שאל sha'ál is pa'al, root ש־א־ל, and primarily means “ask a question.” Its middle radical א is guttural: it favors a patach future and takes chataf-patach when an ordinary consonant would carry shva. English ask also means “request,” but Hebrew normally assigns that meaning to ביקש.
Complete paradigm
| Person | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|
| אני | שָׁאַלְתִּי sha'álti | אֶשְׁאַל esh'ál |
| אתה | שָׁאַלְתָּ sha'álta | תִּשְׁאַל tish'ál |
| את | שָׁאַלְתְּ sha'ált | תִּשְׁאֲלִי tish'alí |
| הוא | שָׁאַל sha'ál | יִשְׁאַל yish'ál |
| היא | שָׁאֲלָה sha'alá | תִּשְׁאַל tish'ál |
| אנחנו | שָׁאַלְנוּ sha'álnu | נִשְׁאַל nish'ál |
| אתם / אתן | שְׁאַלְתֶּם / שְׁאַלְתֶּן she'altém / she'altén | תִּשְׁאֲלוּ tish'alú |
| הם / הן | שָׁאֲלוּ sha'alú | יִשְׁאֲלוּ yish'alú |
| Form | Paradigm | Use |
|---|---|---|
| present | שׁוֹאֵל sho'él · שׁוֹאֶלֶת sho'élet · שׁוֹאֲלִים sho'alím · שׁוֹאֲלוֹת sho'alót | neutral |
| imperative | שְׁאַל she'ál · שַׁאֲלִי sha'alí · שַׁאֲלוּ sha'alú | neutral to firm |
| infinitive | לִשְׁאוֹל lish'ól | neutral |
| action noun | שְׁאִילָה she'ilá | borrowing; also posing a question, especially precise or technical prose |
The specifically feminine plural future תִּשְׁאַלְנָה tish'álna is (formal or literary); speech uses תשאלו for all plural addressees. Conversational second-person plural past is often sha'áltem / sha'álten, beside careful she'altém / she'altén.
The א remains written, but in ordinary Israeli speech it generally marks a vowel boundary rather than a strong glottal closure. House romanization therefore uses an apostrophe in sha'ál. Where a shva would fall, א takes chataf-patach: compare שאלה שָׁאֲלָה sha'alá and תשאלי תִּשְׁאֲלִי tish'alí.
אפשר לשאול משהו?
efshár lish'ól mashéhu?
Can I ask something?
שאלתי אם אפשר לשלם באשראי.
sha'álti im efshár leshalém be'ashrái.
I asked whether it was possible to pay by credit card.
שאל a question; ביקש something
English packages two argument patterns under ask. Hebrew separates the communicative act of posing a question from requesting a thing or action.
| Meaning | Hebrew frame | Model |
|---|---|---|
| ask someone a question | שאל את + person + question | שאלתי אותו איפה התחנה |
| ask about a topic | שאל על + topic | שאלתי על המחיר |
| ask for a thing/action | ביקש מ־ + person + object | ביקשתי ממנו עזרה |
| ask someone to act | ביקש מ־ + person + infinitive | ביקשתי ממנה לחכות |
הוא שאל אותי מאיפה אני.
hu sha'ál otí me'éifo aní.
He asked me where I'm from.
ביקשתי ממנו עזרה, לא שאלתי אותו שאלה.
bikáshti miménu ezrá, lo sha'álti otó she'elá.
I asked him for help; I didn't ask him a question.
The person questioned is a direct object. A definite noun therefore takes את—אשאל את המורה—and a pronoun appears as an object form such as אותו / אותה / אותי. This differs both from English ask someone (no visible marker) and from the מ־ person after ביקש. See ביקש and definite את.
אני אשאל את המורה מתי המבחן.
aní esh'ál et hamorá matái hamivkhán.
I'll ask the teacher when the exam is.
