בא — to come | Hebrew Grammar

בא “come” is pa'al, root ב־ו־א, and weak twice over: it is a hollow ע״ו verb whose final radical is א, a ל״א root. The hidden middle ו returns in the future, imperative, and infinitive — יבוא, בוא, לבוא — while the final א remains written even where ordinary Israeli speech barely releases it.

Complete paradigm

Person	עָבָר past	עָתִיד future
I	בָּאתִי báti	אָבוֹא avó
you, m.sg.	בָּאתָ báta	תָּבוֹא tavó
you, f.sg.	בָּאת bat	תָּבוֹאִי tavó'i
he	בָּא ba	יָבוֹא yavó
she	בָּאָה bá'a	תָּבוֹא tavó
we	בָּאנוּ bánu	נָבוֹא navó
you, pl.	בָּאתֶם bátem	תָּבוֹאוּ tavó'u
they	בָּאוּ bá'u	יָבוֹאוּ yavó'u

Form type	Forms
הוֹוֶה present	בָּא ba · בָּאָה ba'á · בָּאִים ba'ím · בָּאוֹת ba'ót
צִיווּי imperative	בּוֹא bo · בּוֹאִי bo'í · בּוֹאוּ bo'ú
שֵׁם הַפּוֹעַל infinitive	לָבוֹא lavó
שֵׁם פְּעוּלָה action noun	— no everyday neutral form —

The noun בִּיאָה exists, especially for an entrance, arrival, or formal “coming,” but it is not the neutral everyday action noun for every use of בא. The card therefore leaves the productive action-noun slot empty rather than implying that speakers routinely nominalize the verb that way.

מתי אתה בא? כולם כבר פה.

matáy atá ba? kulám kvar po

When are you coming? Everyone's already here. (to a man)

הוא בא אלינו בשבת ונשאר לארוחת ערב.

hu ba eléinu beshabát venish'ár la'arukhát érev

He came to our place on Saturday and stayed for dinner.

בואי הנה רגע, אני רוצה להראות לך משהו.

bo'í héna réga, aní rotsé lehar'ót lakh máshehu

Come here a moment; I want to show you something. (male speaker, to a woman)

The written א and the three collisions

In בָּאתִי báti, the א is written but contributes no separate consonant in ordinary Israeli pronunciation. Before a vowel it helps mark a syllable boundary: בָּאָה is written identically in the past and present. Careful speech distinguishes bá'a “she came” from present ba'á “she comes” by stress, but relaxed speech often retracts the present stress, leaving context to disambiguate. Niquud shows the vowels but does not mark stress, so the romanization and the sentence still matter.

Three spellings collide:

Written	Reading 1	Reading 2
בא	בָּא ba — he came	בָּא ba — he comes / is coming
באה	בָּאָה bá'a — she came	בָּאָה ba'á — she comes / is coming
באת	בָּאתָ báta — you came, m.sg.	בָּאת bat — you came, f.sg.

הוא בא אתמול והשאיר את המפתח אצלנו.

hu ba etmól vehish'ír et hamaftéakh etslénu

He came yesterday and left the key with us. (past, fixed by אתמול)

הוא בא עכשיו, אני רואה אותו מהחלון.

hu ba akhsháv, aní ro'é otó mehakhalón

He's coming now; I can see him from the window. (present, fixed by עכשיו; male speaker)

מאיפה את באה כל בוקר?

me'éifo at ba'á kol bóker?

Where do you come from every morning? (to a woman)

💡

For הוא בא, there is no hidden form-level clue: past and present are identical in spelling, pointing, stress, and sound. A time expression or the larger discourse supplies the tense.

בא ל־: feeling like something

In the (informal) desiderative construction בא ל־ + noun or infinitive, בא remains masculine singular and only ל־ inflects for the experiencer: בא לי “I feel like,” בא לך “you feel like,” בא לה “she feels like,” and so on. Even a feminine noun gives בא לי גלידה, not באה לי גלידה.

בא לי קפה, אתה רוצה גם?

ba li kafé, atá rotsé gam?

I feel like a coffee; do you want one too? (informal, to a man)

לא בא לי לצאת הערב, אני גמורה.

lo ba li latsét ha'érev, aní gmurá

I don't feel like going out tonight; I'm exhausted. (female speaker, informal)

בא לך לראות סרט אחרי העבודה?

ba lekhá lir'ót séret akharéi ha'avodá?

Do you feel like seeing a film after work? (to a man, informal)

To move the construction into the past, strongly colloquial Hebrew adds היה before בא: אתמול לא היה בא לי לצאת “yesterday I didn't feel like going out.” This construction does not belong in careful formal prose, where לא רציתי or לא התחשק לי is more natural.

אתמול לא היה בא לי לדבר עם אף אחד.

etmól lo hayá ba li ledabér im af ekhád

Yesterday I didn't feel like talking to anyone. (strongly informal)

בוא as “let's”

The imperative בוא / בואי / בואו can introduce a shared proposal. It is followed by a first-person plural future: בוא נלך “let's go,” בואו נדבר “let's talk.” The imperative agrees with the person or people being invited; the following verb includes the speaker.

בוא נלך, כבר מאוחר.

bo nelékh, kvar me'ukhár

Let's go; it's already late. (to a man, informal)

בואו נדבר על זה מחר כשכולם יהיו פה.

bo'ú nedabér al ze makhár kshekulám yihyú po

Let's talk about it tomorrow when everyone is here. (to a group)

Core collocations

Expression	Meaning	Register
בא בחשבון	is an option, is conceivable	neutral
הבא בתור	the next in line	neutral
ברוך הבא / ברוכה הבאה / ברוכים הבאים	welcome	neutral; agrees with the person welcomed
יבוא יום	a day will come	(literary / elevated)

המחיר הזה לא בא בחשבון; נחפש מקום אחר.

hamekhír hazé lo ba bekheshbón; nekhapés makóm akhér

That price is out of the question; we'll look for somewhere else.

💡

Store four anchors: בא for the collapsed past/present, יבוא for the o-vowel future, בוא for the imperative, and לבוא for the infinitive. The written alef remains throughout; the middle vav appears in the future, imperative, and infinitive.

Key Takeaways

בא is weak in two places: the hollow middle ו surfaces in the future, imperative, and infinitive (יבוא, בוא, לבוא), while final א stays written throughout.
בא is both past and present; careful speech can distinguish past bá'a from present ba'á, but context carries the contrast when relaxed speech retracts the present stress.
Informal בא ל־ marks the experiencer on ל־: בא לי, בא לך, בא להם.
בוא, בואי, and בואו can introduce a shared proposal before a first-person plural future: בוא נלך, בואו נדבר.

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