The Derived Stems

Lesson 10 introduced the root and the idea of the binyan (בִּנְיָן [bin-YAN], "building"): a pattern of prefixes, vowels and doubling that turns a root into a verb. So far you have used only one binyan, the Qal (קַל [KAL], "light, simple"). Most roots appear in more than one binyan, and the binyan changes the meaning in more or less regular ways. Qal מֵת is "he died"; Hiphil הֵמִית is "he put to death"; Hophal יוּמַת is "he will be put to death." The root מ-ו-ת never changes. The building does.

This lesson is a survey. It gives you enough to recognize all seven main stems on sight, to know their usual meanings, and to read the forms you meet in real texts. Gesenius treats them in sections 51 to 55, with the full paradigm of קָטַל as his Paradigm B; this lesson's grid follows that paradigm. For every stem you will also see attested forms from the books this course loads, with the lookup tool's codes.

The names, and the codes

The traditional names are simply the 3 m. sg. perfect of the old model verb פָּעַל "do" in each stem: נִפְעַל, פִּעֵל, פֻּעַל, הִפְעִיל, הָפְעַל, הִתְפַּעֵל. (Piel is pronounced [pi-EL] because ע cannot be doubled.) So the name of each stem is itself an example of the stem. The lookup tool uses one letter for each stem, after the V for "verb":

A memory trick for the codes: small letters are active (p Piel, h Hiphil), capitals are their passives (P Pual, H Hophal). N is Niphal and t is Hithpael (from the ת). So HVhp3ms in the tool means Hebrew, Verb, hiphil, perfect, 3rd masculine singular.

The paradigm of קָטַל in seven stems

Here are the five forms the lesson asks you to know, for each stem. Read across a row to see one form through all the stems; read down a column to see one stem. Learn the columns first; the rows show you the markers.

And the guide to say them, row by row:

• Perfect: [ka-TAL, nik-TAL, ki-TEL, ku-TAL, hik-TIL, hok-TAL, hit-ka-TEL]
• Imperfect: [yik-TOL, yi-ka-TEL, ye-ka-TEL, ye-ku-TAL, yak-TIL, yok-TAL, yit-ka-TEL]
• Imperative: [ke-TOL, hi-ka-TEL, ka-TEL, hak-TEL, hit-ka-TEL]
• Participle: [ko-TEL, nik-TAL, me-ka-TEL, me-ku-TAL, mak-TIL, mok-TAL, mit-ka-TEL]
• Infinitive construct: [ke-TOL, hi-ka-TEL, ka-TEL, hak-TIL, hit-ka-TEL]

Some notes on the grid. The Hophal's first vowel is qamets hatuf, an o: הָקְטַל is [hok-TAL], not [hak-TAL]. Gesenius also gives the Hophal with qibbuts (הֻקְטַל), and verbs vary between the two. The Piel perfect also appears as קִטַּל with patah, and the Hithpael perfect as הִתְקַטַּל. The passive stems have almost no imperatives, for the obvious reason that one rarely orders someone to be acted upon. The infinitives absolute are not in the grid; the commonest are Niphal נִקְטֹל (also הִקָּטֹל), Piel קַטֹּל, Hiphil הַקְטֵל and Hophal הָקְטֵל, and you will meet a Hophal one below.

Four quick ways to tell them apart

1. Look for a dagesh forte in the middle root letter. If it is there, you are in the Piel, Pual or Hithpael (the "D stems," from "doubled"). Patah under the first root letter: Piel (קַטֵּל, יְקַטֵּל). Qibbuts (u) under the first root letter: Pual (קֻטַּל). הִתְ or יִתְ or מִתְ in front: Hithpael.
2. Look at the prefix vowel of the imperfect. Hireq יִ: Qal, Niphal or Hithpael. Shewa יְ: Piel or Pual. Patah יַ: Hiphil. Qamets hatuf יָ (or qibbuts יֻ): Hophal.
3. Look for hireq-yod before the last root letter. הִקְטִיל, יַקְטִיל, מַקְטִיל: the Hiphil's signature, kept in most forms.
4. Look for a נ or for a doubled first root letter. נ before the root in the perfect and participle (נִקְטַל, נִקְטָל), or a dagesh in the first root letter after the prefix in the imperfect, imperative and infinitive (יִקָּטֵל, הִקָּטֵל): Niphal.

What the stems mean, and the caveats

Every grammar gives the stems a basic meaning, and every grammar warns that the meanings are tendencies. A verb's meaning in a given stem is a fact about that verb, recorded in the lexicon (BDB arranges each verb's entry stem by stem). Some roots occur only in one derived stem, with no Qal at all. With that warning, here are the patterns that hold often enough to be worth knowing (Gesenius, section 39).

Niphal: the נ stem

Markers. Prefix נ in the perfect and participle: נִקְטַל, נִקְטָל. In the imperfect, imperative and infinitive the נ assimilates into the first root letter, which therefore has a dagesh forte: *יִנְקָטֵל becomes יִקָּטֵל, and the imperative and infinitive take a ה in front, הִקָּטֵל (Gesenius, section 51).

