Binyan #1: Pa'al / Qatal / Qal

The Meaning
This Binyan in Hebrew literature is called Pa'al ( ,)and in other Semitic Research literature called Qatal ( .)This Binyan conveys the simplest possible meaning among the Binyanim. Due to this, this particular Binyan has also been nicknamed Qal, which means "light" or "easy" in Hebrew. Before we continue, it is worthy to remind you that Hebrew is a language that uses the root letters and changes the vowel sounds around those root letters:

The Past Tense: "aa/aa"

Let's LEARN Our First Example
NEW WORD #1: Let's "study" and "learn" our first word, as it is in colloquial Hebrew. Its root is lamed-mem-dalet ( )and it conveys a meaning of "studying" or "learning". To remember this root, just take the letter LaMeD ( )and spell it out in Hebrew. As well, words you might already know like talmud ( ,)and talmid "student" ( )come from this root. I studied You studied You (f.) studied He/It studied She/It studied We studied Y'all studied Y'all (f.) studied They studied

lamad'ti lamad'ta lamad't lamad lam'dah lamad'nu lamad'tem lamad'ten lam'du

1st m. 2nd f. m. 3rd f. 1st m. 2nd f. 3rd plural singular

Standard Inflection Tables

The table above is a pretty standard Hebrew inflection chart. Most inflection charts go from singular to plural, from 1st to 3rd person, and then from masculine to feminine.

Sometimes Gender Doesn't Matter

If there is a blank in the chart, it means that it doesn't matter. For example, a woman can say lamad'ti, and so can a man say lamad'ti. As a general rule, first person has no need to inflect into masculine or feminine.

Where does the name come from?

So why do they call this Binyan Pa'al or Qatal? Look at the Sing. 3rd. M. form. Replace the letters with pey-ayin-lamed, and get: Pa'al. Similarly, if you replace them with qof-tet-lamed ( ,)you get: Qatal. All the names of the Binyanim come from the Sing. 3rd. M. form.

The "aa/aa" Binyan

Notice how in most of the forms presented above they have a Qamatz followed by a Patakh? This is your sign that it is the first Binyan Pa'el. They both make an "aa" sound.

Without any suffix, this form is called a verb stem. In this case, the verb stem by itself automatically is the Sing. 3rd. Masculine form ("he learned"). In order to inflect it in the past tense, one must add suffixes to this word.

There are only two exceptions to this rule: "she learned", "they learned". Hebrew is a language that tries to say a lot of things in as very few syllables as possible. Here is why there was a change: try to say lamadah 10 times very fast, and over time you'll start saying lam'dah.

Memorizing the Suffixes The suffixes of verbs do NOT change from Binyan to Binyan. They stay the same always: Sing. 2nd person endings: 'ta ( )and 't ( .)They are both similar to the pronouns atah ( )and at ( ,)respectively. Plur. 2nd person endings: 'tem ( )and 'ten ( ,)come from atem ( ) and aten ( .)Think of it as if the mem is pluralizing the form, and nun is a more feminine letter to pluralize.

 As well, we get the Plur. 1st person 'nu ( )derived from anakhnu () or more likely the more polite form anu (.) The hey suffix for the Sing. 3rd person feminine adds an "ah" sound. It's amazing how among a lot of languages in the world, an "ah" sound makes something feminine. Like amiga is feminine for amigo! Sing. 1st person ending: 'ti ( )is something one must remember on his own. But yud suffixes in Hebrew usually indicate ownership of the first person. WRITING Out Another Example
NEW WORD #2: Let's "write out" another example. The root is kaf-tav-vet ( .)We all have heard of a k'tubah ( ,)which is a "marriage contract". It gets this name because marriage contracts have to be written. I wrote You wrote You (f.) wrote He/It wrote She/It wrote We wrote Y'all wrote Y'all (f.) wrote They wrote

katav'ti katav'ta katav't katav kat'vah katav'nu katav'tem katav'ten kat'vu

1st m. f. m. f. 1st m. f. 3rd plural 2nd 3rd 2nd singular

Notice that all we did was take the first example and change the root letters? The vowels still stayed the same. This is how Hebrew works. We do not memorize words; rather, we memorize root letters, and we memorize the vowel patterns surrounding those root letters.

