third person down — the 3ms in the top row is the dictionary form, the naked stem everything else is built on (Chapter 9 taught the qatal in this order; Chapter 13’s אית״ן mnemonic covers the same ten slots from the other end). And the Hebrew columns are set flush right, so that shared stems stack on the right edge and whatever changes — the person machinery — fans out to the left. A column’s ragged left edge is the grammar.
1. The Strong Verb: שׁ-מ-ר Through the Seven Binyanim
The grid — principal parts
| Binyan · its work | Perfect (qatal) | Imperfect (yiqtol) | Imperative | Infinitive | Participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| קַל · the simple act | שָׁמַר | יִשְׁמֹר | שְׁמֹר | לִשְׁמֹר | שׁוֹמֵר · pass. שָׁמוּר |
| נִפְעַל · its passive | נִשְׁמַר | יִשָּׁמֵר | הִשָּׁמֵר | לְהִשָּׁמֵר | נִשְׁמָר |
| פִּעֵל · the act intensified | שִׁמֵּר | יְשַׁמֵּר | שַׁמֵּר | לְשַׁמֵּר | מְשַׁמֵּר |
| פֻּעַל · its passive | שֻׁמַּר | יְשֻׁמַּר | — | — | מְשֻׁמָּר |
| הִפְעִיל · causing it | הִשְׁמִיר* | יַשְׁמִיר* | הַשְׁמֵר* | לְהַשְׁמִיר* | מַשְׁמִיר* |
| הֻפְעַל · its passive | הוּשְׁמַר* | יוּשְׁמַר* | — | — | מוּשְׁמָר* |
| הִתְפַּעֵל · to oneself | הִשְׁתַּמֵּר | יִשְׁתַּמֵּר | הִשְׁתַּמֵּר | לְהִשְׁתַּמֵּר | מִשְׁתַּמֵּר |
The work-labels are Chapter 8’s: קַל is the active side, נִפְעַל its passive or reflexive; פִּעֵל intensifies (שָׁבַר broke, שִׁבֵּר shattered) and פֻּעַל is done-to; הִפְעִיל causes, הֻפְעַל is caused-to; הִתְפַּעֵל turns the act on its own subject — oneself, or each other. And the הִתְפַּעֵל of a root beginning with שׁ swaps its ת inward: הִתְ + שַׁמֵּר comes out הִשְׁתַּמֵּר, not הִתְשַׁמֵּר (metathesis, Chapter 8).
קַל in full
Perfect (qatal) — Chapter 9. The stem שָׁמַר stands still on the right; nine endings do the talking:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 3m | שָׁמַר | שָׁמְרוּ |
| 3f | שָׁמְרָה | שָׁמְרוּ |
| 2m | שָׁמַרְתָּ | שְׁמַרְתֶּם |
| 2f | שָׁמַרְתְּ | שְׁמַרְתֶּן |
| 1 | שָׁמַרְתִּי | שָׁמַרְנוּ |
The machinery, isolated (Chapter 9’s suffix table, completed):
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 3m | — (the bare stem) | ־וּ |
| 3f | ־ָה | ־וּ |
| 2m | ־תָּ | ־תֶּם |
| 2f | ־תְּ | ־תֶּן |
| 1 | ־תִּי | ־נוּ |
Two vowel habits to hear: the vowel-initial endings steal the stem’s second vowel (שָׁמְרָה, שָׁמְרוּ — shamrah, shamru), and the heavy endings ־תֶּם/־תֶּן pull the accent forward and thin the first vowel to sheva: שְׁמַרְתֶּם.