Questions, topics and clauses
After שאל, a question word introduces the content: שאל למה / איפה / מתי. אם introduces an embedded yes–no question, while על identifies the topic or person asked about. These complements are not interchangeable: שאלתי על דנה means “I asked about Dana,” not “I questioned Dana.”
שאלתי על דנה, ואמרו לי שהיא בחופשה.
sha'álti al dána, ve'amrú li shehí bekhufshá.
I asked about Dana, and they told me she was on vacation.
אל תשאל למה; זה סיפור ארוך.
al tish'ál láma; ze sipúr arókh.
Don't ask why; it's a long story.
Borrowing and the nouns around שאל
שאל also means borrow something temporarily: the borrower is the subject, the item is the direct object, and the source often takes מ־. Hif'il השאיל reverses the roles and means lend. Its action noun השאלה means lending, while שאילה can name borrowing.
שאלתי ספר מהספרייה והחזרתי אותו בזמן.
sha'álti séfer mehasifriyá vehekhzárti otó bazmán.
I borrowed a book from the library and returned it on time.
הספרייה השאילה לי את הספר לשבועיים.
hasifriyá hish'ilá li et haséfer lishvu'áyim.
The library lent me the book for two weeks.
Everyday שאלה שְׁאֵלָה she'elá means “question.” More abstract שאילה she'ilá is used for borrowing and can also denote the act of posing a question (formal or technical). Unpointed שאלה can instead be past שָׁאֲלָה sha'alá, “she asked.” Unpointed נשאל is also ambiguous: pa'al נִשְׁאַל nish'ál “we will ask” versus nif'al נִשְׁאָל nish'ál “is asked.” They sound alike; syntax resolves them.
זאת שאלה שנשאלת כמעט בכל ראיון.
zot she'elá shenish'élet kim'át bekhól re'ayón.
That's a question that gets asked in almost every interview.
Common Mistakes
1. Using שאל for a request.
❌ שאלתי ממנו עזרה.
Incorrect—asking for help is a request and uses ביקשתי ממנו.
✅ ביקשתי ממנו עזרה עם הטופס.
bikáshti miménu ezrá im hatófes.
I asked him for help with the form.
2. Marking the questioned person with מ־.
❌ שאלתי מהמורה מתי המבחן.
Incorrect—the person questioned is a direct object: את המורה.
✅ שאלתי את המורה מתי המבחן.
sha'álti et hamorá matái hamivkhán.
I asked the teacher when the exam was.
3. Adding ו to the patach future.
❌ אני ישאול אותו מחר.
Incorrect—first person is אשאל, and this patach future has no ו.
✅ אני אשאל אותו מחר ואעדכן אותך.
aní esh'ál otó makhár va'adkén otkhá.
I'll ask him tomorrow and update you. (to a man)
Key Takeaways
- שאל poses a question; ביקש requests a thing or action.
- The person questioned is a direct object: שאלתי אותו / את המורה.
- Use a question word, אם, or על to introduce question content or topic.
- Middle א produces forms such as שאלה sha'alá and תשאלי tish'alí.
- שאל can mean borrow; hif'il השאיל means lend.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- ביקש — to ask for, to requestA2 — Conjugate ביקש and separate the requested thing, the person asked, and the requested action into their Hebrew frames.
- מה and מיA1 — מה asks about things and מי about people, and neither one ever changes shape. What is worth knowing beyond that is the spelling — when they fuse with הוא and היא the alef drops (מהו, מיהי) — how they behave under a preposition (במה, ממה, and the two readings of למה), and the handful of frozen questions built on מה that you will use every day.
- Verbs Taking a Direct Object with אתA2 — Identify a Hebrew verb's direct object, add את only when that object is definite, and use fused object-pronoun forms such as אותי and אותו.
- Pa'al with a Guttural Second Radical (שאל, בחר, נהג)B1 — A guttural in the middle of the root does two things: it puts a short chataf vowel wherever the pattern would put a bare shva, and it forces the future's theme vowel to patach — יִשְׁאַל, יִבְחַר. The infinitive keeps its cholam, and that mismatch is what learners get wrong.