ישן yashán, “sleep,” is pa'al, root י־שׁ־ן. It combines two properties learners often meet separately: it is a פ״י verb whose yod stays, and it is stative, so its present follows the פָּעֵל pattern and looks like an adjective. Those two facts give יָשֵׁן – יִישַׁן – לִישׁוֹן, not the shapes predicted from better-known ישב.
Complete paradigm
| Person | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|
| אני | יָשַׁנְתִּי yashánti | אִישַׁן ishán |
| אתה | יָשַׁנְתָּ yashánta | תִּישַׁן tishán |
| את | יָשַׁנְתְּ yashánt | תִּישְׁנִי tishní |
| הוא | יָשַׁן yashán | יִישַׁן yishán |
| היא | יָשְׁנָה yashná | תִּישַׁן tishán |
| אנחנו | יָשַׁנּוּ yashánnu | נִישַׁן nishán |
| אתם · אתן | יְשַׁנְתֶּם · יְשַׁנְתֶּן yeshantém · yeshantén | תִּישְׁנוּ tishnú |
| הם · הן | יָשְׁנוּ yashnú | יִישְׁנוּ yishnú |
| formal/literary feminine plural | — | תִּישַׁנָּה tishánna |
| Form type | Forms | Register or use |
|---|---|---|
| present | יָשֵׁן yashén · יְשֵׁנָה yeshená · יְשֵׁנִים yeshením · יְשֵׁנוֹת yeshenót | neutral; verbal or adjectival “asleep” |
| imperative | שַׁן ~ יְשַׁן shan ~ yeshán · שְׁנִי ~ יִשְׁנִי shní ~ yishní · שְׁנוּ ~ יִשְׁנוּ shnu ~ yishnú | grammatical but dead in ordinary speech |
| infinitive | לִישׁוֹן lishón | neutral, everyday |
| action noun | שֵׁינָה sheiná | sleep |
The assimilated nun is audible in careful יָשַׁנּוּ yashánnu, “we slept,” but not represented by an extra letter. Everyday second-person plural past normally has יָשַׁנְתֶּם / יָשַׁנְתֶּן, yashántem / yashánten. Modern speech uses תישנו / יישנו for all plural groups; תישנה is (formal or literary).
ישנתי טוב, אבל התעוררתי מוקדם מדי.
yashánti tov, avál hitorárti mukdám midáy
I slept well, but I woke up too early.
לא ישנתי כל הלילה בגלל הרעש.
lo yashánti kol haláyla biglál hará'ash
I didn't sleep all night because of the noise.
The stative present: ישן, never יושן
Most pa'al presents have קוֹטֵל: יושב, כותב, שומר. Stative ישן instead has פָּעֵל: masculine יָשֵׁן, feminine יְשֵׁנָה, plurals יְשֵׁנִים / יְשֵׁנוֹת. This same form is an ordinary adjective meaning “asleep,” which explains why it can stand as the predicate of a present-tense sentence with no copula.
הילדים כבר ישנים, אז בבקשה תדברו בשקט.
hayeladím kvar yeshením, az bevakashá tedabrú beshéket
The children are already asleep, so please speak quietly.
היא ישנה כבר שעתיים ולא שמעה את הטלפון.
hi yeshená kvar she'atáyim velo sham'á et hatélefon
She's been asleep for two hours and didn't hear the phone.
The verbal and adjectival analyses meet in the same place: הילד ישן may be translated “the child is sleeping” or “the child is asleep.” Hebrew does not force a progressive/state distinction here; context supplies it. The stative pa'al page shows the wider pattern with רעב, שמח and גדל.
A פ״י verb that keeps its yod
The large פ״י group—ישב, ירד, ידע, יצא—comes historically from roots with initial w. Their future loses the written root letter, and their infinitives often add a tav: יֵשֵׁב / לָשֶׁבֶת, יֵרֵד / לָרֶדֶת, יֵדַע / לָדַעַת, יֵצֵא / לָצֵאת. ישן has a genuine initial yod. It stays as the vowel i in the future and infinitive.
| Verb | Future 3ms | Bare spelling | Infinitive |
|---|---|---|---|
| י־שׁ־ב sit | יֵשֵׁב yeshév | ישב | לָשֶׁבֶת lashévet |
| י־שׁ־ן sleep | יִישַׁן yishán | יישן | לִישׁוֹן lishón |
Ktiv male doubles the written yod in יישן / יישנו because the future prefix י stands beside the root's yod. Forms with another prefix have one yod: אישן, תישן, נישן. The infinitive לישון also keeps the yod as a vowel instead of switching to the common פ״י la-...-et template. There is no dependable shortcut from the three root letters: learn the infinitive with the verb.
