הוזמן huzmán, “was invited, was ordered,” is the first of two huf'al cards in this reference. Its root is ז־מ־ן, and its active hif'il partner is הזמין hizmín. The card shows the binyan's defective shape as much as this individual verb: huf'al has present, past, and future forms, but no infinitive and no imperative.
The complete huf'al paradigm
| Person | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|
| אני | הוּזְמַנְתִּי huzmánti | אוּזְמַן uzmán |
| אתה | הוּזְמַנְתָּ huzmánta | תּוּזְמַן tuzmán |
| את | הוּזְמַנְתְּ huzmánt | תּוּזְמְנִי tuzmení |
| הוא | הוּזְמַן huzmán | יוּזְמַן yuzmán |
| היא | הוּזְמְנָה huzmená | תּוּזְמַן tuzmán |
| אנחנו | הוּזְמַנּוּ huzmánnu | נוּזְמַן nuzmán |
| אתם / אתן | הוּזְמַנְתֶּם / הוּזְמַנְתֶּן huzmántem / huzmánten | תּוּזְמְנוּ tuzmenú |
| הם / הן | הוּזְמְנוּ huzmenú | יוּזְמְנוּ yuzmenú |
| Form type | Forms | Status |
|---|---|---|
| present / participle | מוּזְמָן muzmán · מוּזְמֶנֶת muzménet · מוּזְמָנִים muzmaním · מוּזְמָנוֹת muzmanót | literal passive; everyday invitation and permission formula |
| infinitive | — does not exist — | |
| imperative | — does not exist — | |
| active infinitive | לְהַזְמִין lehazmín | hif'il, “to invite / order” |
| action noun | הַזְמָנָה hazmaná | invitation; order |
Careful הוזמנתם / הוזמנתן can carry final stress, huzmantém / huzmantén; conversation commonly retracts it, as in the table. Specifically feminine plural future תוזמנה is (formal or literary); contemporary Hebrew uses תוזמנו.
Kubutz in fully pointed spelling, vav in ktiv male
Traditional fully pointed spelling writes the huf'al u with kubutz: הֻזְמַן, מֻזְמָן, יֻזְמַן. Ordinary ktiv male writes that vowel with ו: הוזמן, מוזמן, יוזמן. The paradigm above follows this guide's morphology-table convention and points the ktiv-male skeleton as הוּזְמַן. These are not two pronunciations; both represent huzmán.
הוזמנתי לריאיון עבודה ביום ראשון בבוקר.
huzmánti lere'ayón avodá beyóm rishón babóker.
I was invited to a job interview on Sunday morning.
הזמינו אותי לריאיון עבודה ביום ראשון בבוקר.
hizmínu otí lere'ayón avodá beyóm rishón babóker.
They invited me to a job interview on Sunday morning. (more conversational packaging)
הוזמנו: “we were invited” or “they were invited”
Final נ assimilates to the first-person plural suffix. הוּזְמַנּוּ huzmánnu, “we were invited/ordered,” and הוּזְמְנוּ huzmenú, “they were invited/ordered,” are both written הוזמנו. Pronunciation and subject context separate them.
| Written | Pointed | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| הוזמנו | הוּזְמַנּוּ | huzmánnu | we were invited / ordered |
| הוזמנו | הוּזְמְנוּ | huzmenú | they were invited / ordered |
אנחנו הוזמנו לחתונה, אבל הילדים לא.
anákhnu huzmánnu lakhatuná, avál hayeladím lo.
We were invited to the wedding, but the children weren't.
הם הוזמנו לחתונה, אבל בסוף לא הגיעו.
hem huzmenú lakhatuná, avál basóf lo higíu.
They were invited to the wedding but didn't come in the end.
Invite and order: two active senses, two passive senses
Active הזמין means both invite a person and order goods or food. Passive הוזמן preserves both meanings. A human subject plus ל־ destination or event usually selects “invited”; merchandise, furniture, a room, or a dish usually selects “ordered/booked.”
הרהיטים הוזמנו מאיטליה ויגיעו בעוד חודש.
harahitím huzmenú me'itálya veyagíu be'ód khódesh.
The furniture was ordered from Italy and will arrive in a month. (written/business style)
הזמינו את הרהיטים מאיטליה, והם יגיעו בעוד חודש.
hizmínu et harahitím me'itálya, vehém yagíu be'ód khódesh.