Imperfect (yiqtol) — Chapter 13. Person moves to the front:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 3m | יִשְׁמֹר | יִשְׁמְרוּ |
| 3f | תִּשְׁמֹר | תִּשְׁמֹרְנָה |
| 2m | תִּשְׁמֹר | תִּשְׁמְרוּ |
| 2f | תִּשְׁמְרִי | תִּשְׁמֹרְנָה |
| 1 | אֶשְׁמֹר | נִשְׁמֹר |
The prefixes are Chapter 13’s אית״ן, and they carry almost the whole load:
| Prefix | Who it marks |
|---|---|
| אֶ־ | I |
| נִ־ | we |
| יִ־ | he · they (m.) |
| תִּ־ | she · you · they (f.) |
Three endings sort out what the prefixes leave ambiguous:
| Ending | Who it marks |
|---|---|
| ־ִי | you (f. sg.) |
| ־וּ | you (m. pl.) · they (m.) |
| ־נָה | you (f. pl.) · they (f.) |
Imperative — Chapter 13. Take the yiqtol’s second persons and strip the prefix; the command is what remains:
| The yiqtol | Strip the prefix | |
|---|---|---|
| m. sg. | תִּשְׁמֹר | שְׁמֹר |
| f. sg. | תִּשְׁמְרִי | שִׁמְרִי |
| m. pl. | תִּשְׁמְרוּ | שִׁמְרוּ |
| f. pl. | תִּשְׁמֹרְנָה | שְׁמֹרְנָה |
Where stripping would leave two shevas stacked at the door (שְׁמְרִי*), the first repairs to a hireq: שִׁמְרִי, שִׁמְרוּ. Negative commands never use these forms: אַל־תִּשְׁמֹר (plea) / לֹא תִשְׁמֹר (decree).
Participles: active שׁוֹמֵר, שׁוֹמֶרֶת, שׁוֹמְרִים, שׁוֹמְרוֹת; passive שָׁמוּר “guarded” (the שְׁמוּרָה of the book’s first road sign).
Wayyiqtol — Chapter 6: וַיִּשְׁמֹר “and he guarded” — the (short) yiqtol harnessed by the vav to march the narrative forward. Jussive/cohortative — Chapters 13, 15: יִשְׁמֹר “may he guard” (with suffix: יִשְׁמָרְכֶם), אֶשְׁמְרָה “let me guard.”
פִּעֵל in full — the model for the derived stems
Perfect:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 3m | שִׁמֵּר | שִׁמְּרוּ |
| 3f | שִׁמְּרָה | שִׁמְּרוּ |
| 2m | שִׁמַּרְתָּ | שִׁמַּרְתֶּם |
| 2f | שִׁמַּרְתְּ | שִׁמַּרְתֶּן |
| 1 | שִׁמַּרְתִּי | שִׁמַּרְנוּ |
Imperfect:
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 3m | יְשַׁמֵּר | יְשַׁמְּרוּ |
| 3f | תְּשַׁמֵּר | תְּשַׁמֵּרְנָה |
| 2m | תְּשַׁמֵּר | תְּשַׁמְּרוּ |
| 2f | תְּשַׁמְּרִי | תְּשַׁמֵּרְנָה |
| 1 | אֲשַׁמֵּר | נְשַׁמֵּר |
The other derived stems run on the same rails: take the grid’s principal parts above, and conjugate the persons exactly as פִּעֵל does — prefixes in front for the yiqtol, the qatal endings behind. נִפְעַל keeps its נִ in the perfect (נִשְׁמַרְתִּי) and assimilates it in the imperfect (יִשָּׁמֵר, with the dagesh remembering it); הִפְעִיל keeps its long hiriq everywhere except the jussive and wayyiqtol (יַשְׁמֵר, וַיַּשְׁמֵר).
2. The Weak Classes — One Exemplar Each
Every table now ends in a שׁ-מ-ר column: read across a row and you see exactly where the weak root leaves the strong path. Rows not shown behave like the strong verb; the notes beneath each table name the mischief. The chapter is where the class was taught.
