לימד liméd, “teach,” is regular pi'el, root ל־מ־ד. It forms a transparent lexical pair with pa'al למד lamád, “learn, study”: למד presents knowledge moving into the learner, while לימד presents someone causing that learning. Here pi'el supplies a causative relationship that many other roots express through hif'il.
Complete paradigm
| Person | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|
| אני | לִימַּדְתִּי limádti | אֲלַמֵּד alaméd |
| אתה | לִימַּדְתָּ limádta | תְּלַמֵּד telaméd |
| את | לִימַּדְתְּ limádt | תְּלַמְּדִי telamdí |
| הוא | לִימֵּד liméd | יְלַמֵּד yelaméd |
| היא | לִימְּדָה limdá | תְּלַמֵּד telaméd |
| אנחנו | לִימַּדְנוּ limádnu | נְלַמֵּד nelaméd |
| אתם / אתן | לִימַּדְתֶּם / לִימַּדְתֶּן limádtem / limádten | תְּלַמְּדוּ telamdú |
| הם / הן | לִימְּדוּ limdú | יְלַמְּדוּ yelamdú |
| Form type | Forms | Use |
|---|---|---|
| present | מְלַמֵּד melaméd · מְלַמֶּדֶת melamédet · מְלַמְּדִים melamdím · מְלַמְּדוֹת melamdót | neutral |
| imperative | לַמֵּד laméd · לַמְּדִי lamdí · לַמְּדוּ lamdú | true imperative; future commands are common in speech |
| infinitive | לְלַמֵּד lelaméd | neutral |
| action noun | לִימּוּד limúd | study, learning or instruction; sense depends on the phrase |
| profession/activity noun | הוֹרָאָה hora'á | teaching as an activity or profession; also instruction/directive |
Careful plural past is limadtém / limadtén; ordinary conversation normally retracts the stress as in the table. Dedicated feminine-plural תלמדנה is (formal or literary). The pi'el past writes י—לימד—while present, future and infinitive do not: מלמד, ילמד, ללמד.
היא מלמדת מתמטיקה בתיכון כבר חמש שנים.
hi melamédet matemátika batikhón kvar khamésh shaním.
She has been teaching mathematics at a high school for five years.
מי לימד אותך לנהוג? אתה נוהג ממש בזהירות.
mi liméd otkhá linhóg? atá nohég mamásh bizhirút.
Who taught you to drive? You drive really carefully. (to a man)
ללמד versus ללמוד
The infinitives differ by one letter and one vowel pattern: ללמד lelaméd is “to teach,” while ללמוד lilmód is “to learn/study.” The present forms make the direction visible too: מלמד is the teacher's action; לומד is the learner's action. The למד reference card develops the learner's side of the pair.
אני לומד עברית ומלמד אנגלית בערב.
aní loméd ivrít umelaméd anglít ba'érev.
I study Hebrew and teach English in the evening. (m. speaker)
באתי ללמוד, לא ללמד; אני עוד לא מכירה את השיטה.
báti lilmód, lo lelaméd; aní od lo makirá et hashitá.
I came to learn, not to teach; I don't know the method yet. (f. speaker)
Unpointed תלמד and נלמד are ambiguous between binyanim. תלמד can be pa'al tilmád “you/she will learn” or pi'el telaméd “you/she will teach.” נלמד can be pa'al nilmád “we will learn,” pi'el nelaméd “we will teach,” or nif'al nilmád “is learned/taught.” The arguments resolve what the page cannot show.
מחר נלמד את הפרק, וביום חמישי נלמד אותו בכיתה השנייה.
makhár nilmád et hapérek, uveyóm khamishí nelaméd otó bakitá hashniyá.
Tomorrow we'll study the chapter, and on Thursday we'll teach it in the second class.
Learner and subject: two direct objects
לימד can take the learner and the subject matter as two direct objects. A pronominal or definite learner appears as אותי, אותך, אותו, אותנו or את + noun. Indefinite subject matter is bare: לימד אותנו עברית. Definite subject matter can take its own את: לימדה אותנו את השיר. This is a genuine double-object construction, not a hidden “to” phrase; see the wider double-object system.
| Role | Frame | Model |
|---|---|---|
| learner | את + person | לימדתי אותם |
| indefinite subject matter | bare noun | לימדתי אותם עברית |
| definite subject matter | את + definite noun | לימדתי אותם את השיר |
| acquired skill | learner + infinitive | לימדתי אותם לשחות |
המורה מלמדת אותנו חשבון, אבל היום למדנו גאומטרייה.
hamorá melamédet otánu kheshbón, avál hayóm lamádnu ge'ometriyá.