They ordered the furniture from Italy, and it will arrive in a month. (conversational active)
המנה שהוזמנה לא הגיעה לשולחן.
hamaná shehuzmená lo higía lashulkhán.
The dish that was ordered never arrived at the table.
הזמנו את המנה לפני חצי שעה והיא עוד לא הגיעה.
hizmánnu et hamaná lifnéi khatsí sha'á vehí od lo higía.
We ordered the dish half an hour ago, and it still hasn't arrived. (conversational active)
Finite huf'al is strongly associated with invitations, official notices, reports, and business writing, while the impersonal active plural is often more conversational. הוזמנתי is nevertheless one of the finite passives that speakers do use naturally when their invitation status is the topic. Treat the contrast as a register preference, not a grammatical ban.
מוזמן as the practical everyday form
The participle מוזמן is much more frequent in interaction than the finite paradigm. On an invitation, הנך מוזמן is (formal written) “you are hereby invited.” In ordinary hospitality, אתה מוזמן להצטרף means both “you are invited to join” and the looser “feel free to join.” The feminine and plural forms agree normally.
אתה מוזמן להצטרף אלינו לארוחת ערב.
atá muzmán lehitstaréf eléinu la'arukhát érev.
You're welcome to join us for dinner. (to a man)
כולם מוזמנים לשאול שאלות בסוף ההרצאה.
kulám muzmaním lish'ól she'elót besóf hahartsa'á.
Everyone is welcome to ask questions at the end of the lecture.
אם את באזור, את מוזמנת לקפוץ לקפה.
im at ba'ezór, at muzménet likpóts lekafé.
If you're nearby, feel free to drop by for coffee. (to a woman, informal)
Negative אינך מוזמן is (formal or emphatic); conversation more often says אתה לא מוזמן. מוזמן בשמחה adds an explicitly warm welcome. Noun הזמנה covers both an invitation and an order, so הזמנה רשמית and מספר הזמנה belong to different senses of the same word.
Official and legal uses
The invite sense extends to summons: הוזמן להעיד “was called/invited to testify” and הוזמן לחקירה “was summoned for questioning” belong to formal legal or news register. In these contexts the active alternative still exists but changes the information structure.
העד הוזמן להעיד בבית המשפט בשבוע הבא.
ha'éd huzmán leha'íd bevéit hamishpát bashavúa habá.
The witness was summoned to testify in court next week. (legal/news register)
הזמינו את העד להעיד בבית המשפט בשבוע הבא.
hizmínu et ha'éd leha'íd bevéit hamishpát bashavúa habá.
They summoned the witness to testify in court next week. (active alternative)
Key Takeaways
- הוזמן is the huf'al passive of active הזמין, with both “invite” and “order” senses.
- Huf'al has no infinitive or imperative.
- Traditional הֻזְמַן and ktiv-male-pointed הוּזְמַן represent one pronunciation.
- Bare הוזמנו is huzmánnu “we were invited” or huzmenú “they were invited.”
- Finite passives favor written and institutional contexts, but הוזמנתי remains conversationally available.
- Everyday מוזמן / מוזמנת / מוזמנים means invited or “welcome / feel free.”
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- הזמין — to invite, to orderA2 — Conjugate הזמין and use its two everyday senses—inviting people and ordering goods or services—with the right complements.
- בניין הופעל: The Passive of Hif'ilB2 — huf'al is what happens to a hif'il verb when the thing acted on becomes the subject — three tenses, no infinitive, no imperative, and a vav sitting right after the prefix that gives it away on sight.
- Huf'al Participles as Adjectives: מוכן, מוגבל, מובןB2 — The everyday half of the binyan — eight participles that dictionaries now list twice, once as a verb form and once as an adjective in its own right, plus the two root traps (מותר, מוכר) that the standard accounts get wrong.
- The 3rd-Person-Plural Impersonal (אומרים ש…)B1 — A subjectless third-person plural—אומרים, גנבו, בנו—lets everyday Hebrew report what people say or do without identifying them, often where English chooses a passive.
- הצליח — to succeed, to manageB1 — Conjugate הצליח, pronounce its furtive patach correctly, and choose between managing an action and succeeding in a domain.