But before the classes, the causes. The textbooks’ dozen weak classes are not a dozen facts: they are four sound changes, each landing in first, second, or third root position. Hold the four and every table below turns from a memory into a derivation.
| The mechanism | What happens | Where it surfaces below |
|---|---|---|
| Throat letters | א ה ח ע (and often ר) cannot carry a plain sheva and pull their neighbors’ vowels toward a — the murmur comes out colored: עֲ, אֱ, חֳ (0.3’s hataf vowels, explained at last) | I-guttural (יַעֲמֹד, אֶעֱמֹד) — and every guttural elsewhere in a root |
| Quiescence | An א gives up closing its syllable: it falls silent, the vowel before it stretches in compensation, and a following ת stands after a vowel — so its dagesh goes | III-א (קָרָא, קָרָאתִי); I-א’s darkened יֹאמַר |
| Glides | ו and י are the weakest letters in the language, and one weakness fills three seats. Third position: the glide contracts away — the “III-ה” class is really III-י, and the hireq-yod of עָשִׂיתִי is the lost letter’s ghost. First position: it drops or hardens (יֵשֵׁב). Second position: it becomes the vowel — the hollow verbs | III-ה, I-י, hollow — three chapters’ strands, one mechanism in three seats |
| Merger | A vowelless נ assimilates into whatever follows and survives as its dagesh — the same process that turns Latin in-possibilis into impossibilis. Twin letters fuse the same way; and Hebrew refuses a doubled letter at the end of a word (עַם — but עַמִּים) | I-נ (יִפֹּל), both ends of נתן, the ל of לקח, the geminates |
And the law of stacking: doubly weak roots invent nothing. עשה runs the glide’s III-ה pattern and takes the throat letter’s echo-vowel (אֶעֱשֶׂה); נשׂא merges its נ and quiesces its א (אֶשָּׂא). Identify each weakness by its position and apply the rules independently — that is the whole art of reading the tables below, and of doing without them.
I-Guttural — עמד “stand” (Chapter 16)
| עמד “stand” | שׁ-מ-ר (strong) | |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect (3ms · 1cs) | עָמַד · עָמַדְתִּי | שָׁמַר · שָׁמַרְתִּי |
| Yiqtol (3ms · 1cs) | יַעֲמֹד · אֶעֱמֹד | יִשְׁמֹר · אֶשְׁמֹר |
| Imperative (ms · fs · mp) | עֲמֹד · עִמְדִי · עִמְדוּ | שְׁמֹר · שִׁמְרִי · שִׁמְרוּ |
| Infinitive | לַעֲמֹד | לִשְׁמֹר |
| Participle | עוֹמֵד | שׁוֹמֵר |
The perfect is regular; the trouble starts when a sheva is due. A guttural refuses plain sheva, so the yiqtol’s prefix vowel warms to a and the guttural takes a matching echo-vowel: יַעֲמֹד, and with e in the first person, אֶעֱמֹד. Likewise חשב (יַחְשֹׁב, אֶחְשֹׁב), עבר (יַעֲבֹר), עזב (יַעֲזֹב).
I-א — אמר “say” (Chapter 14)
| אמר “say” | שׁ-מ-ר (strong) | |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect (3ms · 1cs) | אָמַר · אָמַרְתִּי | שָׁמַר · שָׁמַרְתִּי |
| Yiqtol (3ms · 1cs) | יֹאמַר · אֹמַר | יִשְׁמֹר · אֶשְׁמֹר |
| Wayyiqtol | וַיֹּאמֶר | וַיִּשְׁמֹר |
| Imperative (ms · fs · mp) | אֱמֹר · אִמְרִי · אִמְרוּ | שְׁמֹר · שִׁמְרִי · שִׁמְרוּ |
| Infinitive | לֵאמֹר; Modern לוֹמַר | לִשְׁמֹר |
| Participle | אוֹמֵר | שׁוֹמֵר |
In the yiqtol the א falls silent and the prefix vowel darkens to o: יֹאמַר. The wayyiqtol וַיֹּאמֶר is the Bible’s most frequent verb form; the infinitive לֵאמֹר is its quotation frame (“…saying:”). Five verbs walk this path in full: אמר, אכל (יֹאכַל), אבד, אבה, אפה.