Meaning. Usually the passive of the Qal (be opened, be called), or reflexive (guard oneself), sometimes reciprocal (do to one another). A handful of common verbs have an ordinary active sense in the Niphal and little or no Qal: נִלְחַם "fight," נִשְׁבַּע "swear."

The Flood verse shows the Niphal at its most ordinary, a plain passive:

בַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה נִבְקְעוּ כָּל־מַעְיְנֹת תְּהוֹם רַבָּה וַאֲרֻבֹּת הַשָּׁמַיִם נִפְתָּחוּ׃

Part of Genesis 7:11, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"On that day all the springs of the great deep were split open, and the windows of the heavens were opened." Both verbs are the Niphal of strong roots (בָּקַע "split," פָּתַח "open"), Qal active, Niphal passive. In Exodus 14:14, יְהוָה יִלָּחֵם לָכֶם "the LORD will fight for you," the Niphal is simply active: לָחַם is a Niphal verb. And הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ "guard yourself, take care" (Genesis 24:6) is reflexive: the Qal שָׁמַר "guard" turned back on the subject.

Piel: the doubled stem

Markers. Dagesh forte in the middle root letter; perfect with hireq in the first syllable (קִטֵּל), imperfect with shewa under the prefix and patah under the first root letter (יְקַטֵּל); participle מְקַטֵּל (Gesenius, section 52).

Meaning. Gesenius and older grammars call the Piel "intensive," and some verbs fit: Qal שָׁלַח "send," Piel שִׁלַּח "send away, let go." Many scholars since then have found that the commonest Piel sense is factitive: it turns a state into an action, making something be what the Qal says it is. Qal קָדַשׁ "be holy," Piel קִדֵּשׁ "make holy, consecrate." Others are related actions with no simple label: Qal לָמַד "learn," Piel לִמֵּד "teach." And some of the commonest verbs are Piel with no Qal in use: דִּבֶּר "speak," בִּקֵּשׁ "seek."

In לַמְּדֵנִי the middle letter keeps its dagesh, but the vowel under it has dropped to shewa: [lam-me-DE-ni] in careful reading, often [la-me-DE-ni] in modern speech. The dagesh tells you the stem even when the patah and tsere are gone.

Gutturals. ר and the gutturals א, ה, ח, ע cannot take dagesh forte. In the Piel the vowel before them is usually lengthened instead: בֵּרַךְ "he blessed" has tsere where קִטֵּל has hireq. That is why the priestly blessing has יְבָרֶכְךָ [ye-va-REKH-kha] "may he bless you" (Numbers 6:24) with no visible doubling: shewa under the prefix and the vowels of the Piel still give it away. Lesson 16 returns to this.

Pual: passive of the Piel

Markers. Dagesh forte in the middle letter, like the Piel, but with qibbuts (u) under the first root letter and patah under the second: קֻטַּל, יְקֻטַּל, participle מְקֻטָּל. There is no imperative (Gesenius, section 52).

Meaning. The passive of the Piel: Piel "praise," Pual "be praised"; Piel "bless," Pual "be blessed."

Two of these need a word. In מְבֹרָךְ the ר cannot be doubled, so the qibbuts is lengthened to holem, exactly as the Piel בֵּרַךְ lengthened its hireq to tsere. And לֻקֳחָה from לָקַח "take" is tagged Pual, but לָקַח has no Piel to be the passive of. Gesenius already noticed that some "Pual" forms of verbs without a Piel are better taken as the passive of the Qal, an old Qal passive that otherwise disappeared (Gesenius, section 52). Many scholars say the same of יֻלַּד "was born" from יָלַד. You can read them as Pual; just know the label is debated. The tool's tags, here and everywhere, are one careful analysis, not revelation.

יְהִי שֵׁם יְהוָה מְבֹרָךְ מֵעַתָּה וְעַד־עוֹלָם׃

Psalms 113:2, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"May the name of the LORD be blessed from now and forever." A jussive יְהִי (lesson 13) with a Pual participle as its complement.

Hiphil: the causative

Markers. Prefix ה in the perfect (הִקְטִיל), patah under the prefix in the imperfect (יַקְטִיל) and participle (מַקְטִיל), and hireq-yod before the last root letter in most forms. The imperative הַקְטֵל and the jussive יַקְטֵל have tsere instead, and so does the waw-consecutive: וַיַּקְטֵל (Gesenius, section 53). This is the one place in the strong verb where the jussive has its own shape, as lesson 13 promised.

Meaning. Usually causative of the Qal: make someone do or be something. Qal מֵת "die," Hiphil הֵמִית "cause to die, kill." Qal שָׁמַע "hear," Hiphil הִשְׁמִיעַ "cause to hear, announce." Some Hiphils have no Qal and must simply be learned: הִשְׁלִיךְ "throw," הִגִּיד "tell," הִבְדִּיל "separate."

