נגמר nigmár, “end, finish; run out,” is a strong-root nif'al from ג־מ־ר. It describes something reaching its endpoint without presenting an agent who ends it. That middle-voice meaning explains both its heavy preference for third-person subjects and its central dative construction: נגמר לי החלב, literally “the milk ended to me.”
The argument structure belongs to the broader nif'al middle voice; this card gives the complete forms and the everyday dative frame.
Complete paradigm
| Person | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|
| אני | נִגְמַרְתִּי nigmárti | אֶגָּמֵר egamér |
| אתה | נִגְמַרְתָּ nigmárta | תִּיגָּמֵר tigamér |
| את | נִגְמַרְתְּ nigmárt | תִּיגָּמְרִי tigamrí |
| הוא | נִגְמַר nigmár | יִיגָּמֵר yigamér |
| היא | נִגְמְרָה nigmerá | תִּיגָּמֵר tigamér |
| אנחנו | נִגְמַרְנוּ nigmárnu | נִיגָּמֵר nigamér |
| אתם · אתן | נִגְמַרְתֶּם · נִגְמַרְתֶּן nigmártem · nigmárten | תִּיגָּמְרוּ tigamrú |
| הם · הן | נִגְמְרוּ nigmerú | יִיגָּמְרוּ yigamrú |
| Form type | Forms | Register and use |
|---|---|---|
| present | נִגְמָר nigmár · נִגְמֶרֶת nigméret · נִגְמָרִים nigmarím · נִגְמָרוֹת nigmarót | neutral, everyday |
| imperative | הִיגָּמֵר higamér · הִיגָּמְרִי higamrí · הִיגָּמְרוּ higamrú | tabulated but pragmatically rare; not an ordinary command to a person |
| infinitive | לְהִיגָּמֵר lehigamér | neutral |
| ordinary noun for the endpoint | סִיּוּם siyúm | ending, completion |
| sports noun | גְּמָר gmár | final, championship final |
Modern Hebrew uses תיגמרו / ייגמרו / היגמרו for plural groups of every gender. The feminine-plural paradigm forms are formal or literary. Although every person is morphologically possible, actual events and supplies normally provide a third-person subject. First-person נגמרתי is chiefly the playful or emphatic informal “I'm done / exhausted.”
אחרי העלייה הזאת נגמרתי, אני צריך הפסקה.
akharéi ha'aliyá hazót nigmárti, aní tsaríkh hafsaká
That climb finished me—I'm done; I need a break. (informal, joking, m. speaker)
The event ends by itself
נגמר is a middle-voice nif'al. הסרט נגמר reports the film reaching its endpoint; it is not a passive sentence with an unnamed person who “ended” the film. If an agent deliberately finishes something, Hebrew chooses an active transitive verb such as גמר or סיים and makes the thing its object.
הסרט נגמר בעשר, אז עוד הספקנו לאוטובוס.
haséret nigmár be'éser, az od hispáknu la'otóbus
The movie ended at ten, so we still made the bus.
המסיבה נגמרה מוקדם כי השכנים התלוננו.
hamesibá nigmerá mukdám ki hashkhením hitlonenú
The party ended early because the neighbors complained.
המלחמה עוד לא נגמרה, למרות ההסכם.
hamilkhamá od lo nigmerá, lamrót haheském
The war still isn't over, despite the agreement.
The distinction from a result adjective is also useful. נגמר presents the ending event or the exhausted supply; גמור can describe the resulting state, and with a person it often means “worn out” (informal).
The dative construction: running out
To say that a person runs out of something, Hebrew makes the depleted resource the subject and marks the affected person with inflected ל־. English reverses those roles: “I ran out of milk” makes I the subject, but נגמר לי החלב makes החלב the subject.
נגמר לי החלב, אני יורד למכולת.
nigmár li hekhaláv, aní yoréd lamakólet
I've run out of milk; I'm going down to the shop. (m. speaker)
נגמרה לי הסבלנות לשיחות האלה.
nigmerá li hasavlanút lasikhót ha'éle
I've run out of patience for these conversations.
נגמרו לנו הביצים באמצע המתכון.
nigmerú lánu habeitsím be'emtsá hamatkón
We ran out of eggs halfway through the recipe.
Agreement follows the resource: masculine singular החלב gives נגמר; feminine singular הסבלנות gives נגמרה; plural הביצים gives נגמרו. The dative לי / לנו contributes no agreement features.
כמעט נגמר לי הדלק בדרך הביתה.
kim'át nigmár li hadélek badérekh habáyta
I almost ran out of fuel on the way home.
נגמר לי הכוח, נמשיך מחר.
nigmár li hakóakh, namshíkh makhár
I'm out of energy; we'll continue tomorrow. (informal)
The sibling נשאר לי construes what still remains; נגמר לי construes what has reached zero. Compare נשאר לי קצת זמן “I have a little time left” with נגמר לי הזמן “my time ran out.”
Homographs and fixed turns
Bare נגמר is past 3ms נִגְמַר or present ms נִגְמָר. The two are pronounced identically in Israeli Hebrew. Bare נגמרת is past 2ms נִגְמַרְתָּ, past 2fs נִגְמַרְתְּ, or feminine present נִגְמֶרֶת.
| Expression | Use |
|---|---|
| זֶהוּ, נִגְמַר | that's it, it's over — decisive, often informal |
| נִגְמַר הַזְּמַן | time is up |
| נִגְמַר הַסִּיפּוּר | the matter/story is over |
| נִגְמַר לִי הַכֹּוחַ | I have no energy left — informal |
זהו, נגמר הסיפור, לא מתווכחים על זה יותר.
zéhu, nigmár hasipúr, lo mitvakékhim al ze yotér
That's it, the matter is closed; we're not arguing about it anymore. (informal, decisive)
נגמר הזמן, תגישו את המבחנים.
nigmár hazmán, tagíshu et hamivkhaním
Time's up; hand in your exams. (to a group)
The action noun גמירה is attested for completion or finishing in restricted formal and fixed uses, but in contemporary colloquial Hebrew it strongly evokes sexual climax. Do not use it as the neutral noun for the ending of a show, event, or task. Use סיום as the learner default for an ending or completion. Bare גמר is especially the final round of a sports competition: משחק הגמר, “the final match.”
ניפגש אחרי סיום ההופעה ליד היציאה.
nipagésh akharéi siyúm hahofa'á leyád hayetsi'á
We'll meet after the end of the show by the exit.
משחק הגמר יתחיל בתשע.
miskhák hagmár yatkhíl betésha
The final will start at nine. (sports)
Key Takeaways
- Learn נגמר – נגמר – ייגמר – להיגמר as a regular strong-root nif'al set.
- The verb is middle voice: its subject reaches an endpoint; no agent is implied.
- In נגמר לי X, X is the grammatical subject and controls agreement; לי names the affected person.
- First-person נגמרתי is mainly informal and playful; ordinary uses are overwhelmingly third person.
- נגמר / נגמרת are homographs, סיום is the neutral noun “ending,” and גמר is a sports final.
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