Chapter

11
The Participles and The Present Tense

11.1
The Hebrew Participles (‫)פוֹעֵל בֵּינוֹנִים‬
There are two Participles in used in Classical Hebrew, namely, the Active
Participle and the Passive Participle. Comparable are these two with the two
participles in the English language, that is, the Present Participle and the Past
Participle.

11.2
The active voice denotes that the subject is the actor or executive of the action
of the controlling verb; the passive voice indicates that the subject is acted
upon by the action of the controlling verb. Only the Qal binyan (‫)בניין קל‬
has both Passive and Active Participles in the Hebrew language.

11.3
Nature of the Participle
Two forms of the Participle are in use in the Hebrew language: the Passive
Steffen Han April 2011 revised.

Participle and the Active Participle, analogous to the Past Participle and the
Present Participle in the English language.

11.4
The nature of the participle, either active or passive, of each derived stem
‫ברוך בשם‬

of the verb (‫)בניינים‬, that is, wheather it is a passive or active Participle,

is determined by the nature of each ‫בניין‬. As such, Pi’el (‫)פִּעֵל‬, Hithpa’el
(‫ )הִתְפַּעֵל‬and Hiphil (‫ )הִפְעִיל‬are active voice of the derived stems, hence,
2 Hebrew Verbal System

the participle of each of these stems is active participle; therefore there

is no passive form of the participle for these ‫בניינים‬.

11.5
Like wise, Niph’al (‫)נִפְעַל‬, Pu’al (‫ )פֻּעַל‬and Hophal (‫ )הָפְעַל‬are passive
voice of the binyanim, hence, the participle of each of these binyanim
is a passive participle, and each of the masculine singular would carry
a [ָ○] (‫ )קָמֶץ‬as the stem vowel or the pillion vowel, which would be
immutable during conjugation. These binynim do not have the active
participle—except Qal binyan, which has both the passive and the active
participle.

11.6
Basically, it is more appropriate to think of the Hebrew Participles
in term of active voice (Qal Active Participle, Pi’el Participle, Hiphil
Participle and Hithpa’el Participle) and passive voice (Qal Passive
Participle, Niph’al Participle, Pu’al Participle, Hophal Participles), as
each active binyan has the active participle but without the passive
participle—except Qal binyan, which has both the passive and the
active participle—while the passive binyan has the passive participle
but without the active participle.

11.7
Except for the Qal Participles, which do not carry prosthesis, Participles
of all the other ‫ בניינים‬are preceded by the consonant [‫ )מֵם( ]מ‬vowelled
with [ְ○] (‫)שְׁוָא נָע‬, whereas Niph’al (‫ )נִפְעַל‬Participle is loaded with
[ְ‫ )נוּּן( ]נ‬as prosthesis, and vowelled with [ְ○] (‫)שְׁוָא נָע‬. Both of these
are members of the Simple binyan.
Steffen Han April 2011 revised.

11.8
When one of the consonant in the ‫ שורש‬has a guttural or weak
consonant, the ‫ שווא‬rules for guttural consonant shall apply, mostly
engaging weak consonants in the '‫ ע‬or '‫ ל‬position.
‫ברוך בשם‬

11.9
The Hebrew Participle could have the article prefixed to them, and by
 CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Participle and The Present Tense 3

the same token, the use of preposition is allowed with the Participles.

11.10
A participle is generally the non-finite forms of a verb quite similar to
the infinitive. Unike the Infinitive, a participle does carry information
pertaining to gender and number apart from the action of the verb, but
it depends on the controlling verb for its tenses.

11.11
The Participle shares some characteristics of a verb and some of
an adjective. It is very often used substantively—as a noun. As a
verb, it is allowed to take an object or predicate, but it has no tense
determination.

11.12
A participle derived from a verb and used as an adjective is termed a
gerund when used as noun, which in effect is a non-finite verb. The
distinction lies in how the participle is used, as both would have the
same form.

11.13
Unlike the Perfect Tense and the Imperfect Tense, the Hebrew Participle
must have a pronoun as the subject. Independent personal pronouns are
used to produce a full force of expression equivalent to the English
Present Tense (Present Continuous Tense or Simple Present Tense). The
Active Participle (the Present Tense) of a verb often could be used as
a noun.
Steffen Han April 2011 revised.

