חיפש khipés, “look for, search for,” is pi'el, root ח־פ־שׂ. Its first radical is guttural, but the active forms retain the familiar pi'el frame. Two details disappear in unpointed writing: the last letter is שׂ sin, not שׁ shin, and the middle פ has a dagesh and is pronounced hard p.
Complete paradigm
| Person | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|
| אני | חִיפַּשְׂתִּי khipásti | אֲחַפֵּשׂ akhapés |
| אתה | חִיפַּשְׂתָּ khipásta | תְּחַפֵּשׂ tekhapés |
| את | חִיפַּשְׂתְּ khipást | תְּחַפְּשִׂי tekhapsí |
| הוא | חִיפֵּשׂ khipés | יְחַפֵּשׂ yekhapés |
| היא | חִיפְּשָׂה khipsá | תְּחַפֵּשׂ tekhapés |
| אנחנו | חִיפַּשְׂנוּ khipásnu | נְחַפֵּשׂ nekhapés |
| אתם / אתן | חִיפַּשְׂתֶּם / חִיפַּשְׂתֶּן khipástem / khipásten | תְּחַפְּשׂוּ tekhapsú |
| הם / הן | חִיפְּשׂוּ khipsú | יְחַפְּשׂוּ yekhapsú |
| Form type | Forms | Use |
|---|---|---|
| present | מְחַפֵּשׂ mekhapés · מְחַפֶּשֶׂת mekhapéset · מְחַפְּשִׂים mekhapsím · מְחַפְּשׂוֹת mekhapsót | neutral |
| imperative | חַפֵּשׂ khapés · חַפְּשִׂי khapsí · חַפְּשׂוּ khapsú | true imperative; future commands are common |
| infinitive | לְחַפֵּשׂ lekhapés | neutral |
| action noun | חִיפּוּשׂ khipús | search; searching |
| pu'al participle | מְחוּפָּשׂ mekhupás | searched; lexical adjective “disguised” |
Careful plural past is khipastém / khipastén; conversation normally retracts the stress as in the table. Dedicated feminine plural תחפשנה is (formal or literary). The root's sin dot is visible in pointed forms such as חִיפֵּשׂ and חִיפּוּשׂ, but the bare spelling חיפש cannot display it; readers recover it from the known word.
מה אתה מחפש? אולי אני יכולה לעזור.
ma atá mekhapés? ulái aní yekholá la'azór.
What are you looking for? Maybe I can help. (to a man; f. speaker)
אני מחפשת עבודה שאפשר לעשות מהבית.
aní mekhapéset avodá she'efshár la'asót mehabáyit.
I'm looking for a job that can be done from home. (f. speaker)
The sought thing is a direct object
חיפש is transitive. It does not take a preposition equivalent to English for. An indefinite sought item is bare—חיפשתי עבודה—and a definite item or person takes את—חיפשתי את המפתחות, חיפשנו אותך.
חיפשתי את המפתחות בכל התיקים ולא מצאתי אותם.
khipásti et hamaftekhót bekhól hatikím velo matsáti otám.
I looked for the keys in all the bags and didn't find them.
חיפשנו אותך בכל מקום; למה הטלפון היה כבוי?
khipásnu otkhá bekhól makóm; láma hatélefon hayá kavúy?
We looked for you everywhere; why was your phone off? (to a man)
הם מחפשים דירה בתל אביב קרובה לרכבת.
hem mekhapsím dirá betel avív krová larakévet.
They're looking for an apartment in Tel Aviv near the train.
The opposite outcome is מצא: חיפשתי ולא מצאתי, “I looked but didn't find.” Hebrew does not build a special progressive contrast; present מחפש covers “looks for” and “is looking for.”
חיפשתי ולא מצאתי, אז הזמנתי אחד חדש.
khipásti velo matsáti, az hizmánti ekhád khadásh.
I looked and couldn't find it, so I ordered a new one.
Searching a place or a search domain
When the complement names the place searched rather than the object sought, Hebrew uses ב־: חיפשתי בכל הבית, “I searched throughout the house.” A digital search domain works the same way: חיפשתי בגוגל, חיפשתי באתר. The object may still appear in the same clause.
חיפשתי בכל הבית את הדרכון, ובסוף הוא היה באוטו.
khipásti bekhól habáyit et hadarkón, uvasóf hu hayá ba'óto.
I searched the whole house for the passport, and in the end it was in the car.
חיפשתי בגוגל ולא מצאתי שעות פתיחה מעודכנות.
khipásti begúgel velo matsáti she'ót ptikhá me'udkanót.
I searched Google and couldn't find up-to-date opening hours.
Thus חיפשתי את האתר means “I looked for the website,” while חיפשתי באתר means “I searched on the website.” The same noun changes role when את changes to ב־.
מחפש, מחופש and חופש
Unpointed מחפש is active מְחַפֵּשׂ mekhapés, “searching.” With a vav, מחופש is מְחוּפָּשׂ mekhupás, the pu'al participle; its established adjectival meaning is “disguised, in costume,” as well as compositional “searched” in a suitable passive context. The one-letter difference is visible even without niqqud.
השוטר מחפש אדם שמחופש לשליח.
hashotér mekhapés adám shemekhupás leshalíakh.
The police officer is looking for someone disguised as a courier.
Noun חופש חוֹפֶשׁ khófesh, “freedom, vacation,” has f and final sh. Its consonants belong to a different lexical family even though bare writing makes it look close to חיפוש. The shin–sin page explains why those final dots vanish from ordinary text.
Search collocations and extensions
חיפוש עבודה is a job search; מנוע חיפוש is a search engine; מבצע חיפושים is a search operation. Figurative מחפש בעיות means “looking for trouble,” and מחפש את עצמו describes someone trying to find their direction or identity.
אל תחפש בעיות; בוא נסיים ונלך הביתה.
al tekhapés be'ayót; bo nesayém venelékh habáyta.
Don't look for trouble; let's finish and go home. (to a man)
אחרי הצבא הוא טייל שנה והרגיש שהוא מחפש את עצמו.
akharéi hatsavá hu tiyél shaná vehirgísh shehú mekhapés et atsmó.
After the army he traveled for a year and felt he was searching for himself.
Key Takeaways
- חיפש is transitive: the sought thing is bare if indefinite and takes את if definite.
- The place or search domain takes ב־: בכל הבית, בגוגל, באתר.
- Pi'el keeps hard p; final שׂ is s, though ordinary spelling hides both dots.
- מחפש mekhapés is searching; מחופש mekhupás is searched or, lexically, disguised.
- The natural result pair is חיפשתי ולא מצאתי—looked for but did not find.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- מצא — to findA2 — Conjugate מצא, distinguish ‘we will find’ from ‘is located,’ and use its object, judgment and מוצא חן frames.
- Why בירך but דיבר: Where the Dagesh Is CompensatedC1 — Five letters refuse the dagesh that defines pi'el, and they do not all react the same way: א and ר lengthen the vowel in front of them, while ה, ח and ע leave it short. That single split explains a set of spellings and readings that otherwise look arbitrary.
- שׁ and שׂ: One Letter, Two SoundsA2 — The letter ש spells two different consonants, sh and s, told apart by a single dot — which unpointed Hebrew does not print. Here is the short, closed list of שׂ words that solves the problem, and the שער trap that catches even text-to-speech engines.
- Verbs Taking a Direct Object with אתA2 — Identify a Hebrew verb's direct object, add את only when that object is definite, and use fused object-pronoun forms such as אותי and אותו.
- שילם — to payA2 — Conjugate שילם and keep the amount, purchase, recipient, payment method and beneficiary in their distinct Hebrew slots.