התעורר — to wake up | Hebrew Grammar

התעורר hit'orér, “wake up, awaken,” is a hitpa'el verb from the hollow root ע־ו־ר. Its distinctive stem has a written ו carrying the o vowel and two written copies of the final radical ר: התעורר. Because resh cannot take a dagesh, this is literal letter reduplication, not merely a dot inside one resh. Semantically, the verb marks the transition from sleep to wakefulness, a clear example of the process meaning of hitpa'el.

Complete paradigm

Person	Past	Future
אני	הִתְעוֹרַרְתִּי hit'orárti	אֶתְעוֹרֵר et'orér
אתה	הִתְעוֹרַרְתָּ hit'orárta	תִּתְעוֹרֵר tit'orér
את	הִתְעוֹרַרְתְּ hit'orárt	תִּתְעוֹרְרִי tit'orerí
הוא	הִתְעוֹרֵר hit'orér	יִתְעוֹרֵר yit'orér
היא	הִתְעוֹרְרָה hit'orerá	תִּתְעוֹרֵר tit'orér
אנחנו	הִתְעוֹרַרְנוּ hit'orárnu	נִתְעוֹרֵר nit'orér
אתם · אתן	הִתְעוֹרַרְתֶּם · הִתְעוֹרַרְתֶּן hit'orártem · hit'orárten	תִּתְעוֹרְרוּ tit'orerú
הם · הן	הִתְעוֹרְרוּ hit'orerú	יִתְעוֹרְרוּ yit'orerú

Form type	Forms	Register and use
present	מִתְעוֹרֵר mit'orér · מִתְעוֹרֶרֶת mit'oréret · מִתְעוֹרְרִים mit'orerím · מִתְעוֹרְרוֹת mit'orerót	neutral; agrees in gender and number
imperative	הִתְעוֹרֵר hit'orér · הִתְעוֹרְרִי hit'orerí · הִתְעוֹרְרוּ hit'orerú	true imperative; forceful but current
conversational command	תִּתְעוֹרֵר · תִּתְעוֹרְרִי · תִּתְעוֹרְרוּ	ordinary informal speech
infinitive	לְהִתְעוֹרֵר lehit'orér	neutral
action noun	הִתְעוֹרְרוּת hit'orerút	awakening; literal or figurative

The written ו remains in every family member—התעוררתי, מתעורר, להתעורר, התעוררות—because it belongs to the stem's o vowel. The doubled resh also remains visible. Modern plural forms normally serve all groups; dedicated feminine-plural past and future forms are formal or literary. As elsewhere in hitpa'el, unpointed התעורר is both 3ms past and the masculine-singular imperative.

התעוררתי מוקדם מדי ולא הצלחתי לחזור לישון.

hit'orárti mukdám midái veló hitslákhti lakhazór lishón.

I woke up too early and couldn't get back to sleep.

תתעורר כבר, האוטובוס יוצא בעוד עשר דקות.

tit'orér kvar, ha'ótobus yotsé be'ód éser dakót.

Wake up already; the bus leaves in ten minutes. (informal, to a man)

התעורר, קם and העיר divide the event

English get up can blur two moments that Hebrew normally separates. התעורר is the change from sleeping to being awake. קם is the body's movement out of bed or a chair. The two often follow each other, but either can occur without the other: you can wake at six and stay in bed until seven. See the full קם reference card.

התעוררתי בשש, אבל קמתי מהמיטה רק בשבע.

hit'orárti beshésh, avál kámti mehamitá rak beshéva.

I woke up at six, but I didn't get out of bed until seven.

העיר in hif'il is causative: the subject wakes somebody else. It therefore takes a direct object, unlike intransitive התעורר. The corresponding request is תעיר אותי “wake me,” not a form of התעורר.

תעיר אותי בשבע אם השעון המעורר לא יצלצל.

ta'ír otí beshéva im hasha'ón hame'orér lo yetsaltsél.

Wake me at seven if the alarm clock doesn't ring. (to a man)

קשה לה להתעורר בבוקר אחרי משמרת לילה.

kashé la lehit'orér babóker akharéi mishméret láyla.

It's hard for her to wake up in the morning after a night shift.

💡

Ask who crosses the boundary into wakefulness. If it is the grammatical subject, use התעורר. If the subject causes somebody else to wake, use hif'il העיר. Use קם for getting physically up.

Sleep, alarms and wakeful nights

Useful collocations include שעון מעורר “alarm clock,” התעוררות מאוחרת “late awakening,” and ער כל הלילה “awake all night.” An alarm מצלצל or מצפצף; the person מתעורר ממנו “wakes because of/from it.” To say that someone repeatedly wakes during the night, present tense naturally describes the recurring habit.

השעון המעורר לא צלצל, ולכן איחרנו לגן.

hasha'ón hame'orér lo tsiltsél, velakhén ekhárnu lagán.

The alarm clock didn't ring, so we were late for preschool.

מאז שעברנו דירה התינוק מתעורר פעמיים בלילה.

me'áz she'avárnu dirá hatinók mit'orér pa'amáyim baláyla.

Since we moved, the baby wakes up twice a night.

הייתי ער כל הלילה ונרדמתי רק לפנות בוקר.

hayíti er kol haláyla venirdámti rak lifnót bóker.

I was awake all night and only fell asleep toward morning.

When places, debates and feelings awaken

התעורר extends naturally to things that become active, noticeable or alive. A city מתעוררת as streets fill; a debate, question or doubt מתעורר when it emerges. This use is neutral in journalism and formal conversation, not merely poetic. The subject still undergoes a transition, so the process logic is the same as literal waking.

העיר מתעוררת לאט בשבת בבוקר.

ha'ír mit'oréret le'át beshabát babóker.

The city slowly wakes up on Saturday morning.

בישיבה התעורר ויכוח על חלוקת התקציב.

bayeshivá hit'orér vikúakh al khalukát hataktsív.

A debate arose in the meeting about how to divide the budget.

אחרי הבדיקה התעוררו ספקות לגבי התוצאה.

akharéi habdiká hit'orerú sfekót legabéi hatotsa'á.

After the test, doubts arose about the result.

משהו התעורר בי is more personal and often elevated: an emotion, memory or desire “awoke in me.” The preposition ב־ marks the person inside whom the response emerges.

כששמעתי את השיר, משהו ישן התעורר בי.

ksheshamá'ti et hashír, máshehu yashán hit'orér bi.

When I heard the song, something old awoke in me. (literary/elevated)

💡

The figurative senses are not separate idioms to memorize. They preserve one image: something inactive crosses into an active, perceptible state—whether a sleeper, a city, a dispute or a feeling.

Key Takeaways

התעורר keeps a written ו and two written resh letters throughout its paradigm.
The two resh letters represent reduplication; resh does not take a dagesh.
התעורר means wake up, קם means get up, and causative העיר means wake someone.
Alarms ring, people wake from them, and someone who does not sleep is ער.
Debates, doubts, cities and feelings can also להתעורר when they become active or emerge.

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