The participle
A verbal adjective: "guarding," "a guard," sometimes a present-time situation in narrative.
Form
Qal active often looks like שֹׁמֵר. It inflects like an adjective for gender and number, and it can take the article: הַשֹּׁמֵר the one who guards. Passive qal (שָׁמוּר) and other stems have their own shapes.
guarding; a guard
guarding (mp); guards
the one who guards
Use
As a noun ("the guardian"), as a modifier, or as the predicate of a verbless clause. In narrative a participle can paint an ongoing scene beside wayyiqtol mainline verbs. Modern Hebrew later turned this into the ordinary present tense; Biblical Hebrew did not finish that step.
Do not force "is doing"
English progressive is only one gloss. הַיֹּשֵׁב בַּ may be "who sits" or "the inhabitant of." Let the syntax choose.
sitting; dwelling; an inhabitant
Read next
The binyanim
Hebrew verbs inflect in stems (binyanim) that shift voice and intensity on the same root.
The perfect and the imperfect
Biblical verbs mark aspect more than calendar tense. Perfect (qatal) and imperfect (yiqtol) need context, and often a vav.
Biblical vs modern Hebrew
Same letters and a shared core of roots; different tense system, particles, and everyday lexicon.