Putting verbs through their tenses
Hebrew has five verb tenses: the infinitive tense (“to” plus the verb); the past tense; the present tense; the future tense; and the imperative, which is the command form (as in “Shut the door”). In this section, I conjugate לִכְתֹּב (leech-tohv; to write) to show the conjugations because לִכְתֹּב is a regular verb with no exceptions.
LIVING IN THE PRESENT
In the present tense, Hebrew verbs are conjugated in four ways: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural. For example:
כּוֹתֵב (koh-tehv; write) (MS)
כּוֹתֶבֶת (koh-teh-veht; write) (FS)
כּוֹתְבִים (koht-veem; writes) (MP)
כּוֹתְבוֹת (koht-voht; writes) (FP)
PUTTIN’ IT IN THE PAST
In the past tense, Hebrew verbs are conjugated according to number, gender, and person. You can either say the personal pronoun (I, you, he, she, we, you, they), as in אֲנִי כָּתַבְתִּי (ah-nee kah-tahv-tee; I wrote), or drop it, in which case the subject is implied: כָּתַבְתִּי (kah-tahv-tee; [I] wrote).
כָּתַבְתִּי (kah-tahv-tee; [I] wrote)
כָּתַבְתָּ (kah-tahv-ta; [you] wrote) (MS)
כָּתַבְתְּ (kah-tahvt; [you] wrote) (FS)
כָּתַב (kah-tahv; [he] wrote)
כָּתְבָה (kaht-vah; [she] wrote)
כָּתַבְנוּ (kah-tahv-noo; [we] wrote) (MP/FP)
כְּתַבְתֶּם (kah-tahv-tehm; [you] wrote) (MP)
כְּתַבְתֶּן (kah-tahv-tehn; [you] wrote) (FP)
כָּתְבוּ (kaht-voo; [they] wrote) (MP/FP)
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Like the past tense, the future tense has number, gender, and person, and you can either include the personal pronoun (אֲנִי אֶכְתֹּב, ah-nee ehḥ-tohv; I will write) or drop it (אֶכְתֹּב, ehḥ-tohv; [I] will write) because it’s implied. Here are some examples:
אֶכְתֹּב (ech-tohv; [I] will write)
תִּכְתֹּב (teeḥ-tohv; [you] will write) (MS)
תִּכְתְּבִי (teeh-tuh-vee; [you] will write) (FS)
יִכְתֹּב (yeeḥ-tohv; [he] will write)
תִּכְתֹּב (teeḥ-tohv; [she] will write)
נִכְתֹּב (neeḥ-tohv; [we] will write)
תִּכְתְּבוּ (teeḥ-tuh-voo; [you] will write) (MP/FP)
יִכְתְּבוּ (yeeḥ-tuh-voo; [they] will write) (MP/FP)
COMMAND PERFORMANCE
To make a command (the imperative mood), you can choose among three forms: “you” (MS), “you” (FS), and “you” (MP/FP). Believe it or not, many Modern Hebrew speakers consider this tense to be quite rude — like something an army commander or strict teacher would say. Generally speaking, you should avoid the command tense. Use the future tense instead, because it’s perceived to be more polite. But if you really want to, you can conjugate the command form like this:
כתוב (kuh-tohv; [you] Write!) (MS)
כִּתְבֵי (keet-vee; [you] Write!) (FS)
כִּתְּבוּ (keet-voo; [you] Write!) (MP/FP)
Looking at some common verbs
The beauty of the Hebrew verb lies in its versatility as well as its simplicity. In Table 2-8, I include some common Hebrew verbs listed in their present tense, masculine singular form.
TABLE 2-8 Some Common Present-Tense Verbs
| Hebrew | Pronunciation | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| הוֹלֵךְ | hoh-lehch | goes, walks |
| קוֹרֵא | koh-reh | reads |
| כּוֹתֵב | koh-tehv | writes |
| מַחֲלִיה | mahḥ-leet | decides |
| מַדְלִיק | mahd-leek | lights |
| מַרְגִּישׁ | mahr-geesh | feels |
| מְדַבֵּר | meh-dah-behr | speaks |
| מִתְלַבֵּשׁ | meet-lah-behsh | gets dressed |
| מִצְהָרֵף | meetz-tah-rehf | joins in |
| נִכְנַס | neech-nahs | enters |
| נוֹסֵעַ | noh-seh-ah | travels |
| יוֹשֵׁב | yoh-shehv | sits |
Detecting adverbs
Like English, most Hebrew adverbs are similar to adjectives — just with different endings. When you use an adjective as an adverb, you don't conjugate it; it stays in the masculine singular form. Here are a couple of examples:
הוּא כּוֹתֵב יָפֶה (hoo koh-tehv yah-feh; He writes nicely.)
הִיא כּוֹתֶבֶת יָפֶה (hee koh-teh-veht yah-feh; She writes nicely.)
Note