Analysis of Hebrew Verbs and their conjugations

Hebrew Verb Analysis

Verb forms in Hebrew express tense, mood, aspect and voice. Learning them is essential to understand and translate Biblical Hebrew effectively.
Hebrew groups verbs by roots principle. Most verbs consist of three consonant letters, known as the root.
These basic roots can be modified to express intricate layers of theological, social, and psychological meanings.

Verb Conjugations (Binyanim)

The Hebrew verb system is largely structured around seven major verb stems, referred to as “binyanim”. These stems give further information to the basic meaning of the root.
The main verb forms are Pa’al, Pi’el, Hiph’il, Hoph’al, Niphal, Pual, and Hithpa’el.

Tenses: Perfect and Imperfect

The two primary tenses in Hebrew are the Perfect and Imperfect.
The Perfect tense represents completed actions and is commonly translated to English as the past tense.
The Imperfect tense represents incomplete actions and is often translated as future or present.
However, context is important - these tenses do not map exactly to past, present, and future as in English, but might indicate the aspect of the verb as much as the time.

Mood: Indicative, Interrogative, and Imperative

Hebrew expresses mood by using Indicative, Interrogative, and Imperative forms.
Indicative mood expresses a factual or declarative statement, while the Interrogative poses a question.
The Imperative mood is used to give direct command or order.

Voice: Active, Passive, and Reflexive

Voice in Hebrew expresses whether the subject of the verb is doing the action (Active), is being acted upon (Passive), or is performing the action upon itself (Reflexive).

Verb Patterns (Stems)

Verb stems modify the basic three-letter root to produce a variety of related meanings.
Some common modifications include making the action intensive (Pi’el), causative (Hiph’il), or reflexive (Hithpa’el).

Verb Inflection

Additionally, Hebrew verbs inflect for person, number, and gender.
There are different forms for first, second, and third person, as well as singular and plural, and finally, masculine and feminine.

It is important to familiarise yourself with each of these aspects of Hebrew verb conjugations. Like many elements of Hebrew grammar, verb forms need to be practiced extensively to gain a deep understanding. Review each category, learning the key traits, to be able to effectively analyse and interpret verbs in Biblical Hebrew.