modern hebrew on memrise

1. Verbs binyan hif’il
 In this lesson, we will take a look at a new בניין called the
hif’il group. This group is the last active בניין in Hebrew.

2. Verbs binyan hif’il
 We have learned two בניינים so far: the pa’al and the pi’el.
These two verb groups are considered to be active voice.
We learned that the pi’el group tends to be more intense
than pa’al verbs. We have learned the normal form,
hashlamim, as well as all the other forms that can occur due
to either a guttural letter or a ‘weak’ letter.
 The new verb group hif’il is the last active binyan in Hebrew.
The other four binyanim are different voices that we will learn
later. Most hif’il verbs tend to have a causitive meaning.
They cause the subject to do something.

3. Verbs binyan hif’il
 Hif‘il in Hebrew is written הפעיל . Notice that the root of this
verb is the same as the root of both pi’el פיעל and pa’al .פעל
The name of each בניין comes from the 3rd person past
tense form of the verb with the root letters ע,פ , and ל. You
will see this in future בניין as well.
 Remember that a verb may exist in multiple בניינים but most
verbs do not exist in all 7 of them. In fact there are only a
handful that do exist in all 7. So remember that just because
a word exists in בניין פעל or בניין פיעל does not mean it also
exists in .בניין הפעיל

4. Verbs binyan hif’il
 Let’s update the graphic from lesson 21 to show the new
.בניין
 Each building
has floors (the
גזרות ). They
exist in each
.בנייןים
 Each floor has
rooms which are
the tenses (past,
present future,
infinitive, etc).

5. Verbs binyan hif’il
 The present tense form of hif’il verbs are very similar to that
of pi’el verbs. The difference is mainly in the vowels. Both
verbs use the prefix מ to form the present tense.
 When forming the הפעיל form, first take the root letters of the
verb in question.
 (In this case we will use the verb root (רגש
 Then add the prefix מ to the beginning of the root .מרגש
 Finally, place a י after the second root letter מרגיש . This
creates the hif’il form and this word means ‘feel’. Notice that
this is very similar to the way we construct a pi’el verb in the
present tense. The difference is in the vowels and the י
marker.

6. Verbs binyan hif’il
 As a review, pi’el forms in the present tense use three
vowels in their pronounciation and they can be expressed in
the X notation as XeXaXem. (melamed .(מלמד
 Also, remember that the regular vowels of pa’al are XeXoX
(lomed, roked, cotev, etc).
 In hif’il the regular vowels are a little different. They are
XiXXam. For instance, in the case we just looked at ,מרגיש
the correct pronunciation would be margish.
 Make sure you do not mistake the מ prefix as a root letter.
This prefix does not appear in some of the other forms of the
hif’il.

7. Verbs binyan hif’il
 The ending for the feminine form of hif’il hashlamim is
usually .ה
 All of the endings for feminine and plural forms are the same
as in pa’al. Simply add them to the end of the construction.
 מרגיש margish
 מרגישה margisha
 מרגישים margishim
 מרגישות margishot
 There are a few special cases in certain gizrot that we should
discuss. Let’s look at some of those on the next slide.

8. Verbs binyan hif’ilgizra 1st נ
 The 1st נ gizra causes an eliding of the נ. When you form the
present tense, the נ will disappear from the form altogether.
The X notation will look like X יX מ. This is because the נ is a
weak letter and tends to disappear when a prefix is added.
 An example of this is the verb with root letters נכר . Do you
remember this verb? You have learned it already. Let’s go
step by step.
 First add the prefix מנכר) מ ). Recognize it now?
 Then remove the first root letter because it is a (מכר) .נ
 Then add the י between the 2nd and 3rd root letters ) (מכיר
 This is the verb “to know” that we learned in lesson 22.

9. Verbs binyan hif’ilgizra 2nd י
 The second י gizra is also one that has an elision. Let’s look
at the verb בין . Because you cannot usually have two יs
back to back in a hif’il verb. The י root letter disappears from
the present tense form when the י marker is added to the
verb. The X notation is X יX מ
 Let’s congugate בין in present tense form.
 First add the מ prefix ( .(מבין
 Second add the י marker ) .(מביין
 Third elide the י root letter by removing it ( .(מבין
 This verb means “understand”. We could have stopped on
step 1, but it is important to understand the י you see in the
final step is NOT the root letter. The first vowel also changes
to ‘e’ in these verbs. מבין is pronounced mevin.

10. Verbs binyan hif’il infinitive
 Lastly, the הפעיל infinitive form is easy to learn if you know
the present tense form, so we will learn it here. Verbs in
הפעיל will be introduced in the infinitive form.
 There are two steps to form the infinitive form. First replace
the מ prefix with a .ה
 מרגיש -> הרגיש
 Then add the characteristic ל to the beginning of the verb.
 להרגיש
 The vowels remain a-i as in the present tense, but a short e
is added between the l and h that are added to the
beginning. XiXXahel. The infinitive above is pronounced
lehargish.

11. Verbs binyan hif’il infinitive
 We learned a lot in this lesson so let’s do a quick review.
 The regular vowels of hif’il are a-i in hashlamim and the
present tense is formed by adding the מ prefix and י marker
in the following way X יXX .מ
 1st נ and 2nd י gizrot elide either the נ or the י of the root letter
and that letter does not appear in the present or infinitive
forms. 1st מבין – י and 1st מכיר – נ . Remember that 2nd י
verbs also change the first vowel to e (mevin vs makir)
 The infinitive is formed by replacing the מ with ה and adding
a להרגש) .ל ) the vowels are the same but an additional
‘leha’ is added to the beginning. (lehargish)