התלבש hitlabésh, “get dressed,” is a regular strong-root hitpa'el verb from ל־ב־שׁ. Its first radical is not a sibilant, so the ת of the hitpa'el prefix stays in its expected position: הִתְלַבֵּשׁ. More importantly, the verb is intransitive: the subject gets themself dressed, and no person or garment is its direct object. This is a central example of the reflexive meaning of hitpa'el.
Complete paradigm
| Person | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|
| אני | הִתְלַבַּשְׁתִּי hitlabáshti | אֶתְלַבֵּשׁ etlabésh |
| אתה | הִתְלַבַּשְׁתָּ hitlabáshta | תִּתְלַבֵּשׁ titlabésh |
| את | הִתְלַבַּשְׁתְּ hitlabásht | תִּתְלַבְּשִׁי titlabshí |
| הוא | הִתְלַבֵּשׁ hitlabésh | יִתְלַבֵּשׁ yitlabésh |
| היא | הִתְלַבְּשָׁה hitlabshá | תִּתְלַבֵּשׁ titlabésh |
| אנחנו | הִתְלַבַּשְׁנוּ hitlabáshnu | נִתְלַבֵּשׁ nitlabésh |
| אתם · אתן | הִתְלַבַּשְׁתֶּם · הִתְלַבַּשְׁתֶּן hitlabáshtem · hitlabáshten | תִּתְלַבְּשׁוּ titlabshú |
| הם · הן | הִתְלַבְּשׁוּ hitlabshú | יִתְלַבְּשׁוּ yitlabshú |
| Form type | Forms | Register and use |
|---|---|---|
| present | מִתְלַבֵּשׁ mitlabésh · מִתְלַבֶּשֶׁת mitlabéshet · מִתְלַבְּשִׁים mitlabshím · מִתְלַבְּשׁוֹת mitlabshót | neutral; agrees in gender and number |
| imperative | הִתְלַבֵּשׁ hitlabésh · הִתְלַבְּשִׁי hitlabshí · הִתְלַבְּשׁוּ hitlabshú | true imperative; available but less usual in conversation |
| conversational command | תִּתְלַבֵּשׁ · תִּתְלַבְּשִׁי · תִּתְלַבְּשׁוּ | ordinary informal speech |
| infinitive | לְהִתְלַבֵּשׁ lehitlabésh | neutral |
| action noun | הִתְלַבְּשׁוּת hitlabshút | the act or manner of dressing; common in fashion and professional contexts |
Modern plural forms normally serve every-gender groups; dedicated feminine-plural past and future forms are formal or literary. Notice the exact collision התלבש: it can be “he got dressed” in the past or the masculine-singular imperative “get dressed.” Context and intonation do the disambiguating.
הוא התלבש מהר וירד לחכות למונית.
hu hitlabésh mahér veyarád lekhakót lamonít.
He got dressed quickly and went downstairs to wait for the taxi.
התלבש, אנחנו כבר מאחרים.
hitlabésh, anákhnu kvar me'akharím.
Get dressed; we're already late. (true imperative, to a man)
Getting dressed, wearing and dressing someone
Hebrew divides the clothing scene among three verbs. התלבש describes the person preparing their own appearance and takes no direct object. לבש in pa'al takes the garment as its object: לבשתי מעיל “I put on/wore a coat.” הלביש in hif'il takes the person being dressed: הלבשתי את הילד “I dressed the child.” English uses dress in all three frames, but Hebrew changes both the binyan and the argument structure.
תתלבש, אנחנו מאחרים לפגישה.
titlabésh, anákhnu me'akharím lapgishá.
Get dressed; we're late for the meeting. (ordinary speech, to a man)
לבשתי את המעיל הכחול כי בחוץ קר.
laváshti et hame'íl hakakhól ki bakhúts kar.
I put on the blue coat because it's cold outside.
הלבשתי את הילד בזמן שהוא חיפש את הנעליים.
hilbáshti et hayéled bizmán shehú khipés et hana'aláyim.
I dressed the child while he looked for his shoes.
Occasion, style and weather
The preposition after התלבש tells you the dimension being described. התלבש ל־ means dress for an occasion; התלבש ב־ can name clothes or a style, though ordinary speech often chooses לבש when naming one garment. Manner words such as יפה, אלגנטי, חם describe how someone dresses. In התלבשתי חם, חם is adverbial: “I dressed warmly,” not “I became hot.”
