The Qal Imperfect and the Waw-Consecutive

The third verse of Genesis contains two verbs from the same root, ה־י־ה "be," one pointing forward and one telling what happened:

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי־אוֹר׃

Genesis 1:3, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." יְהִי [ye-HI] "let there be" and וַיְהִי [va-ye-HI] "and there was" differ by one syllable, וַ. That syllable turns a wish into a past event. The verb וַיֹּאמֶר "and he said" at the start of the verse has it too. This lesson teaches the form underneath both, the imperfect, and then the special forms with waw that carry nearly every story in the Hebrew Bible.

The Qal imperfect of קָטַל

Where the perfect adds endings (lesson 11), the imperfect adds prefixes, and in some persons an ending as well. That is why it is also called the prefix conjugation, or yiqtol after its 3ms form. The forms of the strong verb are these (Gesenius, section 47 and Paradigm B).

Person	Hebrew	Guide	Meaning	Prefix + ending
3rd masculine singular	יִקְטֹל	[yik-TOL]	he will kill	יִ־
3rd feminine singular	תִּקְטֹל	[tik-TOL]	she will kill	תִּ־
2nd masculine singular	תִּקְטֹל	[tik-TOL]	you (m.) will kill	תִּ־
2nd feminine singular	תִּקְטְלִי	[tik-te-LI]	you (f.) will kill	תִּ־ ... ־ִי
1st common singular	אֶקְטֹל	[ek-TOL]	I will kill	אֶ־
3rd masculine plural	יִקְטְלוּ	[yik-te-LU]	they (m.) will kill	יִ־ ... ־וּ
3rd feminine plural	תִּקְטֹלְנָה	[tik-TOL-na]	they (f.) will kill	תִּ־ ... ־נָה
2nd masculine plural	תִּקְטְלוּ	[tik-te-LU]	you (m. pl.) will kill	תִּ־ ... ־וּ
2nd feminine plural	תִּקְטֹלְנָה	[tik-TOL-na]	you (f. pl.) will kill	תִּ־ ... ־נָה
1st common plural	נִקְטֹל	[nik-TOL]	we will kill	נִ־

How it is built

• Four prefixes. א for "I," נ for "we," י for "he" and "they (m.)," ת for everything else: "you" in all four forms, "she," and "they (f.)." These are the four letters of אֵיתָן from lesson 10. The vowel of the prefix is hireq, except the 1cs אֶ, which takes segol because א is a throat letter.
• Three endings. ־ִי for "you (f. sg.)," ־וּ for masculine plurals, ־נָה for feminine plurals. All other forms have no ending.
• The stem vowel. Between the second and third root letters stands holem: יִקְטֹל. Before the vowel endings ־ִי and ־וּ the stress moves to the ending and the holem reduces to vocal shewa: תִּקְטְלִי, יִקְטְלוּ. Before ־נָה, which begins with a consonant, it stays: תִּקְטֹלְנָה.
• Two pairs that look alike. 3fs and 2ms are identical (תִּקְטֹל), and so are 3fp and 2fp (תִּקְטֹלְנָה). Context, usually an expressed subject or a "you" in the dialogue, tells them apart.

The dagesh in the ת of תִּקְטֹל is the dagesh lene of a word-initial begadkephat letter. After a vowel, as in וְאַתָּה אֶת־בְּרִיתִי תִשְׁמֹר (Genesis 17:9), it disappears and the ת is written without it. Both are the same prefix.

A real verb: שָׁמַר in the imperfect

Person	שָׁמַר	Guide	Meaning	Attested	Where
3ms	יִשְׁמֹר	[yish-MOR]	he will keep	יִשְׁמֹר	Psalm 121:7
3fs	תִּשְׁמֹר	[tish-MOR]	she will keep	תִּשְׁמֹר	Proverbs 2:11
2ms	תִּשְׁמֹר	[tish-MOR]	you (m.) will keep	תִּשְׁמֹר	Exodus 23:15
2fs	תִּשְׁמְרִי	[tish-me-RI]	you (f.) will keep	תִזְכְּרִי	Isaiah 54:4 ("you will remember")
1cs	אֶשְׁמֹר	[esh-MOR]	I will keep	אֶשְׁמֹר	Genesis 30:31
3mp	יִשְׁמְרוּ	[yish-me-RU]	they (m.) will keep	יִשְׁמְרוּ	Psalm 105:45
3fp	תִּשְׁמֹרְנָה	[tish-MOR-na]	they (f.) will keep	תַּחְגֹּרְנָה	Psalm 65:13 ("they gird themselves")
2mp	תִּשְׁמְרוּ	[tish-me-RU]	you (m. pl.) will keep	תִּשְׁמְרוּ	Genesis 17:10
2fp	תִּשְׁמֹרְנָה	[tish-MOR-na]	you (f. pl.) will keep		rare in strong verbs
1cp	נִשְׁמֹר	[nish-MOR]	we will keep	נִשְׁמֹר	Deuteronomy 6:25