אני הולך לישון, נהיה מאוחר.
aní holékh lishón, nihyé me'ukhár
I'm going to bed; it's getting late. (m. speaker)
מחר נישן אצל חברים ליד הכנרת.
makhár nishán étsel khaverím leyád hakinéret
Tomorrow we'll sleep at friends' near the Sea of Galilee.
Commands: use the future or לך לישון
The true imperatives in the table are real dictionary forms, but they are not living conversational commands. Ordinary Hebrew says תישן, תישני, תישנו, or uses לך לישון / לכי לישון / לכו לישון when the intended meaning is “go to bed.” This is a register fact, not a missing paradigm.
תישני קצת, את נראית עייפה.
tishní ktsat, at nir'ét ayefá
Get some sleep; you look tired. (to a woman)
לך לישון, נדבר על זה בבוקר.
lekh lishón, nedabér al ze babóker
Go to bed; we'll talk about it in the morning. (informal, to a man)
Sleep, fall asleep and wake up
ישן describes the state or activity between two boundaries. נרדם is “fall asleep,” the transition into sleep; התעורר is “wake up,” the transition out. English often uses sleep loosely around all three, but Hebrew normally keeps them separate.
נרדמתי על הספה והתעוררתי בשלוש בבוקר.
nirdámti al hasapá vehitorárti beshalósh babóker
I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up at three in the morning.
התינוק ישן סוף סוף; אל תעיר אותו.
hatinók yashén sof sof; al ta'ír otó
The baby is finally asleep; don't wake him. (to a man)
Four dense bare spellings
| Bare spelling | Pointed reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ישן | יָשַׁן yashán | he slept |
| יָשֵׁן yashén | sleeps / asleep (m.sg) | |
| יָשָׁן yashán | old (m.sg) | |
| ישנה | יָשְׁנָה yashná | she slept |
| יְשֵׁנָה yeshená | sleeps / asleep (f.sg) | |
| יְשָׁנָה yeshaná | old (f.sg) | |
| יֶשְׁנָהּ yeshná | she exists / there is her (formal) | |
| ישנו | יָשַׁנּוּ yashánnu | we slept |
| יָשְׁנוּ yashnú | they slept | |
| יֶשְׁנוֹ yeshnó | he/it exists; there is him/it (formal) | |
| שינה | שֵׁינָה sheiná | sleep |
| שִׁינָּה shiná | he changed, pi'el |
The past ישן “slept” and adjective ישן “old” are identical in everyday pronunciation as well as spelling. Syntax separates them: הטלפון ישן describes an old phone; הילד ישן אתמול reports sleeping yesterday.
Common Mistakes
1. Giving the present the ordinary קוטל shape.
❌ הילד יושן כבר שעה.
Incorrect — ישן has the stative present ישן, yashén, not יושן.
✅ הילד ישן כבר שעה, סוף סוף יש שקט.
hayéled yashén kvar sha'á, sof sof yesh shéket
The child has been asleep for an hour; finally it's quiet.
2. Dropping the second yod from the masculine third-person future.
❌ מחר הוא ישן עד מאוחר.
Incorrect as a future spelling — he will sleep is יישן, with two yods. ישן is available for past, present and 'old'.
✅ מחר הוא יישן עד מאוחר כי אין לו עבודה.
makhár hu yishán ad me'ukhár ki ein lo avodá
Tomorrow he'll sleep late because he doesn't have work.
3. Building the infinitive like ישב.
❌ אני רוצה לשנת קצת.
Incorrect — ישן keeps its yod in the infinitive: לישון. It does not take the ־ת pattern of לשבת.
✅ אני רוצה לישון קצת לפני הנסיעה.
aní rotsé lishón ktsat lifnéi hanesi'á
I want to sleep a little before the trip. (m. speaker)
Key Takeaways
- The stative present is ישן / ישנה / ישנים / ישנות, not יושן; it also functions as the adjective “asleep.”
- This פ״י verb keeps its genuine yod: אישן, תישן, יישן, נישן and infinitive לישון.
- The true imperatives are obsolete in speech; use תישן / תישני / תישנו or לך לישון.
- נרדם is fall asleep, ישן is sleep/be asleep, and התעורר is wake up.
- Unpointed ישן, ישנה, ישנו, שינה are unusually ambiguous; time, agreement and syntax select the reading.
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