11.14
Like adjectives, Participles must agree with the main noun in gender
and number they seek to modify, and therefore the participles take on
four possible forms of declension: two for masculine participles (singular
and plural), and two for feminine participles (singular and plural): there
‫ברוך בשם‬

are two types of declension for feminine singular participles. These

declensions are changed by means of adding personal pronoun affixes
4 Hebrew Verbal System

to the root, in the same manner as declensions done to the nouns.

11.15
Like a noun, the participle may take on a construct state, which
declension would be similar to the construct state of a noun.

Construct Absolute
plural singular plural singular
‫רַבִּים‬ ‫שֹׁמְרֵי‬ ‫שֹׁמֵר‬ ‫שֹׁמְרִים‬ ‫שֹׁמֵר‬ ‫יָחִיד‬
/‫שֹׁמְרוֹת‬ /‫שֹׁמֶ֫רֶת‬ /‫שֹׁמְרוֹת‬ /‫שֹׁמֶ֫רֶת‬
‫רַבּוֹת‬ ‫יְחידה‬
‫שֹׁמְרֹת‬ ‫שֹׁמְרַת‬ ‫שֹׁמְרֹת‬ ‫שֹׁמְרָה‬

11.16
The Participle in the Hebrew language may be used in the following
manners:

(i) The Active Participle is used as adjective, agreeing with the

subject in gender, number and definiteness. It may be used
either as the substantive, the attributive or the predicative
position.

(ii) As an adjective, the Participle has no tenses; but it has a

sense of completed action similar to a perfect meaning,
especially so with the Passive Participle, as in the case
with the English Past Participle.

(iii) The Active Participle could be used as a subject of the

Steffen Han April 2011 revised.

verb (substantive use of the Active Participle), in which

case it has the sense as the actor or an agent who performs
or one who is doing the action of the controlling verb. In
this way, a Hebrew word in the form a Participle could
be used as an ordinary common noun; a sample word of
this: ‫שֹמֵר‬, which word could denote "the act of guarding"
‫ברוך בשם‬

or "the person who is doing the job of guarding", that is,

"the guard".
 CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Participle and The Present Tense 5

(iv) When used as a noun, the Active Participle could accept

the Article: e.g. ‫ הַזָּקֵן‬the elder, ‫ הַשֹׁמֵר‬the guard.

(v) As a noun, the Active Participle may occur in the construct

state or take a pronoun suffix:

(vi) The Active Participle could be used as a verb; but it takes

no article and can be used in the past, the present, or the
future time of the controlling verb. On this ground, the
Active Participle is used as Present Tense for the Hebrew
verb.

(vii) As a verb, the Participle has verbal stem (‫ )בִּנְיָן‬and voice,

gender and number.

(viii) In the main thrust, the Participles unfolds a process of the

verb that could be understood as linear, iterative, repeated
action, or simply trying to be vivid.

11.17
The Qal Active Participle
As far as the Active Participle is concern, by the time of the Dead Sea
Scrolls, it seems, the head vowel had already been deflected to [ֹ○]
(‫ )הולם חסר‬but emerged as [ֹ‫ )הולם מלא( ]ו‬in Isaiah manuscript of
the Dead Sea Scrolls.

11.18
In Biblical Hebrew, the vowel [ֹ○] (‫ )הולם חסר‬placed after the first
Steffen Han April 2011 revised.

root consonant is sometimes written as [ֹ‫)הולם מלא( ]ו‬: e.g. ‫שׁוֹמְרוֹת‬

,‫ שׁוֹמְרִים‬,‫ שׁוֹמֶרֶת‬,‫שׁוֹמֵר‬. This form is used more frequently in Modern
Hebrew especially of word which root has a [‫ )מֵם( ]מ‬in the third
position of the word.

11.19
‫ברוך בשם‬

Forms and Default Vowel Scheme of Qal Participles

Default vowels for the Qal Participles are those identical in currency in
6 Hebrew Verbal System

the sample words: ‫ פּוֹעֵל‬or ‫ פֹּעֵל‬for the Qal Active Participle; ‫פָּעוּל‬
for Qal Passive Participle.

