ראה — to see | Hebrew Grammar

ראה ra'á, “see,” is a pa'al verb with the root ר־א־ה. Two weak features shape it at once: final ה disappears or becomes a vowel in many forms, while middle א keeps the two vowels on either side from blending. The result is a high-frequency verb whose written forms are short but whose apostrophe-like break in pronunciation matters.

Principal parts

Part	Pointed ktiv male	Reading	Meaning
3ms past	רָאָה	ra'á	he saw
ms present	רוֹאֶה	ro'é	sees / is seeing
3ms future	יִרְאֶה	yir'é	he will see
infinitive	לִרְאוֹת	lir'ót	to see
verbal noun	רְאִיָּיה	re'iyá	eyesight, vision, point of view

ראיתי אותה אתמול בתחנה.

ra'íti otá etmól batakhaná.

I saw her yesterday at the station.

אני רוצה לראות את הדירה לפני שאני חותם.

aní rotsé lir'ót et hadirá lifnéi she'aní khotém.

I want to see the apartment before I sign. (m. speaker)

Conjugation

The past and future forms below are the ordinary modern forms. In careful formal recitation, ראיתם / ראיתן may be final-stressed; everyday speech normally says ra'ítem / ra'íten, with the stress one syllable earlier. The broader alternation is mapped on the pa'al final-ה page.

Person	Past	Future
אני	רָאִיתִי ra'íti	אֶרְאֶה er'é
אתה	רָאִיתָ ra'íta	תִּרְאֶה tir'é
את	רָאִית ra'ít	תִּרְאִי tir'í
הוא	רָאָה ra'á	יִרְאֶה yir'é
היא	רָאֲתָה ra'atá	תִּרְאֶה tir'é
אנחנו	רָאִינוּ ra'ínu	נִרְאֶה nir'é
אתם / אתן	רָאִיתֶם / רָאִיתֶן ra'ítem / ra'íten	תִּרְאוּ tir'ú
הם / הן	רָאוּ ra'ú	יִרְאוּ yir'ú

Present agreement	Form
masculine singular	רוֹאֶה ro'é
feminine singular	רוֹאָה ro'á
masculine plural	רוֹאִים ro'ím
feminine plural	רוֹאוֹת ro'ót

לא ראינו כלום בגלל הערפל.

lo ra'ínu klum biglál ha'aráfel.

We couldn't see anything because of the fog.

מחר נראה את הים מהמרפסת.

makhár nir'é et hayám mehamirpészet.

Tomorrow we'll see the sea from the balcony.

Modern Hebrew normally uses תראו / יראו for mixed, masculine and all-feminine groups. The specifically feminine תראינה is (formal or literary) and does not belong in an everyday core paradigm.

Imperative and spoken attention-getter

The true imperative is רְאֵה re'é to one man, רְאִי re'í to one woman and רְאוּ re'ú to a group. These are current, but conversational Hebrew very often uses the corresponding future forms תראה / תראי / תראו, especially before a longer explanation. There the sense can be “look,” “listen” or “here is the thing,” not literal visual perception.

ראה את ההערה בתחתית העמוד.

re'é et hahe'ará betakhtít ha'amúd.

See the note at the bottom of the page. (formal written instruction to a man)

תראה, זה לא כל כך פשוט.

tir'é, ze lo kol kakh pashút.

Look, it's not that simple. (informal, to a man)

💡

The unpointed word תראה has two common readings. תִּרְאֶהtir'é is “you will see”; תַּרְאֶהtar'é is “you will show.” The binyan and the sentence—not the consonant spelling—choose the reading.

תראה לי איפה שמרת את הקובץ.

tar'é li éifo shamárta et hakóvets.

Show me where you saved the file. (informal, to a man)

See, look and watch

English uses see, look and watch differently; Hebrew makes a related but not identical division.

Verb	Core idea	Typical frame and register
ראה	perceive with the eyes; experience a film or event	direct object; neutral
הסתכל	direct one's gaze deliberately	הסתכל על־; neutral conversation
הביט	look or gaze	הביט ב־; formal or literary
צפה	watch a screen, program, match or staged event	צפה ב־; neutral

אל תסתכל עליי ככה—לא אני שברתי את זה.

al tistakél alái kákha, lo aní shavárti et ze.

Don't look at me like that—I didn't break it. (informal, to a man)

צפינו בסדרה עד שתיים בלילה.

tsafínu basidrá ad shtáyim baláyla.

We watched the series until two in the morning.

For a film, both ראיתי סרט and צפיתי בסרט are natural. The first treats it as something experienced; the second foregrounds watching. With ordinary people and objects, default to ראה, not צפה.

A definite direct object takes את: ראיתי את דנה. An indefinite object does not: ראיתי מישהו. The frame ראה ב־ means “regard as” and belongs especially to (formal or analytical) prose: ראה בכך הזדמנות, “saw that as an opportunity.”

רואים שאתה עייף; בוא נסיים כאן.

ro'ím she'atá ayéf; bo nesayém kan.

You can tell you're tired; let's stop here. (informal, to a man)

The spelling נראה is exceptionally crowded. Pa'al נִרְאֶה nir'é means “we will see.” Nif'al נִרְאֶה nir'é can mean “seems/looks” in the present, while its 3ms past is נִרְאָה nir'á, “looked/appeared.” Hif'il נַרְאֶה nar'é is “we will show.”

The nif'al future forms are written with a ktiv-male yod—ניראה, תיראה, ייראה—so they remain outside the bare נראה pile.

נראה לי שהוא צודק.

nir'é li shehú tsodék.

It seems to me that he's right.

נתראה מחר אחרי העבודה.

nitra'é makhár akharéi ha'avodá.

See you tomorrow after work. (neutral conversation)

💡

Modern ktiv male distinguishes two nouns that are often confused: ראייהre'iyá is “eyesight, vision, point of view,” but ראיהre'ayá, with one yod, is “evidence.” In pointed ktiv male they are רְאִיָּיה and רְאָיָה.

Key Takeaways

Learn רָאָה – רוֹאֶה – יִרְאֶה – לִרְאוֹת as one irregular principal-parts set.
Middle א remains audible as a break: ra'á, ro'é, lir'ót.
ראה is ordinary perception, הסתכל על־ is directed looking, and צפה ב־ is watching a screen or event.
Context separates the unpointed look-alikes תראה and נראה; pointing and pronunciation reveal different binyanim.
Ktiv male distinguishes ראייה “vision” from ראיה “evidence.”

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