A Small White Lie That Has To Be Fixed

Up until know you've been lied to (kind of). All that has been presented to you up above was the pronunciations of Modern Hebrew. In Biblical Hebrew, there are only two differences in the chart:

Those Qamatz become Sh'va. Notice that this is only in the Plur. 2nd Person.

Review Practice
NEW WORD #3: I hope that all of the pieces are starting to "fall" into place for you. The root nun-fey-lamed ( )means "falling". This is where we get the Nephalim (Gen 6) in the bible, for they are "fallen ones". As well the last two letters of the root sound like the English word "fall". Fill out the following chart IN PENCIL. In the 3rd column the Biblical Hebrew written out with vowel points:

I fell
m. f.

1st 2nd singular

m. f.

3rd 1st

m.

plural

n'fal'ten

f. 3rd

2nd

NEW WORD #4: I hope that everything so far is "going" well. If we're to translate our learning terms into hiking terms, I say that we've "walked" a long distance. The root hey-lamed-kaf ( )means "walking" or "going". and inflect it in the following chart: In the 3rd column the Modern Hebrew written out with vowel points: 1st

You (f.) walked

m. f. m. f.

singular

2nd

3rd 1st

m.

plural

halach'ten

2nd 3rd

f.

You may have heard of Torah Portion "lech l'cha" ( .) The first word means "go!" in command form, and the second word means "for you". Add a hey, and you have the root for "walking" or "going". Maybe the hey represents the amount of air you have to breathe after walking so far.

1) Which of the following words IS a verb belonging to Pa'al?

a. b. c. d.
a. b. c. d. a. b. c. d.

Simple meaning. Causative meaning. Reflexive meaning. All of the above. Qal Pa'al P'al Qatal

2) This Binyan conveys:

3) Which of the following is NOT a name of the 1st Binyan?

4) Which of the following verbs does NOT belong to Pa'al?

a. b. c. d. a. b. c. d. e.

5) Which of the following verbs does NOT belong to the 2nd Person?

6) Which of the following roots conveys a meaning of "learning"? a. b. c. d. e.

7) "SHE sent out": Which of the following is correctly written?

a. b. c. d. a. b. c. d.

8) Which of the following is a biblical Hebrew form?

9) Which of the following roots conveys a meaning of "writing"? a. b. c. d. e. 10) "They were lost": Which of the following is correctly written?

a. b. c. d.

11) Which of the following convey a meaning of "falling"?

a. b. c. d. e. 12) Which of the following convey a meaning of "walking"? a. b. c. d. e.

The Future Tense: Symmetric Syllables

You will notice that future tense verbs are based on prefixes, and will sometimes add a suffix in addition to adding a prefix. This is in contrast to the past tense which purely had suffixes. We'll start off with the two examples that we already learned. You'll notice a slight difference between the two charts. I will study You will study You (f.) will study He/It will study She/It will study We will study Y'all will study They will study Y'all/They will study

el'mad til'mad til'm'di il'mad til'mad nil'mad til'm'du il'm'du til'mad'na

1st m. 2nd f. m. 3rd f. 1st m. m. f. 2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd plural singular

I will write You will write You (f.) will write He/It will write She/It will write We will write Y'all will write They will write Ya'll/They will write

echtov tichtov tich't'vi ich'tov tich'tov nich'tov tich't'vu ich't'vu tich'tav'nah

1st m. 2nd f. m. 3rd f. 1st m. m. f. 2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd plural singular

Rule of Thumb for Pa'al Future Tense

The following rules apply ONLY in Pa'al. If there are FOUR letters, cut the word into equal halves:

If there are FIVE letters, cut the word symmetrically into three parts:

If there are SIX letters, cut the word into three equal pieces:

The First Syllable

The first syllable always takes a Hiriq, making an "ee" sound! o The only exception is the aleph prefix, where it takes a Segol, making an "e" sound. In Pa'al, the yud prefix does NOT make a "y" sound, rather just the "ee" sound.

The Second Syllable: ephal or ephol?

As you could see in the above two examples, the first syllable was always consistent. Yet in the four letter words, there are two options for the second syllable: A Patakh which makes an "ah" sound. A Kholem which makes an "o" sound.

So what is going on here? If they are both equally Pa'al, why are the vowel sounds different? That's just the way it is! For each verb, one has to memorize if it takes an "oh" sound or an "ah" sound. Here are the names for both groupings: The second syllable has a Patakh: ephal () The second syllable has a Kholem: ephol () Take Note: Both ephal and ephol belong to the Binyan Pa'al. When the inflected verbs that have five or six letters, there is no difference between ephal and ephol.