Examples The Vowels Default vowel scheme for the Participles

To be used in the Passive Participle, as the vowels in the
‫קָטוּל‬ [ּ‫ו‬+ָ○] sample word: ‫פָּעוּל‬
1.
To be used in the Active Participle, as the vowels in the
‫קֹטֵל‬ [ֵ○+ֹ○] 2.
sample word: ‫פּוֹעֵל‬ or ‫פֹּעֵל‬

11.20
Only four pronoun forms (masculine singular and plural, female
singular and plural) are used in the Participle. The feminine singular
has two types of ending: (i) [‫ת( ]○ֶ○ֶת‬+‫סֶגוֹל‬+‫)סֶגוֹל‬, similar to segholate
nouns; (ii) [‫ָה‬---] (‫הֵא‬+‫)קָמֶץ‬, (e.g. ‫)נִקְטְלָה‬, the alternative feminine
singular ending but is less common. It is required in participles with a
weak middle letter in the verbal roots. Both of these two are vocalic
sufformative conjugation.

11.21
Alternative form of the Active Participle could be written with vowel
combination of [ֵ○+ֹ‫צֵרֵי( ]ו‬+‫)חוֹלֶם מלא‬, used mainly for ‫בִּנְיָן קַל‬. This
alternative form is mostly used in Modern Hebrew.

11.22
The vowel scheme for other ‫ בניינים‬would emulate the vowels used in
the base form of the verb, that is, the Infinitive Construct of each stem
(see the paradigm given).
Steffen Han April 2011 revised.

Paradigm: Qal Participles of Strong Verb

Qal Passive Qal Active
‫קָטוּל‬ ‫קֹטֵל‬ ‫יָחִיד‬
‫קְטוּליִם‬ ‫קֹטְלִים‬ ‫יְחידה‬
‫ קֹטְלָה‬/ ‫קֹטֶ֫לֶת‬ ‫רַבִּים‬
‫ברוך בשם‬

‫קְטוּלָה‬
‫קְטוּלוֹת‬ ‫קֹטְלוֹת‬ ‫רַבּוֹת‬
 CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Participle and The Present Tense 7

11.23
The Qal Active Participle as the Present Tense (‫)זְמַן־הוֹוֶה‬
Unlike English, the Hebrew language does not have a separate set of
verbal form for the Present Tense: the Active form of the Hebrew
Participle is used for this purpose, especially so in Modern Hebrew.

11.24
The sense of a present tense of a verb, however, may be expressed by
using other verbal forms as well, such as the Imperfect Tense.

11.25
The Participle, depending on the context of the controlling verb in the
sentence, may express a past sense; a popular example:
:‫להִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵ הַמָּיִם‬
ֹ ֱ‫( רוּחַ א‬Genesis 1:3).

11.26
The sample given here shows the Participle is used as an adjective in
the predicative in a non-verbal sentence;

The man guards

could also mean
‫הָאִישׁ שֹׁמֵר‬
The man (is) guarding ←

Other possible implications of the sample phrase:

• The man was guarding.
• The man is/was observing (watching).
• The man is one who guards (The man is the guard).
• The man kept.
Steffen Han April 2011 revised.

• The man is about to guard.

• The man will guard.

11.27
Independent personal pronouns should be used with this type of sentences
‫ברוך בשם‬

to generate a sense of the verb similar to the English Present Tense.

8 Hebrew Verbal System

11.28
Unlike English, sentences in Hebrew in the Present Tense that seek to
convey an adjectival effect may not require copula verb (verb to be),
known as verbless or zero verb sentences in some Hebrew grammar
textbooks. Hebrew is not the only language to be privileged with this
feature. It is also found in the Malay language and Mandarin Chinese
where a supposed of the verb to be is absent in places where it to be
expected in the counterpart sentences in the English language, usually
expressing a simple direct relationship or a condition.

11.29
There is no active participle for the Niph’al binyan.

11.30
The (Active) Participle for Pi’el, Hithpa’el and Hiphil
All Participles, active as well as passive, outside the Simple binyanim
(Qal and Niphal) are given the prosthesis [ְ‫ )מֵם( ]מ‬as the key sign for
the Participles. In the case of Pi’el Participle, the prosthesis [ְ‫)מֵם( ]מ‬
is prefixed to the Pi’el Infinitive Construct without disruption to the
default vowels of the Pi’el binyan, and as there is no accent shift and
therefore propretonic reduction of head vowel would not happen. The
given ‫ שווא‬of the prosthesis ְ‫ מ‬is a ‫שווא נע‬, as the vowels in the sample
word: ‫מְקַטֵּל‬. The same maneuver would be applicable to the formation
of Hithpa’el Participle, which is an active participle, where the default
[ְ‫ )הֵא( ]ה‬would be replaced by [ְ‫ )מֵם( ]מ‬the prosthesis for Participles,
as the vowels in the sample word: ‫מִתְקַטֵּל‬. To configure the Participle
for Hiphil, which is an active stem, the prosthesis for participle [ְ‫]מ‬
(‫ )מֵם‬would take the place of [ְ‫ )הֵא( ]ה‬in the default head syllable, as
SSteffen Han April 2011 revised.

