Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 July 12

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July 12[edit]

Hebrew verb question[edit]

Forgive me, I'm just starting to learn Hebrew verbs. Why is it that lilmod takes a-forms in the future tense (elmad, nilmad, etc.), whereas other pa'al verbs like lishmor and lichtov take o-forms (eshmor, nishmor, echtov, nichtov, etc.)? --Lazar Taxon (talk) 17:09, 12 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

[1] --81.159.79.64 (talk) 19:21, 12 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) On the page you linked to it says: "This verb is conjugated as a stative verb in the future tense and imperative." Stative verbs in the imperfect (future tense) have a patach (short a) as a stem vowel. For example, יִגדַל yigdal ('he will grow', from the stem גדל) and not יִגדֹל yigdol. Check out e.g this page if you want to learn more about stative verbs. - Lindert (talk) 19:27, 12 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]
There are a handful of pa'al verbs that aren't stative, but do still have yif'al future tense; לרכוב lirkov, ללבוש lilboš, etc. --217.140.96.140 (talk) 20:39, 12 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]