The seven binyanim שבעת הבניינים
Hebrew verbs live in patterns called binyanim. The same three-letter root can pass through several patterns and pick up a new shade: גדל he grew, גידל he raised, הגדיל he enlarged.
Read a verb as a root dropped into one of seven patterns (pa'al, nif'al, pi'el, pu'al, hif'il, huf'al, hitpa'el); learn each verb’s binyan instead of inventing a meaning from the pattern name.
A binyan is a vowel-and-prefix template. Roots such as כ־ת־ב or ל־מ־ד are consonants. The binyan supplies the vowels and extra letters that make כתב, נכתב, or התכתב. Dictionaries list the binyan because you cannot conjugate a verb without it. Two verbs that share a root are related, not interchangeable.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| למד | lamad | he studied (pa'al) | |
| לימד | limed | he taught (pi'el) | |
| נכנס | nikhnas | he entered (nif'al) | |
| הכניס | hikhnis | he brought in (hif'il) |
The traditional names are themselves pi'el-shaped words built on פ־ע־ל: פָּעַל, נִפְעַל, פִּעֵל, פֻּעַל, הִפְעִיל, הֻפְעַל, הִתְפַּעֵל. Israeli classrooms also say קל for pa'al. You do not need a frequency table; you need to recognize the seven shapes on the page. Passive partners sit beside active ones: pu'al with pi'el, huf'al with hif'il, nif'al often with pa'al.
| Name | Hebrew | Typical role |
|---|---|---|
| pa'al (qal) | פָּעַל / קַל | basic active |
| nif'al | נִפְעַל | passive or intransitive partner of pa'al |
| pi'el | פִּעֵל | often intensive or factitive |
| pu'al | פֻּעַל | passive of pi'el |
| hif'il | הִפְעִיל | often causative |
| huf'al | הֻפְעַל | passive of hif'il |
| hitpa'el | הִתְפַּעֵל | reflexive, reciprocal, or intransitive |
ג־ד־ל: גדל (grew), גידל (raised), הגדיל (enlarged). כ־נ־ס: נכנס (entered), הכניס (put in), התכנס (assembled). ל־מ־ד: למד (studied), לימד (taught), התלמד (apprenticed). The labels intensive and causative are hints for linguists, not a machine you can run blindly on a new root. Check a dictionary for each root-plus-binyan pair.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| הילד גדל | ha-yeled gadal | The child grew. | |
| היא גידלה ילדים | hi gidla yeladim | She raised children. | |
| הוא הגדיל את התמונה | hu higdil et ha-tmuna | He enlarged the picture. |
When you meet a new verb, note the binyan next to the meaning. Conjugation then follows that binyan’s present, past, future, and infinitive templates. pa'al, pi'el, and hif'il are the three active patterns this chunk treats in detail. nif'al and hitpa'el have their own pages. pu'al and huf'al can wait until you need passives in running text.
A present that starts with mem is often pi'el or hif'il (מדבר, מדליק). A past that starts with ה־ and has an i-sound is often hif'il (הדליק, הכניס). A past that starts with הת־ is often hitpa'el (התלבש), but התחיל is hif'il, so the clue is not a law. A nun on a past form may be nif'al (נכתב, נכנס).
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| מדבר | medaber | speaks (pi'el present) | |
| מדליק | madlik | turns on (hif'il present) | |
| נכתב | nikhtav | was written (nif'al past) |
Exceptions
Not every root appears in every binyan
The seven-slot grid is a map, not a promise. כתב is ordinary in pa'al and nif'al; a pi'el כיתב exists with a narrower meaning. Do not fill empty slots by analogy. If a combination is not in the dictionary, it is not yours to coin in class.
Pattern meaning is a tendency
דיבר is pi'el and simply means speak, not speak intensely. הבין is hif'il and means understand, not obviously cause to understand in everyday use. Treat binyan labels as after-the-fact descriptions. The verb’s gloss always wins.
Common mistakes
אני נכנס את הספר → אני מכניס את הספר
נכנס is enter (intransitive). Putting something in is hif'il הכניס / מכניס.
הוא למד אותי עברית → הוא לימד אותי עברית
למד is study; teach is the pi'el לימד.
התחיל as hitpa'el of תחל in a student chart → התחיל is hif'il (hitkhil)
The letters הת־ do not always mean hitpa'el; התחיל conjugates as hif'il.
Go on to
Pa'al (qal)
Pa'al, also called qal, is the basic active pattern. Dictionary citations such as כתב, שמר, and הלך are pa'al past tense, and a large share of the first verbs you learn sit in this binyan.
B1 · 15 minPi'el
Pi'el is the pattern of דיבר, בישל, שילם, and לימד, and in the present it wears a mem: מדבר, מבשל. Many pi'el verbs are simply the ordinary verb for that meaning, not a louder version of a pa'al cousin.
B1 · 15 minHif'il
Hif'il is the pattern of הכניס, הדליק, התחיל, and הבין, with a past that often starts with ה־ and a present that starts with mem: מכניס, מדליק, מתחיל, מבין. Causative is the usual school label, and then many common hif'il verbs simply mean what they mean.
B1 · 15 minRoots and patterns
Almost every Hebrew verb and many nouns are built from a three-letter root poured into a pattern. Once you can see the root, families such as סֵפֶר, סִפּוּר, and מְסַפֵּר stop looking like separate words.
A2 · 12 min