A brief introduction to the passive variant of the קַל בִּנְיָן in עִבְרִית מִקְרָאִית.

1. Biblical Hebrew
Getting to Know ‫ "ל‬Passive Verbs
by Chris Heard

2. Table of Contents
Abbreviations .............................. 3
Getting Ready .............................. 4
The ‫ "ל‬Passive Participle ......... 10
Rare ‫ "ל‬Passive Forms ............. 17
Credits ........................................ 37

3. Abbreviations
1, 2, 3 indicate grammatical person
m, f, c indicate grammatical gender
s, p indicate grammatical number
R1, R2, R3 indicate root letters
3

4. Getting Ready
Before we start getting to
know the ‫ "ל‬passive, let’s
run a few preflight checks.
4

5. Do you remember how a Hebrew
verb changes to form the various
combinations of person, gender,
and number, as well as perfect
and imperfect?
5

6. Do you know your Masoretic
vowels well enough to
distinguish between the
three classes (a, i, and u)?
6

7. If you answered
“yes,” you’re ready
for the ‫ "ל‬passive!
7

8. Remember that certain patterns
can create predictable variations.
This slideshow focuses on core
patterns. It does not illustrate every
possible variation.
8

9. Furthermore, this slideshow
is intended to supplement,
not replace, classroom
instruction and practice.
9

10. The ‫ "ל‬Passive Participle
The ‫ "ל‬passive participle
appears over 950 times in the
#‫ ,תַּנ%״‬but other forms of the ‫"ל‬
passive are very rare.
10

11. Therefore, most readers don’t
need to learn any ‫ "ל‬passive
form except the participle.
11

12. The ms ‫ "ל‬passive participle
looks like the 3ms ‫ "ל‬active
perfect, but with ‫ וּ‬as R2’s vowel:
#‫בָּר‬
ַ 3ms active perfect
# ‫בָּר‬
‫וּ‬ ms passive participle
12

13. The plural and feminine participles
inflect like the ‫ "ל‬active participle,
with predictable vowel changes:
# ‫בָּר‬
‫וּ‬ ms participle
‫ וּ ה‬
ָ‫בּר כ‬ ְ fs participle
‫ ים‬
ִ‫בּרכ‬
ְֻ mp participle
‫בּרכ וֹת‬ְֻ
fp participle 13

14. Note that R2 tends to take a
‫ שׁוּ8ק‬in the singular and a
‫ ;בּוּץ‬in the plural, though
this isn’t a firm rule. Either
vowel can be used.
14

15. The ‫ "ל‬passive participle can
serve as a noun. For example,
the ‫ כ‬in #‫ תַּנ%״‬stands for ‫,כְּת=בִים‬
“Writings” (i.e., “[things that
have been] written”).
15

16. The ‫ "ל‬passive participle can
also serve as an adjective, as
in ‫,כָּל–הָאָלָה כְּתוּבָה בַּסֵּפֶר הַזֶּה‬
“every curse written on this
scroll” (Deut 29:19).
16

17. Rare ‫ "ל‬Passive Forms
Alert! Most readers of the #‫תַּנ%״‬
need only learn the ‫ "ל‬passive
participle. The ‫ "ל‬passive perfect
and imperfect occur, but they’re
very rare.
17

18. Therefore, you don’t really need
to learn the information the
following pages supply. They’re
given here for those inquiring
minds who want to know more.
18

19. Recognizing ‫ "ל‬Passive Perfects
The ‫ "ל‬passive perfect is
characterized by R1 taking a
‫ ;בּוּץ‬and R2 gaining a ‫.דָּגֵשׁ‬
19

20. ֻּ
‫ל"ח‬
The suffix ‫ ל ה‬
‫י ֻ ְד‬
ָּ R1’s ‫ ;בּוּץ‬and
indicates R2’s ‫ דָּגֵשׁ‬indicate
a perfect. ָ‫הְתּ‬I‫ל‬
ֻּ
a ‫ "ל‬passive.
‫תֶּם‬Jַ‫ ל‬ּ ֻ‫י‬
20