I-נ — נפל, נתן and their Hiphils (Chapter 10)
| נפל “fall” | נתן “give” | שׁ-מ-ר (strong) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect (3ms · 1cs) | נָפַל | נָתַן · נָתַתִּי | שָׁמַר · שָׁמַרְתִּי |
| Yiqtol (3ms · 1cs) | יִפֹּל | יִתֵּן · אֶתֵּן | יִשְׁמֹר · אֶשְׁמֹר |
| Imperative (ms · fs · mp) | נְפֹל | תֵּן · תְּנִי · תְּנוּ | שְׁמֹר · שִׁמְרִי · שִׁמְרוּ |
| Infinitive | לִנְפֹּל | לָתֵת | לִשְׁמֹר |
| Participle | נוֹפֵל | נוֹתֵן | שׁוֹמֵר |
The נ assimilates into the next letter and survives as its dagesh: יִפֹּל. In נתן both nuns misbehave — the second assimilates too (נָתַתִּי), and the imperative and infinitive drop the first outright (תֵּן, לָתֵת). The Hiphil of a I-נ root hides the נ the same way: הִגִּיד/יַגִּיד “tell” (נגד), הִגִּיעַ/יַגִּיעַ “arrive” (נגע), הִצִּיל “rescue” (נצל). And נשׂא “carry” adds a III-א ending: יִשָּׂא, אֶשָּׂא, imperative שָׂא, infinitive לָשֵׂאת.
I-י — ישב, ידע (Chapter 11)
| ישב “sit, dwell” | ידע “know” | שׁ-מ-ר (strong) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect (3ms) | יָשַׁב | יָדַע | שָׁמַר |
| Yiqtol (3ms · 1cs) | יֵשֵׁב · אֵשֵׁב | יֵדַע · אֵדַע | יִשְׁמֹר · אֶשְׁמֹר |
| Imperative (ms · fs · mp) | שֵׁב · שְׁבִי · שְׁבוּ | דַּע · דְּעִי · דְּעוּ | שְׁמֹר · שִׁמְרִי · שִׁמְרוּ |
| Infinitive | לָשֶׁבֶת | לָדַעַת | לִשְׁמֹר |
| Participle | יוֹשֵׁב | יוֹדֵעַ | שׁוֹמֵר |
In the yiqtol the י vanishes and the prefix vowel lengthens to tsere: יֵשֵׁב. The imperative loses the י entirely (שֵׁב, דַּע), and the infinitive rebuilds itself with a ת: לָשֶׁבֶת, לָדַעַת. Their Hiphils restore the lost letter as ו: הוֹשִׁיב “seat,” הוֹדִיעַ “make known.” Likewise ירד (יֵרֵד, רֵד, לָרֶדֶת), יצא (יֵצֵא, צֵא, לָצֵאת), ילד. That restored ו is no accident — these roots began with w (Akkadian still says wašābum where Hebrew says יָשַׁב); Canaanite hardened the old w to y at the front of a word, and the tsere of יֵשֵׁב is its fossil.
Hollow — קום, בוא, שים (Chapter 7)
| קום “rise” | בוא “come” | שים “put” | שׁ-מ-ר (strong) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect (3ms · 1cs) | קָם · קַמְתִּי | בָּא · בָּאתִי | שָׂם · שַׂמְתִּי | שָׁמַר · שָׁמַרְתִּי |
| Yiqtol (3ms) | יָקוּם | יָבוֹא | יָשִׂים | יִשְׁמֹר |
| Wayyiqtol (short) | וַיָּקָם | וַיָּבֹא | וַיָּשֶׂם | וַיִּשְׁמֹר |
| Imperative (ms) | קוּם | בּוֹא | שִׂים | שְׁמֹר |
| Infinitive | לָקוּם | לָבוֹא | לָשִׂים | לִשְׁמֹר |
| Participle | קָם | בָּא | שָׂם | שׁוֹמֵר |
The middle letter is a vowel in disguise, and the yiqtol’s prefix takes qamats — יָקוּם against the strong יִשְׁמֹר. Feminine and plural imperatives add the usual endings (קוּמִי, קוּמוּ). The 3ms perfect and the participle are homographs — בָּא is “he came” and “coming”; context decides. This is also why the dictionary files these verbs under קוּם and בּוֹא rather than קָם and בָּא: the citation form is the one that still shows the hidden vowel, and it tells you the sub-class at a glance (שׁוּרֻק, hireq-yod, or holam). Arabic keeps the whole drama audible — qāma / yaqūmu. The Hiphil puts the hidden vowel to work: הֵבִיא “bring,” יָבִיא, הֵקִים “raise up,” הֵשִׁיב “bring back” (the שׁוּב of the Return: שָׁב, יָשׁוּב, שׁוּב!, לָשׁוּב).