The teacher teaches us arithmetic, but today we studied geometry.
לימדתי אותם עברית במשך שנה ואז הם עברו כיתה.
limádti otám ivrít beméshekh shaná ve'áz hem avrú kitá.
I taught them Hebrew for a year, and then they moved to another class.
אבא שלי לימד אותי לתקן אופניים כשהייתי ילד.
ába shelí liméd otí letakén ofanáyim kshehayíti yéled.
My father taught me to repair bicycles when I was a child. (m. speaker)
When the point is simply where someone works, ב־ introduces the institution: מלמד בתיכון, באוניברסיטה, בבית ספר יסודי. A class can appear with בכיתה; a grade uses the Hebrew letter name, as in כיתה ג׳.
אני מלמדת בכיתה ג׳, ואחותי מלמדת באוניברסיטה.
aní melamédet bekhitá gímel, va'akhotí melamédet ba'universitá.
I teach third grade, and my sister teaches at a university. (f. speaker)
Lessons, consequences and the noun family
זה ילמד אותו לקח means “that will teach him a lesson.” The lesson is a direct object, not an infinitive, and the expression often implies that an unpleasant consequence will stop someone repeating a mistake.
הוא שוב השאיר את האופניים בגשם; זה ילמד אותו לקח.
hu shuv hish'ír et ha'ofanáyim bagéshem; ze yelaméd otó lékakh.
He left the bicycle in the rain again; that'll teach him a lesson.
לימוד can mean study, learning, instruction or a unit of learning. Plural לימודים is someone's studies or education: שנת לימודים “academic/school year,” חומר לימוד “study material,” לימוד עצמי “self-study.” הוראה is the normal noun for teaching as a profession or activity: ניסיון בהוראה, “teaching experience.”
אחרי עשר שנים בהוראה היא עדיין מכינה כל שיעור מחדש.
akharéi éser shaním bahora'á hi adáyin mekhiná kol shi'úr mekhadásh.
After ten years in teaching, she still prepares every lesson from scratch.
The fixed phrase ללמד זכות על־ means to argue in someone's favor or interpret their conduct charitably. It belongs mainly to formal, legal or traditional religious discourse, not ordinary classroom talk.
הסנגור ניסה ללמד זכות על הנאשם למרות הראיות.
hasanegór nisá lelaméd zkhút al hane'eshám lamrót hara'ayót.
The defense attorney tried to argue in the defendant's favor despite the evidence. (formal/legal)
Key Takeaways
- Pa'al למד means learn/study; pi'el לימד means teach.
- Drill ללמוד “to learn” against ללמד “to teach”; unpointed finite forms can be ambiguous.
- The learner and subject matter can both be direct objects: לימדה אותנו את השיר.
- A skill follows as an infinitive: לימד אותי לנהוג; an institution takes ב־.
- לימוד / לימודים concern study and learning; הוראה is teaching as an activity or profession.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- למד — to learn, to studyA1 — Conjugate למד, keep learning apart from teaching, and choose the preposition that identifies an institution, teacher, goal, topic or source.
- Two-Object Verbs: נתן, שלח, הראהB2 — Build Hebrew transfer sentences with a ל־ recipient and a direct-object theme, including the exceptional patterns of לימד.
- פיעל or הפעיל for a Causative?B2 — The question splits in two, and only one half has an answer. If Hebrew already has a verb, the binyan is a lexical fact and you look it up. If it does not — you are verbing a noun, an import or a colour — there is a real procedure, and its most common output is neither binyan but גרם ל־.
- בניין פיעל: Shape First, Meaning SecondA2 — pi'el carries דיבר, ביקש, סיפר, לימד and a large share of the verbs Hebrew has coined in the last century. Learn it by its shape — the i–e of the past, the me-…-é of the present — because the three labels the textbooks attach to its meaning predict almost nothing.
- ביקר — to visit, to criticiseA2 — Conjugate ביקר and use place, personal-visit and criticism frames without letting the verb's two senses blur.
- בישל — to cookA2 — Conjugate בישל, hear its initial b/v alternation, and choose the specific Hebrew verb for each cooking method.