In תַּחְגֹּרְנָה (root חגר "gird") the first root letter is the throat letter ח, which turns the prefix vowel into patah; otherwise the pattern is תִּקְטֹלְנָה. The hills "gird themselves with joy" in Psalm 65:13, a feminine plural subject.

Variations you will meet

• Paragogic nun. The endings ־וּ and ־ִי sometimes add a ן, especially in Deuteronomy and poetry: שָׁמוֹר תִּשְׁמְרוּן אֶת־מִצְוֺת יְהוָה "You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:17). תִּשְׁמְרוּן means exactly what תִּשְׁמְרוּ means (Gesenius, section 47). The שָׁמוֹר before it is an infinitive absolute, adding emphasis ("keeping, you shall keep"); lesson 14 covers it.
• Before maqaf. When a short word follows joined by maqaf, the holem shortens to qamets hatuf, still said o: יְהוָה יִשְׁמָר־צֵאתְךָ וּבוֹאֶךָ "The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in" (Psalm 121:8). Read יִשְׁמָר־ as [yish-mor].
• Pause. In pause the reduced vowel returns: יִשְׁמֹרוּ for יִשְׁמְרוּ (Psalm 56:7).
• a-class imperfects. Stative verbs, and verbs whose second or third root letter is a throat letter, take patah instead of holem: יִכְבַּד "he will be heavy, honored" (Isaiah 66:5), יִגְדַּל "he will grow up" (Genesis 38:11), יִלְבַּשׁ "he will put on" (Deuteronomy 22:5), יִשְׁמַע "he will hear." The prefixes and endings are unchanged (Gesenius, section 47).

What the imperfect means

The imperfect presents an action as not complete: still to come, happening repeatedly, or only possible, wished for or required. English needs several different words for these, and Gesenius lists them in section 107. Context decides.

1. Future

יְהוָה יִמְלֹךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד׃

Exodus 15:18, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"The LORD will reign forever and ever." The most common English rendering of an imperfect is "will."

2. Habitual or repeated, in the past or present

When the story is in the past, an imperfect often means "used to" or "would." In Numbers 11:5 (lesson 11) the people remember הַדָּגָה אֲשֶׁר־נֹאכַל בְּמִצְרַיִם "the fish that we used to eat in Egypt." Hannah's yearly trip to Shiloh is told the same way:

וְכֵן יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁנָה בְשָׁנָה מִדֵּי עֲלֹתָהּ בְּבֵית יְהוָה כֵּן תַּכְעִסֶנָּה וַתִּבְכֶּה וְלֹא תֹאכַל׃

1 Samuel 1:7, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"So he (Elkanah) would do year after year; whenever she went up to the house of the LORD, so she (her rival) would provoke her, and she wept and would not eat." יַעֲשֶׂה, תַּכְעִסֶנָּה and תֹאכַל are imperfects of repeated action. The one wayyiqtol, וַתִּבְכֶּה "and she wept," is usually read as moving to the particular year the story is about.

3. Modal: may, can, should, must

• Permission: מִכֹּל עֵץ־הַגָּן אָכֹל תֹּאכֵל "From every tree of the garden you may freely eat" (Genesis 2:16).
• Obligation: וְאַתָּה אֶת־בְּרִיתִי תִשְׁמֹר "And you, you shall keep my covenant" (Genesis 17:9).
• Purpose, after בַּעֲבוּר "so that": בַּעֲבוּר יִשְׁמְרוּ חֻקָּיו "so that they might keep his statutes" (Psalm 105:45).
• Questions about the future or the possible: הֲמָלֹךְ תִּמְלֹךְ עָלֵינוּ "Are you really going to reign over us?" (Genesis 37:8), Joseph's brothers mocking his dream.