איך מתלבשים לחתונה בצוהריים?
eikh mitlabshím lakhatuná batsohoráyim?
How do people dress for an afternoon wedding?
היא מתלבשת יפה גם כשהיא עובדת מהבית.
hi mitlabéshet yafé gam kshehí ovédet mehabáyit.
She dresses nicely even when she works from home.
התלבשתי חם, אבל שכחתי לקחת מטרייה.
hitlabáshti kham, avál shakhákhti lakákhat mitriyá.
I dressed warmly, but I forgot to take an umbrella.
The action noun התלבשות can be literal “getting dressed” or refer to style and procedure. לבוש is attire or a manner of dress, while בגדים simply means clothes. Thus an invitation may specify קוד לבוש, whereas a childcare routine may discuss התלבשות עצמאית.
במשרד אין קוד לבוש רשמי, אבל כדאי להתלבש בצורה מכובדת.
bamisrád ein kod levúsh rishmí, avál kedái lehitlabésh betsúra mekhubédet.
The office has no formal dress code, but it's best to dress respectably.
Clothes that sit well, and התלבש על
In fashion or retail language, בגד מתלבש יפה על הגוף means that a garment falls or fits well on the body. For a specific person, everyday Hebrew more naturally says השמלה יושבת עליה מצוין, literally “the dress sits on her excellently.” English suit does not license a direct object after התלבש.
הבד הזה רך ומתלבש יפה על הגוף.
habád hazé rakh umitlabésh yafé al hagúf.
This fabric is soft and drapes nicely on the body. (fashion/retail)
השמלה הזאת יושבת עליה מצוין.
hasimlá hazót yoshévet aléha metsuyán.
That dress suits her perfectly. (ordinary speech)
Colloquial התלבש על מישהו is aggressive and figurative: “jump on someone, single them out, pick on them.” The preposition על is obligatory in this expression. It is informal, often resentful, and unrelated to clothing in the immediate situation.
אל תתלבש עליי רק כי אתה בלחץ.
al titlabésh alái rak ki atá belákhats.
Don't jump on me just because you're stressed. (informal, to a man)
בעבודה התלבשו עליי בגלל טעות שלא הייתה שלי.
ba'avodá hitlabshú alái biglál ta'út sheló haytá shelí.
At work they came down on me over a mistake that wasn't mine. (informal)
Key Takeaways
- התלבש is regular hitpa'el, with the prefix order unchanged: הת־ל־ב־שׁ.
- It is intransitive and reflexive in meaning; לבש takes a garment, and hif'il הלביש takes the person dressed.
- Unpointed התלבש can be either 3ms past or the masculine-singular imperative.
- Use ל־ for an occasion and manner words such as יפה or חם for style or weather.
- התלבש על is an informal aggressive idiom; the fashion use is better limited to a garment fitting or draping on the body.
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- True Reflexives: התלבש, התרחץ, הסתרקB1 — Every hitpa'el reflexive has a transitive twin — and the twin is almost never in the binyan you would guess: התלבש sits beside pa'al לבש, התגלח beside pi'el גילח, התכונן beside hif'il הכין. Learn the pair, because the moment you name what was dressed, washed or shaved you have to switch to the other verb.
- בניין התפעל: Reflexive, Reciprocal, ProcessA2 — The one binyan you can spot from across the room — הת in the past and infinitive, מת in the present — with the two exceptions that ruin the trick: מתחיל, which is not hitpa'el at all, and מסתכל, which is hitpa'el with its ת moved.
- Reflexives: התפעל vs את עצמיB2 — Hebrew divides reflexive meaning between lexical hitpa'el verbs such as התלבש and analytic complements such as את עצמי, בעצמו and לעצמה.
- Hitpa'el Verbal Noun: הִתְקַטְּלוּת (התרגשות, התפתחות)B2 — Take the hitpa'el stem, add ־וּת, and you have the noun — התרגשות, התפתחות, השתתפות. The pattern is transparent and the plural ־ויות is where learners come unstuck; the harder lesson is that being derivable is not the same as being the word Israelis actually use.