III-ה — עשה and the indispensable היה (Chapter 9)
| עשה “do, make” | שׁ-מ-ר (strong) | |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect (3ms · 1cs) | עָשָׂה · עָשִׂיתִי | שָׁמַר · שָׁמַרְתִּי |
| Yiqtol (3ms · 1cs) | יַעֲשֶׂה · אֶעֱשֶׂה | יִשְׁמֹר · אֶשְׁמֹר |
| Wayyiqtol (short) | וַיַּעַשׂ | וַיִּשְׁמֹר |
| Imperative (ms) | עֲשֵׂה | שְׁמֹר |
| Infinitive | לַעֲשׂוֹת | לִשְׁמֹר |
| Participle | עוֹשֶׂה | שׁוֹמֵר |
The ה is not a root letter but a vowel-holder, and it leaves under pressure: before endings the stem closes with hireq-yod (עָשִׂיתִי — the class’s fingerprint), the infinitive ends in ־וֹת, and the wayyiqtol shortens to whatever is left standing (וַיַּעַשׂ). עשה is doubly weak — the guttural ע also takes Chapter 16’s echo-vowel (אֶעֱשֶׂה).
היה “be” — in full, because everything stands on it:
| Person | Perfect sg. | Perfect pl. | Yiqtol sg. | Yiqtol pl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3m | הָיָה | הָיוּ | יִהְיֶה | יִהְיוּ |
| 3f | הָיְתָה | הָיוּ | תִּהְיֶה | תִּהְיֶינָה |
| 2m | הָיִיתָ | הֱיִיתֶם | תִּהְיֶה | תִּהְיוּ |
| 2f | הָיִית | הֱיִיתֶן | תִּהְיִי | תִּהְיֶינָה |
| 1 | הָיִיתִי | הָיִינוּ | אֶהְיֶה | נִהְיֶה |
Short form יְהִי “let there be”; wayyiqtol וַיְהִי “and it was” — the two words Genesis 1 builds the world with. Imperative הֱיֵה · הֲיִי · הֱיוּ (the וַהֲיִי of Bialik’s plea). Likewise ראה (יִרְאֶה, short וַיַּרְא), עלה (וַיַּעַל), בכה (וַיֵּבְךְּ), חיה. And the class’s secret is in its cousins’ mouths: these were III-י roots, and Arabic still conjugates the letter Hebrew lost — banā, yabnī “build.”
III-א — קרא, מצא (Chapter 13)
| קרא “read, call” | שׁ-מ-ר (strong) | |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect (3ms · 1cs) | קָרָא · קָרָאתִי | שָׁמַר · שָׁמַרְתִּי |
| Yiqtol (3ms · 1cs) | יִקְרָא · אֶקְרָא | יִשְׁמֹר · אֶשְׁמֹר |
| Imperative (ms · fs · mp) | קְרָא · קִרְאִי · קִרְאוּ | שְׁמֹר · שִׁמְרִי · שִׁמְרוּ |
| Infinitive | לִקְרֹא | לִשְׁמֹר |
| Participle | קוֹרֵא | שׁוֹמֵר |
The א keeps its seat but falls silent, and the vowel before it stretches long: קָרָא, קָרָאתִי (no dagesh in the ת — the א quiesced). That soft ת is evidence with a date on it: the ת could only soften once a vowel ran straight into it, so the א must have fallen silent before the softening rule came through — two sound changes, caught in stratigraphic order, in a single word you can say. In the yiqtol the final vowel is a, not the strong verb’s o: יִקְרָא. Likewise מצא: מָצָא, מָצָאתִי, יִמְצָא, מְצָא, לִמְצֹא, מוֹצֵא.
