לקח — to take | Hebrew Grammar

לקח lakákh, “take,” is pa'al, root ל־ק־ח. It combines two irregularities: its initial ל disappears in the future and imperative as though it were the initial נ of a פ״נ verb, and its final ח is a guttural that reshapes nearby vowels. The forms are common enough that the useful strategy is not to derive them afresh, but to learn the principal parts לקח – לוקח – ייקח – לקחת – קח as one set.

Principal parts

Part	Pointed ktiv male	Reading	Meaning
3ms past	לָקַח	lakákh	he took
ms present	לוֹקֵחַ	lokéakh	takes / is taking
3ms future	יִיקַּח	yikákh	he / it will take
imperative	קַח	kakh	take! (to one man)
infinitive	לָקַחַת	lakákhat	to take
action noun	לְקִיחָה	lekikhá	taking; receiving

מי לקח את המטען מהשולחן שלי?

mi lakákh et hamat'én mehashulkhán shelí?

Who took the charger off my desk?

כמה זמן לוקח להגיע לשם ברכבת?

káma zman lokéakh lehagía leshám barakévet?

How long does it take to get there by train?

Complete conjugation

Person	Past	Future
אני	לָקַחְתִּי lakákhti	אֶקַּח ekákh
אתה	לָקַחְתָּ lakákhta	תִּיקַּח tikákh
את	לָקַחְתְּ lakákht	תִּיקְחִי tikkhí
הוא	לָקַח lakákh	יִיקַּח yikákh
היא	לָקְחָה lakkhá	תִּיקַּח tikákh
אנחנו	לָקַחְנוּ lakákhnu	נִיקַּח nikákh
אתם / אתן	לָקַחְתֶּם / לָקַחְתֶּן lakákhtem / lakákhten	תִּיקְחוּ tikkhú
הם / הן	לָקְחוּ lakkhú	יִיקְחוּ yikkhú

Present agreement	Form
masculine singular	לוֹקֵחַ lokéakh
feminine singular	לוֹקַחַת lokákhat
masculine plural	לוֹקְחִים lokkhím
feminine plural	לוֹקְחוֹת lokkhót

The everyday future plurals תיקחו / ייקחו serve groups of every gender. Dedicated feminine forms such as תיקחנה are (literary). In the past, careful writing can retain לקחתן for a female group; everyday speech commonly uses the masculine-plural-shaped לקחתם for any group.

לקחנו מונית כי האוטובוס האחרון כבר יצא.

lakákhnu monít ki ha'otóbus ha'akharón kvar yatsá

We took a taxi because the last bus had already left.

אם תיקחי מטרייה, לא תצטרכי לקנות אחת בדרך.

im tikkhí mitriyá, lo titstarkhí liknót akhát badérekh

If you take an umbrella, you won't need to buy one on the way. (to a woman)

💡

The first radical is ל, not נ, but in the future it behaves exactly like assimilating נ: the radical disappears and the ק is doubled. Ktiv male therefore writes תיקח, ניקח, ייקח with the vowel yod; the third-person form has two adjacent yods.

One spelling, three forms: לקחת

Bare לקחת is unusually dense. Pointing and stress reveal three different grammatical forms:

Pointed form	Reading	Job	Example interpretation
לָקַחַת	lakákhat	infinitive	to take
לָקַחְתָּ	lakákhta	2ms past	you took (to a man)
לָקַחְתְּ	lakákht	2fs past	you took (to a woman)

Thus לקחת את זה can mean “to take this,” “you took this” to a man, or “you took this” to a woman. An infinitive normally follows a word such as צריך, רוצה or כדי; a past form has an overt or understood second-person subject. In speech, the endings and stress make the distinction audible.

אתה צריך לקחת את התרופה אחרי האוכל.

atá tsaríkh lakákhat et hatrufá akharéi ha'ókhel

You need to take the medicine after food. (to a man; infinitive)

לקחת את התיק שלי בטעות?

lakákhta et hatík shelí beta'út?

Did you take my bag by mistake? (to a man; past)

לקחת את המעטפה מהקבלה?

lakákht et hama'atafá mehakabalá?

Did you take the envelope from reception? (to a woman; past)

לקח and נתן are worth learning together. Both are everyday verbs whose future, imperative and infinitive conceal a root consonant: ייקח / קח / לקחת beside ייתן / תן / לתת. Their opposite meanings also make them a natural memory pair.

Objects, sources and destinations

The thing taken is a direct object. A definite object takes את; an indefinite one does not. The source takes מ־, while a destination or beneficiary takes ל־.

Frame	Meaning	Model
לקח את + definite thing	took the thing	לקח את הספר
לקח דבר	took a thing	לקח ספר
לקח מ־	took from a source	לקח ממני את הספר
לקח ל־	took to a destination / for someone	לקח אותה לרופא

לקח + person + ל־ destination means “take someone to…”: לקחתי אותה לרופא, “I took her to the doctor.” הביא “bring” is selected instead when the endpoint is the deictic goal—the place toward which the speaker presents the movement. The person remains a definite direct object, so את is required in either frame.

לקחתי ממנו את הספר והחזרתי אותו לספרייה.

lakákhti miménu et haséfer vehekhzárti otó lasifriyá

I took the book from him and returned it to the library.

אבא לקח את הילדה לרופא וחיכה איתה בחוץ.

ába lakákh et hayaldá larofé vekhiká itá bakhúts

Dad took the girl to the doctor and waited outside with her.

High-frequency combinations

לקח participates in combinations whose meanings cannot always be predicted word for word from English.

Combination	Meaning	Register
לוקח זמן	takes time	neutral
לקח חלק ב־	took part in	neutral; common in writing
לקח ללב	took to heart	neutral / informal
לקח אחריות על	took responsibility for	neutral to formal
לקח מונית	took a taxi	neutral
קח את זה בקלות	take it easy	(informal)
אל תיקח את זה אישית	don't take it personally	(informal)

היא לקחה אחריות על הטעות והציעה פתרון.

hi lakkhá akhrayút al hata'út vehitsi'á pitrón

She took responsibility for the mistake and proposed a solution.

קח, זה בשבילך; מצאתי את זה בחנות ליד הבית.

kakh, ze bishvilkhá; matsáti et ze bakhanút leyád habáyit

Here, take it—it's for you; I found it in the shop near home. (to a man)

The short imperative קח / קחי / קחו is fully grammatical and current. In casual speech, the corresponding future form תיקח / תיקחי / תיקחו is also an ordinary command. Neither is wrong; the future-command is especially common in extended instructions, while קח remains natural in an immediate handover such as the last example.

💡

Do not translate every English “take” mechanically. Hebrew does use לקח for transport, responsibility, part and time, but other English combinations select different verbs. Store the common combinations as units, then use the נתן–לקח expression map for the wider system.

Key Takeaways

Learn לָקַח – לוֹקֵחַ – יִיקַּח – לָקַחַת – קַח together; the future and imperative hide the root-initial ל.
Bare לקחת has three readings: infinitive lakákhat, 2ms past lakákhta, and 2fs past lakákht.
A definite thing takes את, a source takes מ־, and a destination or beneficiary takes ל־.
לקח + person + ל־ destination means “take someone to…”; הביא marks movement toward the deictic goal.
Learn לקח beside נתן and store its high-frequency collocations as complete frames.

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