נשמע nishmá is nif'al, root ש־מ־ע. Its everyday evidential sense is “sound, come across as”; its literal nif'al sense is “be heard.” Final guttural ע produces the a color in נשמע and the furtive patach of infinitive להישמע lehishaméa. The paired נראה and נשמע page develops the shared evidential construction; this card supplies the full paradigm and lexical uses. The same bare spelling also belongs to pa'al שמע, “hear.”
Complete paradigm
| Person | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|
| אני | נִשְׁמַעְתִּי nishmáti | אֶשָּׁמַע eshamá |
| אתה | נִשְׁמַעְתָּ nishmáta | תִּישָּׁמַע tishamá |
| את | נִשְׁמַעְתְּ nishmát | תִּישָּׁמְעִי tisham'í |
| הוא | נִשְׁמַע nishmá | יִישָּׁמַע yishamá |
| היא | נִשְׁמְעָה nishme'á | תִּישָּׁמַע tishamá |
| אנחנו | נִשְׁמַעְנוּ nishmánu | נִישָּׁמַע nishamá |
| אתם / אתן | נִשְׁמַעְתֶּם / נִשְׁמַעְתֶּן nishmátem / nishmáten | תִּישָּׁמְעוּ tisham'ú |
| הם / הן | נִשְׁמְעוּ nishme'ú | יִישָּׁמְעוּ yisham'ú |
| Form | Paradigm | Use |
|---|---|---|
| present | נִשְׁמָע nishmá · נִשְׁמַעַת nishmá'at · נִשְׁמָעִים nishma'ím · נִשְׁמָעוֹת nishma'ót | sound; be audible |
| imperative | הִישָּׁמַע hishamá · הִישָּׁמְעִי hisham'í · הִישָּׁמְעוּ hisham'ú | mainly “obey” (formal or elevated) |
| infinitive | לְהִישָּׁמֵעַ lehishaméa | sound, be heard |
| hearing noun | שְׁמִיעָה shmi'á | hearing; belongs to pa'al שמע |
| derived noun | הִישָּׁמְעוּת hisham'út | being heard or compliance (formal) |
The specifically feminine plural future תִּישָּׁמַעְנָה tishamána is (formal or literary); contemporary Hebrew uses תישמעו. Current dictionaries also record an -éa future series such as יִישָּׁמֵעַ yishaméa and the shorter infinitive לְהִישָּׁמַע lehishamá. The table follows the established guide convention: the widespread -á future and literal/evidential infinitive lehishaméa; the lehishamá variant is especially associated with “obey, comply.”
Sounding: an impression, not literal audio
With an adjective or כמו, נשמע evaluates the impression something makes: נשמע טוב, נשמע מוזר, נשמע כמו רעיון טוב. A person can likewise sound tired, angry, or relieved. The participle agrees with the grammatical subject, not with the evaluator.
נשמע טוב, אשלח לך את הכתובת עכשיו.
nishmá tov, eshlákh lekhá et haktóvet akhsháv.
Sounds good; I'll send you the address now. (to a man)
זה נשמע כמו רעיון טוב.
ze nishmá kmo ra'ayón tov.
That sounds like a good idea.
אתה נשמע עייף; הכול בסדר?
atá nishmá ayéf; hakól beséder?
You sound tired; is everything okay? (to a man)
ההצעה נשמעת הגיונית, אבל צריך לבדוק את המספרים.
hahatsa'á nishmá'at hegyonít, avál tsaríkh livdók et hamisparím.
The proposal sounds reasonable, but the figures need checking.
נשמע לי adds the experiencer: “it sounds/seems to me.” A following ש־ clause states the conclusion. This dative does not replace the agreeing subject.
זה נשמע לי מוזר שהם עוד לא התקשרו.
ze nishmá li muzár shehém od lo hitkashrú.
It seems strange to me that they still haven't called.
The literal passive
Literal נשמע makes the sound, voice, word, or noise the subject. That subject controls agreement: קול נשמע, צעקה נשמעה, קולות נשמעו. No agent is required.
לא נשמע שום רעש מהחדר.
lo nishmá shum rá'ash mehakhéder.
No noise was heard from the room.
קולה נשמע בכל האולם.
kolá nishmá bekhól ha'ulám.
Her voice could be heard throughout the hall.
נשמעו קולות ירי מרחוק.
nishme'ú kolót yerí merakhók.
Gunshots were heard in the distance. (news/reporting register)
The formal formula ייאמר ויישמע means roughly “let it be said and heard” (formal or rhetorical). In the obey sense, נשמע takes ל־: נשמע להוראות “complied with the instructions.”
העובדים נדרשו להישמע להוראות הבטיחות.
ha'ovdím nidreshú lehishamá lehorá'ot habetikhút.
The workers were required to comply with the safety instructions. (formal)
מה נשמע and the three-way homograph
מה נשמע? is an everyday greeting meaning “How's it going?” Its literal history does not dictate the reply. Normal answers include הכול טוב, בסדר, or a reciprocal מה איתך?; a report about what is audible would miss the pragmatic meaning.
מה נשמע? הכול טוב?
ma nishmá? hakól tov?
How's it going? Everything okay? (informal)
Bare נשמע has three analyses: nif'al past נִשְׁמַע “was heard/sounded,” nif'al present נִשְׁמָע “sounds/is heard,” and pa'al future נִשְׁמַע “we will hear.” All are pronounced nishmá. The nif'al future has a yod in ktiv male: נישמע nishamá. Bare נשמעת likewise covers past second-person masculine, past second-person feminine, and present feminine.
מחר נשמע את ההקלטה ונחליט.
makhár nishmá et hahaklatá venakhlít.
Tomorrow we'll listen to the recording and decide. (pa'al future, not nif'al)
Frequent ready-made combinations help reveal the intended reading. נשמע הגיוני evaluates reasoning; נשמע לי names an evaluator; לא נשמע דבר is a formal way to say nothing was heard. Rhetorical ייאמר ויישמע uses the nif'al future and belongs to speeches or emphatic writing, not routine conversation. None of these combinations supplies an everyday action noun: use שמיעה for hearing, or recast the sentence with the verb.
Key Takeaways
- Evidential נשמע means sound/seem; literal נשמע means be heard.
- The evaluated or audible thing is the subject and controls agreement; לי optionally names the experiencer.
- מה נשמע? is a greeting, normally answered with הכול טוב or בסדר.
- Bare נשמע is nif'al past, nif'al present, or pa'al future; nif'al future is written נישמע.
- The ordinary hearing noun is שמיעה; הישמעות is formal.
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- נראה and נשמע: Seeming and SoundingB1 — Two nif'al verbs whose everyday meanings have drifted a long way from 'is seen' and 'is heard'. נראה means looks or seems, נשמע means sounds — and both are homographs with a pa'al future, so the same four letters can be three different verbs.
- שמע — to hearA2 — Conjugate שמע, hear the effects of its final ע, and choose the right frame for hearing, hearing about, listening and obeying.
- שלום, בוקר טוב, מה נשמעA1 — Everyday Hebrew greeting formulas, their standard replies, time-bound and calendar greetings, and the pronunciation traps learners meet first.
- Pa'al with ח or ע as Third Radical (שלח, שמע, פתח)B1 — Verbs ending in ח or ע grow a vowel nobody put there: שׁוֹמֵעַ is shoméa and לִפְתּוֹחַ is liftóakh. The furtive patach is written under the guttural and pronounced before it, and it is the single most audible thing about this class.