Geminate — סבב “surround” (Chapter 15)
| סבב “surround” | שׁ-מ-ר (strong) | |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect (3ms · 3cp) | סָבַב · סַבּוּ | שָׁמַר · שָׁמְרוּ |
| Perfect (1cs) | סַבּוֹתִי | שָׁמַרְתִּי |
| Yiqtol (3ms) | יָסֹב | יִשְׁמֹר |
| Imperative · Infinitive | סֹב · לָסֹב | שְׁמֹר · לִשְׁמֹר |
| Participle | סוֹבֵב | שׁוֹמֵר |
The twin letters fuse into one with a dagesh, and before consonant-endings a linking holem-vav appears: סַבּוֹתִי “I surrounded” — six letters where the strong verb spends eight. In the bare 3ms the fusion hides, because Hebrew refuses a doubled letter at the end of a word — the rule is not even a verb rule: it is why the people are עַם but the peoples עַמִּים. With an object suffix: סַבּוּנִי “they surrounded me” (Ps 118:11). Modern Hebrew mostly detours around the bare geminate: הִסְתּוֹבֵב “go around,” סוֹבֵב “turn (something).”
3. The Great Irregulars (Chapter 17)
| הלך “go” | לקח “take” | נתן “give” | יכל “be able” | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect | הָלַךְ | לָקַח | נָתַן | יָכֹל · יָכֹלְתִּי |
| Yiqtol | יֵלֵךְ · אֵלֵךְ | יִקַּח · אֶקַּח | יִתֵּן · אֶתֵּן | יוּכַל · אוּכַל |
| Wayyiqtol | וַיֵּלֶךְ | וַיִּקַּח | וַיִּתֵּן | — |
| Imperative | לֵךְ · לְכִי · לְכוּ | קַח · קְחִי · קְחוּ | תֵּן · תְּנִי · תְּנוּ | — |
| Infinitive | לָלֶכֶת | לָקַחַת | לָתֵת | — |
| Participle | הוֹלֵךְ | לוֹקֵחַ | נוֹתֵן | יָכוֹל |
הלך behaves like a I-י verb that lost a letter it never had; לקח assimilates its ל as if it were a נ; נתן loses both nuns in the infinitive; יכל has no command and no infinitive — ability is not ordered, only had.
4. The Verb With Its Object (Chapter 15)
| Suffix | Means | On the perfect | On the yiqtol |
|---|---|---|---|
| ־נִי | me | שְׁמָרַנִי | יִשְׁמְרֵנִי |
| ־ךָ | you (ms) | שְׁמָרְךָ · מְשַׁחְתִּיךָ | יִשְׁמָרְךָ |
| ־ךְ / ־ֵךְ | you (fs) | שְׁמָרֵךְ | אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ (Ps 137:5) |
| ־הוּ / ־וֹ | him, it | שְׁמָרוֹ · וַיִּתְּנֵהוּ | יִשְׁמְרֵהוּ |
| ־הָ | her, it | שְׁמָרָהּ · וַיְחַיֶּהָ | יִשְׁמְרֶהָ |
| ־נוּ | us | שְׁמָרָנוּ | יִשְׁמְרֵנוּ |
| ־כֶם | you (mp) | שְׁמָרְכֶם | יִשְׁמָרְכֶם |
| ־ם / ־ֵם | them | שְׁמָרָם · וַיִּקְרָעֵם | יִשְׁמְרֵם |
Biblical Hebrew rides the object on the verb’s back; Modern Hebrew hands it to אֶת (שָׁמַר אוֹתִי) — except in its literary register, where the old compression still carries the flag.
5. Command, Wish, Resolve (Chapters 13 and 15)
| Aimed at | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd person — command | imperative (yiqtol minus prefix) | שְׁמֹר, שִׁמְעוּ, קוּמִי |
| 2nd person — plea not to | אַל + yiqtol | אַל־תִּירָא |
| 2nd person — standing decree not to | לֹא + yiqtol | לֹא תִגְנֹב |
| 3rd person — wish, blessing | jussive (short yiqtol) | יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ, יִשְׁמָרְכֶם אֲדֹנָי |
| 1st person — resolve | cohortative (yiqtol + ־ָה) | אָשִׁירָה, נֵלְכָה |
The wayyiqtol of Chapter 6 is the jussive’s short form harnessed to narrative: יְהִי אוֹר… וַיְהִי־אוֹר.