4. Permanent prohibition: לֹא with the imperfect

לֹא תִּרְצָח׃

Exodus 20:13, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"You shall not murder." Two words. לֹא + imperfect states a standing law. The softer, immediate "don't" uses אַל with the jussive, as in אַל־תִּירָא "do not fear" (Genesis 15:1); that is lesson 13.

The waw-consecutive imperfect (wayyiqtol)

Now the form that Genesis 1:3 opened with. Put וַ (waw with patah) in front of an imperfect and double the prefix letter with a dagesh, and you get the waw-consecutive imperfect, also called wayyiqtol or the "narrative past." In spite of its imperfect shape, it reports past events, one after another (Gesenius, sections 49 and 111).

Person	Hebrew	Guide	Meaning	Attested
3ms	וַיִּקְטֹל	[va-yik-TOL]	and he killed	וַיִּשְׁמֹר Genesis 26:5; וַיִּזְכֹּר Genesis 8:1; וַיִּכְתֹּב Exodus 24:4
3fs	וַתִּקְטֹל	[va-tik-TOL]	and she killed	וַתִּגְנֹב Genesis 31:19; וַתִּלְבַּשׁ Genesis 38:19
2ms	וַתִּקְטֹל	[va-tik-TOL]	and you (m.) killed
2fs	וַתִּקְטְלִי	[va-tik-te-LI]	and you (f.) killed
1cs	וָאֶקְטֹל	[va-ek-TOL]	and I killed	וָאֶזְכֹּר Exodus 6:5
3mp	וַיִּקְטְלוּ	[va-yik-te-LU]	and they killed	וַיִּשְׁמְרוּ Psalm 59:1; וַיִּמְכְּרוּ Genesis 37:28
3fp	וַתִּקְטֹלְנָה	[va-tik-TOL-na]	and they (f.) killed	וַתִּשֶּׂאנָה "and they lifted up," Ruth 1:9
2mp	וַתִּקְטְלוּ	[va-tik-te-LU]	and you (m. pl.) killed
2fp	וַתִּקְטֹלְנָה	[va-tik-TOL-na]	and you (f. pl.) killed
1cp	וַנִּקְטֹל	[va-nik-TOL]	and we killed	וַנַּעֲבֹר "and we passed by," Deuteronomy 2:8

How to spot it

1. וַ with patah, and a dagesh in the next letter: וַיִּ, וַתִּ, וַנִּ.
2. Before א, which cannot take a dagesh, the patah lengthens to qamets: וָאֶזְכֹּר, וָאֹכֵל "and I ate" (Genesis 3:12).
3. A yod with shewa often drops the dagesh: וַיְהִי, not וַיְּהִי (Gesenius, section 20). The patah on the waw is still the sign.
4. Compare the plain conjunction: וְיִשְׁמָר (Psalm 107:43), with shewa and no doubling, is just "and let him keep," an ordinary imperfect used as a wish.

Short forms

Many verbs, especially weak ones, use a shortened imperfect after the waw-consecutive, with the stress drawn back toward the front of the word (Gesenius, sections 48 and 49). Strong verbs like שָׁמַר barely change, but the most frequent verbs in narrative change a lot. Learn these by sight now; lesson 16 explains them.

Imperfect	Guide	Waw-consecutive	Guide	Meaning
יֹאמַר	[yo-MAR]	וַיֹּאמֶר	[va-YO-mer]	and he said
יִהְיֶה	[yih-YE]	וַיְהִי	[va-ye-HI]	and it was, and it happened
יִרְאֶה	[yir-E]	וַיַּרְא	[va-YAR]	and he saw
יָקוּם	[ya-KUM]	וַיָּקָם	[va-YA-kom]	and he arose
יֵרֵד	[ye-RED]	וַיֵּרֶד	[va-YE-red]	and he went down
יֵלֵךְ	[ye-LEKH]	וַיֵּלֶךְ	[va-YE-lekh]	and he went

Every form in the left column occurs in the books our tool covers (for example יֹאמַר Genesis 31:8, יִרְאֶה Genesis 22:8, יָקוּם Exodus 21:19, יֵרֵד Genesis 42:38), and the right column is the form you will meet on almost every page of narrative. In וַיָּקָם the second qamets is a qamets hatuf in a closed unstressed syllable, said o. וַיֹּאמֶר alone occurs hundreds of times in Genesis.

