התווכח hitvakéakh, “argue, debate,” is a hitpa'el verb from ו־כ־ח. Two features make it harder than its meaning suggests. Root-initial consonantal ו is doubled when it occurs medially in unpointed ktiv male, so the verb contains וו: התווכח. Final guttural ח receives a furtive patach, heard before the consonant in הִתְוַוכֵּחַ hitvakéakh. The fully pointed forms below retain the full-spelling skeleton taught on double vav and yod.
Complete paradigm
| Person | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|
| אני | הִתְוַוכַּחְתִּי hitvakákhti | אֶתְוַוכֵּחַ etvakéakh |
| אתה | הִתְוַוכַּחְתָּ hitvakákhta | תִּתְוַוכֵּחַ titvakéakh |
| את | הִתְוַוכַּחְתְּ hitvakákht | תִּתְוַוכְּחִי titvakhí |
| הוא | הִתְוַוכֵּחַ hitvakéakh | יִתְוַוכֵּחַ yitvakéakh |
| היא | הִתְוַוכְּחָה hitvakhá | תִּתְוַוכֵּחַ titvakéakh |
| אנחנו | הִתְוַוכַּחְנוּ hitvakákhnu | נִתְוַוכֵּחַ nitvakéakh |
| אתם · אתן | הִתְוַוכַּחְתֶּם · הִתְוַוכַּחְתֶּן hitvakákhtem · hitvakákhten | תִּתְוַוכְּחוּ titvakhú |
| הם · הן | הִתְוַוכְּחוּ hitvakhú | יִתְוַוכְּחוּ yitvakhú |
| Form type | Forms | Register and use |
|---|---|---|
| present | מִתְוַוכֵּחַ mitvakéakh · מִתְוַוכַּחַת mitvakákhat · מִתְוַוכְּחִים mitvakhím · מִתְוַוכְּחוֹת mitvakhót | neutral; agrees in gender and number |
| imperative | הִתְוַוכֵּחַ hitvakéakh · הִתְוַוכְּחִי hitvakhí · הִתְוַוכְּחוּ hitvakhú | true imperative; possible but often confrontational |
| conversational command | תִּתְוַוכֵּחַ · תִּתְוַוכְּחִי · תִּתְוַוכְּחוּ | ordinary informal speech; especially frequent after אל |
| infinitive | לְהִתְוַוכֵּחַ lehitvakéakh | neutral |
| related noun | וִיכּוּחַ vikúakh | argument, debate or discussion; neutral |
Modern masculine-plural forms normally serve groups of every gender; dedicated feminine-plural past and future forms are formal or literary. Pay special attention to feminine-singular מִתְוַוכַּחַת mitvakákhat: the patach before ח survives, and the form is not reshaped like a segolate noun. Standard references also record a modern variant without the tsere in forms such as הִתְוַוכַּח hitvakákh; this card consistently teaches the citation pronunciation hitvakéakh.
הם מתווכחים על פוליטיקה כמעט כל ערב.
hem mitvakhím al polítika kim'át kol érev.
They argue about politics almost every evening.
אל תתווכח איתי מול הילדים.
al titvakéakh ití mul hayeladím.
Don't argue with me in front of the children. (ordinary speech, to a man)
עם for the person, על for the topic
The other party takes עם; the matter under dispute takes על. They answer different questions, so both can appear in the same clause: התווכחתי איתו על הכסף. With pronouns, use איתי, איתך, איתו, איתה, איתנו, איתם. For the topic, use על זה, עליו, עליה or a noun phrase. Neither participant nor topic is a direct object.
התווכחתי איתו על הכסף עד שאיבדתי סבלנות.
hitvakákhti itó al hakésef ad she'ibádti savlanút.
I argued with him about the money until I lost patience.
התווכחנו עם המוכר על המחיר ובסוף קיבלנו הנחה.
hitvakákhnu im hamokhér al hamekhír uvasóf kibálnu hanakhá.
We argued with the seller over the price and eventually got a discount.