6. The Field Guide — Strip It, Name It, Read It
A verb met in the wild shows you two or three letters and dares you to name the third. The tells, gathered from the tables above.
Only two root letters in a perfect — look at what sits before the ending:
| You see | The tell | The class | Its chart |
|---|---|---|---|
| הָיִיתִי | hireq-yod before the ending | III-ה | היה, §2 |
| סַבּוֹתִי | a linking holem-vav, dagesh in the twin | geminate | סבב, §2 |
| קַמְתִּי | neither — short and bare | hollow | קום, §2 |
Only two root letters in a yiqtol — the prefix vowel names the thief:
| You see | The tell | The class |
|---|---|---|
| יִפֹּל | dagesh where a נ should be | I-נ (נפל) |
| יֵשֵׁב | tsere prefix, the י gone | I-י (ישב) |
| יָקוּם | qamats prefix, long middle vowel | hollow (קום) |
| יֹאמַר | holam prefix, the א visible but silent | I-א (אמר) |
| יִקַּח | dagesh — but the thief was a ל | לקח, §3 |
Twins — same skeleton, different verb; the pointing (or nothing but context) decides:
| This | reads | but this | reads |
|---|---|---|---|
| שָׁמְרוּ | they guarded | שִׁמְרוּ | guard! (pl.) |
| עָלוּ | they went up | עֲלוּ | go up! |
| שָׁבוּ | they returned (שׁוּב) | שְׁבוּ | sit! (יָשַׁב) |
| בָּא | he came | בָּא | coming — identical; context decides |
The first pair is the qatal’s third plural against the imperative — one vowel apart, a king’s report against a king’s order. The third is two different roots wearing one skeleton: the book’s two great verbs of homecoming and dwelling, distinguishable only by their vowels.
Naming by elimination. When a two-letter form gives you nothing positive, subtract: no hireq-yod before the ending, so not III-ה; no linking holem-vav and no dagesh in a twin, so not geminate; what remains is hollow — that is how קַמְתִּי earns its name in the table above. And one prefix vowel is nearly a signature: in this book’s verbs, a tsere prefix on a yiqtol means I-י — or הלך, the impostor that inflects as if it had been I-י all its life (יֵלֵךְ).
Build It Yourself — the drill
The field guide reads forms; this drill makes them. Each answer is a form standing somewhere in the tables above — derive it from the mechanism first, then check yourself against the chart. Say every answer aloud.
- עמד — yiqtol, 1cs. (A throat letter is about to refuse a sheva.)
- אמר — wayyiqtol, 3ms. (The Bible’s favorite verb form.)
- קרא — perfect, 1cs. (Listen for what the ת has lost.)
- נפל — yiqtol, 3ms. (Where did the נ go?)
- נתן — perfect, 1cs. (Both ends misbehave.)
- לקח — yiqtol, 3ms. (Not a נ — but it merges like one.)
- קום — wayyiqtol, 3ms. (Short form.)
- עשה — perfect, 1cs. (The class fingerprint.)
- ישב — yiqtol 3ms, then imperative ms. (The glide drops twice, two different ways.)
- סבב — perfect, 1cs. (Twins fuse; a linking vowel appears.)
- The gate said אַל־תִּירָאוּ. Chapter 15’s road signs drew a תִּרְאוּ from David. Name both roots, and say what one letter’s worth of vowels is doing.
Answers: 1 אֶעֱמֹד · 2 וַיֹּאמֶר · 3 קָרָאתִי · 4 יִפֹּל · 5 נָתַתִּי · 6 יִקַּח · 7 וַיָּקָם · 8 עָשִׂיתִי · 9 יֵשֵׁב, שֵׁב · 10 סַבּוֹתִי · 11 ירא “fear” against ראה “see” — תִּירָאוּ keeps the root’s י and א on the page (you will fear), תִּרְאוּ has dropped the glide’s seat entirely (you will see): two mechanisms, one skeleton apart, guarding the difference between fright and sight.