the vowels in the sample word: ‫מַקְטִיל‬. The stem vowel for all active
binyanim would load a [ֵ○] (‫ )צרי‬as the stem vowel. For Hiphil binyan
, the key signature [‫ )היריק מלא( ]○ִי‬is immutable and it plays the
role of the stem vowel for Hiphil Participle—except in the declension
for feminine singular, which assumes a segholate noun format—and all
forms of the Hiphil binyan, except zero vowel conjugation in Hiphil.
‫ברוך בשם‬
 CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Participle and The Present Tense 9

11.31
As the Participles are verbal noun, the inflection for participle would
be known as declension, and attention is needed to take note that the
declension for feminine singular participle would take a segholate noun
format, which would be the standard declension for all active participle
feminine singular, as the vowels in the sample words: ‫ מְקַטֶּלֶת‬,‫קֹטֶלֶת‬.

11.32
The Passive Participles
The Passive Participle has the same function as the Active Participle: to
be used as an attributive adjective, predicative adjective, or substantive
noun.

11.33
Termed as passive, the Hebrew Passive Participle is really in the active
stem; A Passive form of the verb could occur only in the Transitive
verb.

11.34
The method and manner of declension for the Active Participle would
be applicable to the Passive Participle.

11.35
The declension for the Participles of the weak verbs would be similar
to the strong verbs, making adjustment for contiguous ‫ שוואים‬as well
as other related rules.
SSteffen Han April 2011 revised.

11.36
The Passive voice of each binyan would have the passive participle,
and the Qal binyan also has a Passive Participle, hence there are five
passive participles, including one in Qal binyan and two in the Hophal
binyanim.
‫ברוך בשם‬

11.37
Only the Qal stem has both an Active Participle and a Passive Participle
10
Hebrew Verbal System

form of a verb. Participle in the Qal stem, both Active and Passive,
does not carry prefixes.

11.38
Other Passive Participles are found in Niph’al, Pu’al, Hophal, and these
three binyanim do not have the Active Participle as each of these three is
the passive voice of the verb of which an active counterpart is separately
available: the Active Participle for Pu’al is Pi’el Active Participle, the
Active Participle for Hophal is Hiphil Active Participle and the Active
for Niph’al is Qal, which has an Active and an another Passive form
of the Participle of it own, and so on.

11.39
Rules of propretonic reduction of first vowel shall apply to all cases
of Passive Participle with pronominal sufformative inflections, that
is, masculine plural, feminine singular and feminine plural, with the
exception of masculine singular verbs, which would be always a zero
vowel sufformative conjugation.

11.40
Qal Passive Participles
The Qal Passive Participle is vowelled with [ּ‫ו‬+ָ○] (‫שׁוּרוּק‬+‫)קָמֶץ‬, the
default combination in all verb types (including ‫ ל"ה‬verbs), except
‫ו‬/‫( ע"י‬II-yod/waw or Ayin-yod/waw) verbs, known as Hollow verbs
(also known as biconsonantal verbs), which actually are single-syllable
verbs.
Steffen Han April 2011 revised.

11.41
The Qal binyan has a set of default vowel for the Qal Passive Participle,
as the vowels in the sample word: ‫פָּעוּל‬. As the head vowel is a [ָ○]
(‫)קָמֶץ‬, in which case, it would response to propretonic reduction of
head vowel in pluralization. The stem vowel [ּ‫ )שׁוּרוּק( ]ו‬is given by
default for Qal Passive Participle, which is immutable. As participles,
‫ברוך בשם‬

both active as well as passive, are verbal nouns, thus the declension
of the participles would be similar to the declension of the nouns.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Participle and The Present Tense 11

Once again, attention is needed to take note that the declension for
the Passive Participle feminine singular, however, assume a format as
the vowels in the sample word: ‫קְטוּלָה‬, which is different from that
of the feminine singular of the Active Participle, the segholate noun
ending. As could be seen from the sample declension, it is a vocalic
sufformative conjugation, which would induce propretonic reduction of
the head vowel. The declension for feminine plural would be similar
to the declension of feminine nouns, in which case the key ending for
feminine plural nouns: ‫ ות‬would be visible.