How narrative chains work

A Hebrew story is a chain of wayyiqtol verbs. Each one normally reports the next event: "and he arose, and he went down, and he found." Translate the waw as "and," "then," "so," or leave it out and start a new English sentence; all are faithful (Gesenius, section 111).

A wayyiqtol must stand first in its clause. So whenever a writer wants to put something else first (a subject for contrast, an object, a time phrase, background), the chain is broken: the clause starts with וְ plus that word, and the verb, if there is one, is a perfect (lesson 11) or a participle, or there is no verb at all. Grammarians call these off-line clauses. They do not move the story forward; they describe the scene, contrast two things, or say what was going on at the same time.

וַיְהִי as a scene opener

The wayyiqtol of "be," וַיְהִי, often opens a new episode or a whole book, followed by a time phrase. Older English translations rendered it "and it came to pass." Modern ones often leave it out or say "now" or "once." Jonah and Ruth both begin this way.

The waw-consecutive perfect (weqatal)

The mirror image of the narrative chain is a chain of perfects with וְ (a plain shewa, no doubling). After an imperfect, an imperative, a participle used of the future, or any statement about what will happen or what is done regularly, a waw-consecutive perfect carries on in the same time and mood (Gesenius, sections 49 and 112). It is translated "and you shall ...," "and he will ...," or "and he would ...". In the 1cs and 2ms the stress usually shifts to the ending: וְשָׁמַרְתָּ [ve-sha-mar-TA].

Use	Example	Translation
Instruction (after the context of a law)	וְשָׁמַרְתָּ אֶת־הַחֻקָּה הַזֹּאת (Exodus 13:10)	You shall keep this statute.
Instruction	וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת־הַמַּצּוֹת (Exodus 12:17)	You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread.
After an imperative	שְׁמַע בְּקוֹלָם וְהִמְלַכְתָּ לָהֶם מֶלֶךְ (1 Samuel 8:22)	Listen to them and make them a king.
After a general imperfect	עַל־כֵּן יַעֲזָב־אִישׁ אֶת־אָבִיו וְאֶת־אִמּוֹ וְדָבַק בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ וְהָיוּ לְבָשָׂר אֶחָד (Genesis 2:24)	Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Habit in the past, after an imperfect	וְאֵד יַעֲלֶה מִן־הָאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁקָה אֶת־כָּל־פְּנֵי־הָאֲדָמָה (Genesis 2:6)	A mist would go up from the earth and water the whole face of the ground.

Notice Genesis 2:24 and 2:6: the first verb is an imperfect, and every verb after it is a weqatal continuing in the same frame, general truth in one case and repeated past action in the other. The rule is simply that weqatal takes its time from what goes before.

The four combinations side by side

Form	Shape	Example	Usual time
perfect (qatal)	endings, no waw-consecutive	שָׁמַר	past; present for states
imperfect (yiqtol)	prefixes	יִשְׁמֹר	future, habitual, modal
waw-consecutive imperfect (wayyiqtol)	וַ + doubled prefix	וַיִּשְׁמֹר	past, in sequence (narrative)
waw-consecutive perfect (weqatal)	וְ + perfect	וְשָׁמַר	future, command or habit, in sequence

The pattern is easy to state and worth memorizing: the two waw-consecutive forms continue the time frame of the verb before them, and wayyiqtol specializes in the past. Older grammars spoke of the waw "converting" the tense, which is why some books call it the "waw-conversive." Gesenius uses "waw consecutive," the term this course follows; whatever the history, the reading rule is the same.

New words for this lesson

Hebrew	Guide	Meaning
אָמַר / וַיֹּאמֶר	[a-MAR] / [va-YO-mer]	say / and he said
הָיָה / וַיְהִי	[ha-YA] / [va-ye-HI]	be, become, happen / and it was
רָאָה / וַיַּרְא	[ra-A] / [va-YAR]	see / and he saw
קָרָא	[ka-RA]	call, name, read aloud
קוּם / וַיָּקָם	[KUM] / [va-YA-kom]	arise / and he arose
יָרַד / וַיֵּרֶד	[ya-RAD] / [va-YE-red]	go down / and he went down
הָלַךְ / וַיֵּלֶךְ	[ha-LAKH] / [va-YE-lekh]	go, walk / and he went
אוֹר	[OR]	light
חֹשֶׁךְ	[KHO-shekh]	darkness
עֶרֶב / בֹּקֶר	[E-rev] / [BO-ker]	evening / morning

Updated October 28, 2026.