7. Forms Met — the Sight-Form Ledger, Redeemed
Every inflected form this book taught you to read before it taught you to build — where you met it, and what you were told. Each now resolves to a table above.
34 sight-forms, in curriculum order:
| Form | Read it as | Root | First met |
|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּאמֶר | “and he said” | א-מ-ר | Box 1.1 |
| וַיָּבֹא | “and he came” | ב-ו-א | Box 1.1 |
| וַיֵּלֶךְ | “and he went” | ה-ל-כ | Box 1.1 |
| הָיִיתִי | “I was” | ה-י-ה | Box 1.1 |
| רוֹצֶה | “(he) wants” | ר-צ-ה | Box 2.4 |
| רוֹאֶה | “(he) sees” | ר-א-ה | Box 2.4 |
| הוֹלֵךְ | “(he) goes, is going” | ה-ל-כ | Box 2.4 |
| בָּא | “(he) comes, is coming” | ב-ו-א | Box 2.4 |
| אֲנִי יוֹדֵעַ | “I know” (m.) | י-ד-ע | Box 3.3 |
| אֲנִי יָכוֹל | “I can, I am able” (m.) | י-כ-ל | Box 3.3 |
| לִקְרֹא | “to read” | ק-ר-א | Box 4.4 |
| קוֹרְאִים | “(they) call [it]” | ק-ר-א | Box 4.4 |
| קָרְאוּ | “they read” | ק-ר-א | Box 4.4 |
| יִתֵּן | “he gives, he will give” | נ-ת-נ | Box 5.5 |
| יִקַּח | “he takes, he will take” | ל-ק-ח | Box 5.5 |
| עָשָׂה | “he did, he made” | ע-שׂ-ה | Box 5.5 |
| יַעֲשֶׂה | “he does, he will do” | ע-שׂ-ה | Box 5.5 |
| אָשִׁירָה | “let me sing, I will sing” | שׁ-י-ר | Box 13.2 |
| הָבוּ | “give! ascribe!” (plural command) | י-ה-ב | Box 13.5 |
| הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ | “bow down!” (plural command) | ח-ו-ה | Box 13.5 |
| תִּרְאִי | “look!” (future as command — this chapter’s §Imperative) | ר-א-ה | Box 13.5 |
| יַרְבִּיצֵנִי | “he makes ME lie down” — the ־נִי on the verb is “me” | ר-ב-צ | Box 14.5 |
| יְנַהֲלֵנִי | “he leads ME” | נ-ה-ל | Box 14.5 |
| קְחוּ | “take!” (plural command — לקח sheds its ל) | ל-ק-ח | Box 14.6 |
| נֵשֵׁב | “let’s sit” (we-will-sit, as invitation) | י-שׁ-ב | Box 14.7 |
| אַגִּיד / תַּגִּיד | “I’ll tell / you’ll tell” — the נ assimilates, like יִתֵּן | נ-ג-ד | Box 15.3 |
| לָתֵת | “to give” — נתן sheds both nuns in the infinitive | נ-ת-נ | Box 15.3 |
| יִשְׁמָרְכֶם | “may He guard YOU (pl.)” — jussive + object suffix | שׁ-מ-ר | Box 15.6 |
| וִישִׁיבְכֶם | “and may He bring YOU back” | שׁ-ו-ב | Box 15.6 |
| תֵּדַע | “you will know” — ידע sheds its י in the yiqtol | י-ד-ע | Box 16.5 |
| אָעִיד / תָּעִיד | “I will / you will testify” — hollow עוד in the הִפְעִיל | ע-ו-ד | Box 17.2 |
| תַּגִּיעַ | “you will arrive” — the נ of נגע assimilates | נ-ג-ע | Box 17.4 |
| אֶקַּח | “I will take” — the ל of לקח assimilates, like a נ | ל-ק-ח | Box 17.5 |
| אֶשָּׂא | “I will carry, bear” — the נ of נשׂא assimilates | נ-שׂ-א | Box 17.5 |
Every promissory note in this book is hereby paid. Whatever verb you meet next, you no longer need a box: strip it, name it, read it.