אין על מה להתווכח; החשבון כבר שולם.
ein al ma lehitvakéakh; hakheshbón kvar shulám.
There's nothing to argue about; the bill has already been paid.
קשה להתווכח עם הנתונים האלה.
kashé lehitvakéakh im hanetuním ha'éle.
It's hard to argue with these data.
Why the verb has וו but the noun does not
In unpointed ktiv male, a consonantal ו is doubled inside a word but remains single at the beginning. That yields the visible contrast מתווכח with two medial vavs versus ויכוח with one initial vav. The yod in ויכוח writes the i vowel; it is not a replacement for a missing vav.
| Form | Spelling logic | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| מִתְוַוכֵּחַ · מתווכח | consonantal ו is medial, so ktiv male writes וו | argues, is arguing |
| וִיכּוּחַ · ויכוח | consonantal ו is word-initial, so it stays single | argument, debate |
היה לנו ויכוח ארוך, אבל נפרדנו בחיוך.
hayá lánu vikúakh arókh, avál nifrádnu bekhiyúkh.
We had a long argument, but we parted with a smile.
אני לא מתווכחת; אני רק מסבירה למה זה מפריע לי.
aní lo mitvakákhat; aní rak masbirá láma ze mafría li.
I'm not arguing; I'm only explaining why it bothers me. (f. speaker)
התווכח, רב and טען
English argue covers three different scenes. התווכח is back-and-forth disagreement: each side responds to the other. רב means “quarrel/fight” and highlights damaged relations or anger rather than exchange of reasons. טען means “claim, assert” and takes ש־ for the proposition; it is especially frequent in formal, academic, journalistic and legal language. One person can לטעון ש־ without anyone answering, but להתווכח conceptually involves opposition.
רבנו בגלל שטות, לא בגלל מחלוקת אמיתית.
rávnu biglál shtut, lo biglál makhlóket amitít.
We quarreled over something silly, not because of a real disagreement.
עורך הדין טען שהחוזה אינו תקף.
orékh hadín ta'án shehakhóze einó takéf.
The lawyer argued that the contract was invalid. (formal/legal: asserted a claim)
אחרי שעה של ויכוח הפסקנו להתווכח והזמנו קפה.
akharéi sha'á shel vikúakh hifsáknu lehitvakéakh vehizmánu kafé.
After an hour of arguing, we stopped debating and ordered coffee.
Key Takeaways
- Ktiv male doubles the root’s medial consonantal vav: התווכח, מתווכח, but word-initial ויכוח has one vav.
- The citation form הִתְוַוכֵּחַ ends in a furtive patach and is pronounced hitvakéakh.
- Feminine-singular present is מִתְוַוכַּחַת mitvakákhat.
- Use עם for the other party and על for the topic; both may occur together.
- התווכח is reciprocal disagreement, רב a quarrel, and טען ש־ a formal or reasoned assertion.
Now practice Hebrew
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- Double ו and Double י in Unpointed TextB1 — Unpointed Hebrew writes a consonantal v as וו and a consonantal y as יי in the middle of a word — תקווה, בניין — purely so the reader does not mistake them for the vowels o, u and i. Here is when the doubling applies, and the four places it stops.
- עם: WithA1 — עם is company — a person, a dog, or the milk in your coffee. It is not the 'with' of tools, which is ב־. And it hides the strangest paradigm in the language: 'with me' is איתי, a word that shares not one letter with עם.
- Verbs Governed by על: חשב על, ויתר על, הסתכל עלB2 — Learn common Hebrew verbs whose topic, protected object, repeated item, or target is introduced by על.
- Dialogue: A Friendly ArgumentB2 — Sixteen turns of an ordinary disagreement between two friends, annotated for the machinery that holds an argument together in Hebrew: conceding with נכון ש before you object, the difference between לא, ממש לא and בכלל לא, the ש that carries almost every subordinate clause in speech, and דווקא, which overturns an expectation rather than translating specifically.