11.42
Sometime Qal Passive Participle could be written as: ‫קָטֻל‬.

11.43
As a general rule, all non-Qal binyanim would have a default prosthesis
for each respective binyan, which would be immutable. There are two
patterns of Hophal and thus two distinctive prostheses, one for each
format. To configure the Passive Participle for each of the Passive
binyan, by the same rules and method used for the Active Participle, the
head default syllable would lead a standard stem vowel for the Passive
Participle, which by default would be a [ָ○] (‫)קָמֶץ‬.

11.44
The declension of three main passive voice binyanim, namely, the
Niph’al, Pu’al and Hophal are similar as that of the Qal active participle,
including the segholate feminine noun ending for feminine singular.
Each would be given a prosthesis: the Niph’al displays the [‫)נון( ]נ‬,
while other would show the [‫ )מם( ]מ‬pair up with the vowel [ָ○] (‫)קָמֶץ‬
Steffen Han April 2011 revised.

as theme vowel. All passive voice participles would assume a similar

pattern in declension. There are two forms of Hophal Participles: (i)
‫ מָקְטָל‬or (ii) ‫מֻקְטָל‬, both are in the zero vowel sufformative declension
(ms). Participles in the Hophal binyanim are to be inflected like the
Qal Active Participle where the declension for feminine singular would
assume segholate feminine noun ending, with the exception of ‫ ל"ה‬verb
‫ברוך בשם‬

where the Participles are to be assigned the vowel [ֻ○] (‫ )סגול‬as the
theme vowel.
 Hebrew Verbal System
12

11.45
To sum up, for both the strong and the weak verbs, in the Intensive
and Causative binyanim, in the Passive as well as Active Participle, the
Participles are prefixed with the prosthesis syllable [ְ‫)מֵם( ]מ‬, which is
the main characteristic of non-Qal Participles, except the Niph’al, which
assume its own prosthesis the [‫)נון( ]נ‬. All these ‫ בניינים‬follow a rather
consistent pattern: ‫ מְקַטֵּל‬,‫ מְקֻטָּל‬,‫ מָקְטָל‬,‫ מַקְטִיל‬,‫ מָקְטָל‬or ‫מִתְקַטֵּל‬.
Actually these base forms are also the vowels used in the names of
each binyan.

11.46
Paradigms of the Participles
(a) The strong verbs
(for paradigms of ‫ בניין קל‬see the paradigm above):

The Participles of non-Qal Binyanim

‫הָפְעַל‬ ‫הִפְעִיל‬ ‫הִתְפַּעֵל‬ ‫פֻּעַל‬ ‫פִּעֵל‬ ‫ִנפְעַל‬
Hophal Hiphil Hitpa’el Pu’al Pi‘el Niph‘al
‫מַקְטִיל **מָקְטָֽל‬ ‫מִתְקַטֵּל‬ ‫מקֻטָּל‬ְ ‫מְקַטֵּל‬ ‫נִקְטָל‬ ms
‫נִקְטָלִים מְקַטְּלִים מְקֻטָּלִים מִתְקַטְּלִים מַקְטִילִים מֻקְטָלִים‬ mp
‫נִקְטָלָה מְקַטֶּ֫לֶת מְקֻטֶּ֫לֶת מִתְקַטֶּ֫לֶת מַקְטֶ֫לֶת מֻקְטֶ֫לֶת‬ *fs
‫קטָלוֹת מְקַטְּלוֹת מְקֻטָּלוֹת מִתְקַטְּלוֹת מַקְטִילוֹת מֻקְטָלוֹת‬ְ ִ‫נ‬ fp
*The optional ending with ‫( )קמץ הֵא( ]○ָ[ —ָה‬e.g., ‫ )נִקְטְלָה‬is
available for any feminine singular participle but is less common. It
is required with all participles from middle weak roots.
**Another form is ‫מֻקְטָל‬.
Steffen Han April 2011 revised.
‫ברוך בשם‬