If in the last two letters of the root there is a letter like: ayin, aleph, khet, or hey, then it is most definitely ephal. If none of the above letters are in the last two letters, then it is most likely ephol. In Modern Hebrew, in ephol there is a vav between the last two root letters.

Exceptions
Past Tense o One cannot use the "ah/ah" method if: If the last root letter is hey or yud. If the middle root letter is vav or yud. With some certain roots, like: Future Tense o One cannot use the symmetric syllable method if: If the first root letter is nun, yud, vav, hey, aleph, ayin. If the middle root letter is vav or yud. With some certain roots, like: .

Summary Chart FUTURE EPHOL EPHAL PAST "ah/ah"

1st m. 2nd f. m. 3rd f. 1st m. 2nd f. f. 3rd m. plural singular

Review Practice 2
NEW WORD #5: Let's "throw out" this next verb root: zayin-resh-qof. () This conveys a meaning of "throwing", but sometimes is translated as "sprinkling". The High Priest has to "sprinkle" the blood on the altar. Remember the last time your friend threw a piece of paper in your face, and then you said: "Hey you ZeRK, why did you throw that!" This root in the future tense is ephol, fill out the following table in the Future Tense with vowel points:

m. You (f.) will throw f. m.

1st

2nd

singular

3rd tiz'rok f. 1st

Ya'll/They will throw

m. m. f.

2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd

plural

NEW WORD #6: Have you "heard"of this next root: shin-mem-ayin (?) You for sure have "heard" the Sh'ma Israel declaration of faith of Judaism. It conveys a meaning of "listening". The future tense is ephal, fill out the following table in the Future Tense with vowel points: 1st tish'ma' m. 2nd f. m. 3rd He will hear tish'ma' f.

singular

m. m. Ya'll/They will hear f.

1st 2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd plural

1) Which of the following verbs do NOT belong to Pa'al?

a. b. c. d. a. b. c. d.

2) Which of the following IS a future tense verb?

3) Future Tense Verbs: a. Sometimes have suffixes. b. Never have suffixes. c. Always have prefixes. d. a and c e. b and c 4) "She will send out": Which of the following is written correctly?

a. b. c. d. e.

5) "You (m. sing) will throw" and "She will throw": a. Sound exactly the same in Hebrew: b. Sound different from each other: - c. The word "throw" isn't in Pa'al. d. Sound exactly the same in Hebrew: 6) What is ephal and ephol?
a. b. c. d. a. b. c. d. Ephal and Ephol were the Aramaic names of Cain and Abel. Ephal and Ephol are Binyanim other than Pa'al. Ephal and Ephol are future tense classifications of Pa'al. Ephal and Ephol are past tense classifications of Pa'al. Then the verb will definitely be ephol. Then the verb will definitely be ephal. No way of knowing. It depends on the first letter. No way of knowing. That depends on the third letter.

7) If there is a khet in the second letter of the root:

8) What is the second syllable sound in ephol?

a. b. c. d. Patakh: "aa" sound. Hiriq: "ee" sound. Kholem: "o" sound. None of the above.

9) "I will learn": Which of the following is written correctly?

a. b. c. d. a. b. c. d. e. a. b. c. d.

10) "I will write": Which of the following is written correctly?

11) "We will hear": Which of the following is written correctly?

e. None of the above.

12) Sing. 2nd Person Masculine and Sing. 3rd Person Feminine: a. Are written the same. b. Are written the same, but sound different. c. Differ when they are Ephal. d. Differ when they are Ephol. 13) Which of the following roots conveys a meaning of "hearing"? a. b. c. d. e. 14) Which of the following roots conveys a meaning of "throwing"? a. b. c. d. e.

15) Which of the following verb roots will you have difficulty with if you try to conjugate them into the Future Tense according to the methods presented in this chapter? (Check all that apply.)

16) Which of the following verb roots will you have difficulty with if you try to conjugate them into the Past Tense according to the methods presented in this chapter? (Check all that apply.)

The quizzes in these chapters were designed to be difficult. All the answers can be found in the chapter somewhere. Work hard now in this Binyan, and the rest of the Binyanim will be easier. Ironically, the Qal Binyan (which means "easy") is not the "easiest" Binyan, because it has the most exceptions among all of the Binyanim.