Hebrew verb conjugation: present, past and future, person by person
Updated
To conjugate a Hebrew verb, you need two things. You need its binyan, the pattern its root is poured into, and you need the person markers of each tense. The binyan changes from verb to verb; the person markers barely change at all. That is the good news of this guide: once you have learned the past-tense endings and the future-tense prefixes on one verb, they work for every other verb.
The binyanim themselves (pa'al, piel, hifil, nifal and hitpael) have their own guide: the Hebrew binyanim. This one takes a single pa'al verb, לִכְתוֹב (likhtov, to write), and conjugates it in full. Think of it as a verb chart written out line by line.
Start with the pronouns
Unlike English, Hebrew has a separate masculine and feminine "you", in the singular and in the plural. So it has ten pronouns where English has seven:
- אֲנִי (ani): I
- אַתָה (ata): you, to a man
- אַתְ (at): you, to a woman
- הוּא (hu): he
- הִיא (hi): she
- אֲנַחְנוּ (anakhnu): we
- אַתֶם (atem): you, to men or a mixed group
- אַתֶן (aten): you, to women
- הֵם (hem): they, men or a mixed group
- הֵן (hen): they, women
The present tense: only four forms
The Hebrew present has no person. It has gender and number, and that is all: four forms for ten pronouns.
- כּוֹתֵב (kotev): masculine singular, for I, you and he when the speaker or subject is a man
- כּוֹתֶבֶת (kotevet): feminine singular
- כּוֹתְבִים (kotvim): masculine plural
- כּוֹתְבוֹת (kotvot): feminine plural
So a woman says אֲנִי כּוֹתֶבֶת and a man says אֲנִי כּוֹתֵב, for the same "I write". The endings are the same in every binyan: nothing for the masculine singular, -et or -a for the feminine, -im for the masculine plural, -ot for the feminine plural. Only the front of the word changes: מְדַבֵּר (medaber, he speaks) in piel, מִתְלַבֵּשׁ (mitlabesh, he gets dressed) in hitpael.
The past tense: the person comes at the end
In the past, you hear the person at the end of the word. Here is כָּתַב (katav, he wrote):
- אֲנִי כָּתַבְתִי (katavti): I wrote
- אַתָה כָּתַבְתָ (katavta): you wrote, to a man
- אַתְ כָּתַבְתְ (katavt): you wrote, to a woman
- הוּא כָּתַב (katav): he wrote
- הִיא כָּתְבָה (katva): she wrote
- אֲנַחְנוּ כָּתַבְנוּ (katavnu): we wrote
- אַתֶם כְּתַבְתֶם (ktavtem, often said katavtem): you wrote
- אַתֶן כְּתַבְתֶן (ktavten, often said katavten): you wrote, to women
- הֵם כָּתְבוּ (katvu): they wrote, men or a mixed group
- הֵן כָּתְבוּ (katvu): they wrote, women, the same form
Learn the endings, not the words: -ti for I, -ta and -t for you, nothing for he, -a for she, -nu for we, -tem and -ten for plural you, -u for they. They are the same in all seven binyanim. In piel, דִּיבֵּר (diber, he spoke) gives דִּיבַּרְתִי (dibarti, I spoke) and דִּיבַּרְנוּ (dibarnu, we spoke), just like katavti and katavnu.
Because the ending already names the person, the pronoun is optional in the past, except for he, she and they: katavti alone means "I wrote".
The future tense: the person comes at the start
In the future, you hear the person at the start of the word, through one letter, and sometimes at the end too. Here is יִכְתוֹב (yikhtov, he will write):
- אֲנִי אֶכְתוֹב (ekhtov): I will write
- אַתָה תִכְתוֹב (tikhtov): you will write, to a man
- אַתְ תִכְתְבִי (tikhtevi): you will write, to a woman
- הוּא יִכְתוֹב (yikhtov): he will write
- הִיא תִכְתוֹב (tikhtov): she will write
- אֲנַחְנוּ נִכְתוֹב (nikhtov): we will write
- אַתֶם תִכְתְבוּ (tikhtevu): you will write
- אַתֶן תִכְתְבוּ (tikhtevu): you will write, to women, the same form in everyday Hebrew
- הֵם יִכְתְבוּ (yikhtevu): they will write, men or a mixed group
- הֵן יִכְתְבוּ (yikhtevu): they will write, women, the same form
Four letters do the work: א for I, ת for you, she and plural you, י for he and they, נ for we. Two endings complete them: -i for feminine "you", and -u for the plural. One pair looks the same: תִכְתוֹב means both "you (a man) will write" and "she will write". The pronoun or the context tells them apart.
These letters, too, are the same in every binyan. Only the vowels change: in piel, אֲדַבֵּר (adaber, I will speak), יְדַבֵּר (yedaber, he will speak), נְדַבֵּר (nedaber, we will speak).
One trap is special to pa'al: some verbs take an o in the future (יִכְתוֹב), others an a (יִלְמַד, he will learn). No simple rule predicts which. Learn it with the verb, the way you learn that "sing" becomes "sang" in English.
The pa'al verbs to learn first
Pa'al holds the most common verbs in the language. Here are six regular ones, in the "he" form, in all three tenses:
- to write, לִכְתוֹב: present כּוֹתֵב, past כָּתַב, future יִכְתוֹב
- to learn, לִלְמוֹד: present לוֹמֵד, past לָמַד, future יִלְמַד
- to keep, לִשְׁמוֹר: present שׁוֹמֵר, past שָׁמַר, future יִשְׁמוֹר
- to think, לַחְשׁוֹב: present חוֹשֵׁב, past חָשַׁב, future יַחְשׁוֹב
- to hear, לִשְׁמוֹעַ: present שׁוֹמֵעַ, past שָׁמַע, future יִשְׁמַע
- to close, לִסְגוֹר: present סוֹגֵר, past סָגַר, future יִסְגוֹר
Some verbs lose or change a root letter, such as לִקְנוֹת (liknot, to buy) or לָגוּר (lagur, to live somewhere). They take the same person markers, but their root bends. Hebrew calls these verb classes גְזָרוֹת (gzarot), and they come after the regular verbs.
The order elev's ulpan teaches them in
elev's ulpan follows the order of this guide, over four levels:
- level א׳: the pa'al present, then the pa'al past, and the present of the other binyanim, including the piel present;
- level ב׳: the pa'al future, the past and future of each binyan and of the irregular verbs, then how to recognise a binyan;
- levels ג׳ and ד׳: the passive, then the root and the pattern.
These chapters are paid. To try the ulpan before you subscribe, the level א׳ reading comprehension chapter is free with an account. And the placement test, free and with no account, tells you whether you already know these forms or which level to start at. elev's ulpan is described here.