The verb בָּדַל gives a whole Hiphil family, most of it in the first chapter of Genesis:

וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאוֹר כִּי־טוֹב וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ׃

Genesis 1:4, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"God saw the light, that it was good, and God separated the light from the darkness." Compare וַיַּבְדֵּל with tsere and the imperfect יַבְדִּיל with hireq-yod: the waw-consecutive uses the short form. In Genesis 1:6 the firmament is to be מַבְדִּיל בֵּין מַיִם לָמָיִם "separating between waters and waters," and in 1:14 the lights are there לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה "to separate between the day and the night."

Hophal: passive of the Hiphil

Markers. Prefix ה in the perfect, with an o or u vowel under the prefix: qamets hatuf (הָקְטַל, יָקְטַל, מָקְטָל) or qibbuts (הֻקְטַל, יֻקְטַל). Patah before the last root letter in most forms (Gesenius, section 53). The Hophal is the rarest of the seven.

Meaning. The passive of the Hiphil: "be made to," "be caused to." Hiphil הִשְׁלִיךְ "throw," Hophal הָשְׁלַךְ "be thrown"; Hiphil הִגִּיד "tell," Hophal הֻגַּד "be told."

Only הָשְׁלַכְתִּי and יֻשְׁלָכוּ are from a strong root; together they show both prefix vowels in one verb. The others are weak verbs you will meet in lesson 16: נָגַד and נָצַב lose their נ (so the dagesh in הֻגַּד and מֻצָּב is that assimilated נ), and מוּת is hollow. Boaz's words to Ruth use a Hophal infinitive absolute with its finite verb, the emphatic pattern of lesson 14:

וַיַּעַן בֹּעַז וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ הֻגֵּד הֻגַּד לִי כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־עָשִׂית אֶת־חֲמוֹתֵךְ

Part of Ruth 2:11, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"Boaz answered and said to her, 'I have been told, fully told, all that you have done for your mother-in-law.'" הֻגֵּד [hu-GED] is the Hophal infinitive absolute (HVHa), הֻגַּד the perfect. The legal formula מוֹת יוּמָת [MOT yu-MAT] "he shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 21:12) pairs a Qal infinitive absolute with a Hophal imperfect of the same root.

Hithpael: the reflexive

Markers. Prefix הִתְ (imperfect יִתְ, participle מִתְ) and a dagesh forte in the middle root letter, with the vowels of the Piel: הִתְקַטֵּל (Gesenius, section 54).

Meaning. Reflexive of the Piel (sanctify oneself, hide oneself), reciprocal (look at one another), or repeated, back-and-forth action. The famous example is הָלַךְ "walk, go," whose Hithpael הִתְהַלֵּךְ means "walk about, go to and fro, live (one's life)." Some Hithpaels are simply the normal verb for the action: הִתְפַּלֵּל "pray."

Genesis 5:22 says of Enoch וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ חֲנוֹךְ אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים "Enoch walked with God," a whole life described by the Hithpael of "go." In this lesson's Reading the same participle describes God "walking about" in the garden.

Hithpael metathesis and assimilation

The ת of הִתְ meets the first root letter directly, and some combinations change it. Gesenius describes two kinds of change (Gesenius, section 54).

1. Metathesis with sibilants. If the root begins with ס, שׂ or שׁ, the ת and the sibilant trade places. *הִתְשַׁמֵּר becomes הִשְׁתַּמֵּר. With צ the two also trade places, and the ת becomes ט, an emphatic t to match the emphatic צ: *הִתְצַדֵּק becomes הִצְטַדֵּק. (With ז the expected result is a swap with ת becoming ד, but the ז example in this lesson, הִזַּכּוּ, assimilates instead; see below.)

וָאֱהִי תָמִים עִמּוֹ וָאֶשְׁתַּמֵּר מֵעֲוֺנִי׃

Psalms 18:24, Westminster Leningrad Codex

"I was blameless with him, and I kept myself from my guilt." Here is our model root שָׁמַר in the Hithpael, the swap made visible: שׁ then ת. (וָאֱהִי is a shortened waw-consecutive of הָיָה, "and I was.") Judah's question in Genesis 44:16 uses the Hithpael of צָדַק "be in the right": וּמַה־נִּצְטַדָּק "and how can we prove ourselves innocent?" The dagesh in the נ comes from the maqaf link with מַה, not from the stem.

2. Assimilation with dentals. If the root begins with ד, ט or ת, the ת of the prefix simply assimilates and shows up as a dagesh forte in the first root letter. *הִתְטַהֲרוּ becomes הִטַּהֲרוּ: Jacob tells his household וְהִטַּהֲרוּ [ve-hi-ta-ha-RU] "and purify yourselves" (Genesis 35:2). The ה of טָהֵר cannot be doubled, so this form has no dagesh in the ה. Assimilation sometimes happens with other letters too: Isaiah 1:16 has הִזַּכּוּ [hi-za-KU] "make yourselves clean," from זָכָה, where the ת has assimilated into the ז instead of becoming ד.

One root through the stems

The best way to feel the system is to follow one root through several stems. Here are three, every form attested in the loaded books.

Notice what the empty cells say. No root uses every stem. קדשׁ uses six; למד three; מות three. The stems are not a grid that every root fills, but a set of options each root picks from, and the lexicon records which.

Updated October 28, 2026.