21. In words where R2 rejects
the ‫ ,דָּגֵשׁ‬R1’s vowel becomes
a ‫ חוֹלֶם‬instead of a ‫.;בּוּץ‬
21

22. The ‫ "ל‬passive perfect and ‫פֻּעַל‬
perfect look alike. Fortunately,
since both express passive
voice, any confusion between
them rarely affects the sense.
22

23. If you need to precisely identify
a particular verb as a ‫ "ל‬passive
perfect or a ‫ פֻּעַל‬perfect, look it
up in a lexicon.
23

24. Recognizing ‫ "ל‬Passive Imperfects
The ‫ "ל‬passive imperfect
is quite rare—fewer than
25 instances in the #‫.תַּנ%״‬
24

25. All ‫שִׁים‬Nָ‫ שׁ‬used in the ‫"ל‬
passive imperfect exhibit a
“weakness”—such as a ‫ נ‬as R1,
‫ ו‬or ‫ י‬as R2 (biconsonantal), or
R2 = R3 (geminate)—and
therefore the patterns vary.
25

26. On the other hand, all but one of
the ‫ "ל‬passive imperfects in the
#‫ תַּנ%״‬are 3ms or 2ms, which is
convenient for those trying to
learn this conjugation.
26

27. The most consistent feature
of the ‫ "ל‬passive imperfect
is the u-class prefix vowel,
normally a ‫.;בּוּץ‬
27

28. That u-class vowel is supplied
by the ‫ "ל‬passive conjugation.
All of the other variations are
based on characteristics of
the ‫.שֹׁ8שׁ‬
28

29. Over half of the ‫ "ל‬passive
imperfects in the #‫ תַּנ%״‬are
instances of a ‫ שֹׁ8שׁ‬that has
‫ נ‬in R1, or of ‫( לקח‬which
behaves like a 1-‫ נ‬verb).
29

30. As usual, R1’s ‫( נ‬or ‫ ל‬in ‫ )לקח‬will
undergo aphaeresis (disappear)
in the prefix pattern, and R2 will
compensate by taking a ‫.דָּגֵשׁ‬
30

31. The rest of the ‫ "ל‬passive
imperfects are split between
biconsonantal verbs (R2 = ‫ ו‬or ‫)י‬
and geminate verbs (R2 = R3). Of
these, biconsonantal verbs are
more common, by about 2:1.
31

32. Both biconsonantal and geminate
verbs in the ‫ "ל‬passive imperfect
will lose R2 to aphaeresis, and the
prefix’s vowel will be ‫( שׁוּ8ק‬or,
for some biconsonantal verbs,
‫ .)חִי8ק מָלֵא‬Geminate verbs also
gain a ‫ דָּגֵשׁ‬in R1 if possible.
32

33. ‫י ֻקַּח‬
1
The u-class
The affixes 1 ‫ תַּן‬
ֻ‫י‬ prefix vowel
indicate an 2 ‫י וּ שַׁת‬ indicates
imperfect.
3 ‫תּ וּ שַּׁד‬
a ‫ "ל‬passive.
‫נ‬
1 R = 2 Biconsonantal 3 Geminate
1
33

34. The ‫ "ל‬passive imperfect and
‫ הָפְעַל‬imperfect can look alike.
Fortunately, since both express
passive voice, any confusion
between them rarely affects
the sense.
34

35. If you need to precisely identify
a particular verb as either ‫"ל‬
passive imperfect or ‫הָפְעַל‬
imperfect, look it up in a lexicon.
35

36. Summary
All forms
‫ל"ח‬
ֻּ
3ms perfect have u-class
‫ י קַּח‬
ֻ 3ms imperfect vowels, but
‫וּ‬
# ‫בָּר‬ ms participle in different
places.
36

37. Credits
Dead Sea photo by Wikimedia Commons contributor
Xta11. Used under a CC-SA license.
All other content by Dr. Chris Heard, Associate
Professor of Religion, Pepperdine University.
Released under a CC-BY license.
Grammatical terminology used in this presentation
follows J. Cook and R. Holmstedt, Beginning Biblical
Hebrew (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2013).