יצא yatsá, “go out, leave; turn out,” has the root י־צ־א in pa'al. It is weak at both edges: the initial י behaves as פ״י, while the final א behaves as ל״א. That combination produces a short future, an unusual infinitive, and several unpointed forms whose tense or person can be recovered only from context.
Principal parts
| Part | Pointed ktiv male | Reading | Core meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3ms past | יָצָא | yatsá | he went out / left |
| ms present | יוֹצֵא | yotsé | goes out / is leaving |
| 3ms future | יֵצֵא | yetsé | he will go out |
| infinitive | לָצֵאת | latsét | to go out / leave |
| verbal noun | יְצִיאָה | yetsi'á | exit, departure, going out |
The noun יציאה is also the ordinary word printed on an exit sign. English exit separates a noun from a verb more sharply; Hebrew keeps the whole family visibly tied to י־צ־א.
איפה היציאה לרחוב הראשי?
éifo hayetsi'á larekhóv harashí?
Where is the exit to the main street?
Conjugation
| Person | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|
| אני | יָצָאתִי yatsáti | אֵצֵא etsé |
| אתה | יָצָאתָ yatsáta | תֵּצֵא tetsé |
| את | יָצָאת yatsát | תֵּצְאִי tets'í |
| הוא | יָצָא yatsá | יֵצֵא yetsé |
| היא | יָצְאָה yats'á | תֵּצֵא tetsé |
| אנחנו | יָצָאנוּ yatsánu | נֵצֵא netsé |
| אתם / אתן | יְצָאתֶם / יְצָאתֶן yetsatém / yetsatén | תֵּצְאוּ tets'ú |
| הם / הן | יָצְאוּ yats'ú | יֵצְאוּ yets'ú |
| formal/literary feminine plural | — | תֵּצֶאנָה tetséna |
| Present agreement | Form |
|---|---|
| masculine singular | יוֹצֵא yotsé |
| feminine singular | יוֹצֵאת yotsét |
| masculine plural | יוֹצְאִים yots'ím |
| feminine plural | יוֹצְאוֹת yots'ót |
Careful formal recitation has יְצָאתֶם / יְצָאתֶן, with final stress. Everyday speech generally has יָצָאתֶם / יָצָאתֶן, yatsátem / yatsáten. Modern Hebrew uses תצאו / יצאו for plural groups of every gender; תצאנה is (formal or literary), not an everyday spoken form.
יצאתי מהבית בשמונה והגעתי בזמן.
yatsáti mehabáyit bishmóne vehigáti bazmán
I left home at eight and arrived on time.
בוא נצא מוקדם לפני הפקקים.
bo netsé mukdám lifnéi hapekakím
Let's leave early, before the traffic. (informal, to a man)
Why the two weaknesses matter
The initial י disappears in the future: יֵצֵא, not a regular-looking form with three audible radicals. It also disappears from the imperative. The infinitive לָצֵאת is built with the same לָ־ opening seen in לָשֶׁבֶת and לָרֶדֶת, but final א changes the ending: it remains written and silent instead of producing the ordinary ־ֶת sequence. The פ״י page explains the front of the paradigm; the ל״א page explains the silent final א.
That silent א is still a root letter. It remains in יצאתי, יצאה, יוצאת, יצאו even though Israeli pronunciation does not give it a consonantal sound. In yatsáti it closes no syllable and therefore takes no apostrophe in this guide's romanization.
| Unpointed form | Reading one | Reading two |
|---|---|---|
| יצא | יָצָא yatsá — he went out | יֵצֵא yetsé — he will go out |
| יצאו | יָצְאוּ yats'ú — they went out | יֵצְאוּ yets'ú — they will go out |
| יצאת | יָצָאתָ yatsáta — you went out (m.sg) | יָצָאת yatsát — you went out (f.sg) |
There is only one yod in pa'al future יצא. Doubled ייצא can belong to the separate pi'el verb לייצא, “export”; it is never the spelling of pa'al yetsé. Time words and syntax normally resolve the unpointed pa'al form immediately.
Imperative and infinitive
| Addressee | Imperative |
|---|---|
| one man | צֵא tse |
| one woman | צְאִי tse'í |
| group | צְאוּ tse'ú |
The short imperatives are current, especially in urgent directions. A future form is often less abrupt in conversation: תצא כאן “get out here” is more neutral than bare צא!. The infinitive is always לצאת.
צאי מהאפליקציה ותיכנסי שוב.
tse'í meha'aplikátsya vetikánsi shuv
Exit the app and log in again. (informal, to a woman)
A range wider than “go out”
The literal motion frame is יצא מ־ “leave/from”: יצא מהחדר. Destination or purpose commonly takes ל־: יצא לעבודה, יצא לחופש. A companion takes עם. With a person as companion and no destination, יצא עם־ can mean “date.”
אנחנו יוצאים לחופשה ביום ראשון.
anákhnu yots'ím lekhufshá beyóm rishón
We're going on vacation on Sunday.
הם יוצאים כבר שנה, אבל עוד לא גרים יחד.
hem yots'ím kvar shaná, avál od lo garím yákhad
They've been dating for a year, but they don't live together yet. (informal)
For a book, album, film or product, יצא means “was released / came out.” With a result adjective, it means “turn out”: the result itself is the subject and the adjective agrees with it.
הספר החדש שלה יצא בשנה שעברה.
haséfer hekhadásh shelá yatsá bashaná she'avrá
Her new book came out last year.
התמונה יצאה טובה למרות האור החלש.
hatmuná yats'á tová lamrót ha'or hakhalásh
The photo turned out well despite the poor light.
יצא ל־: getting the chance
The impersonal pattern יצא ל־ + infinitive means that someone got the opportunity or happened to manage to do something. The person is encoded inside inflected ל־: יצא לי, יצא לך, יצא לנו. English has no single equivalent; depending on context it becomes “I got to,” “I happened to,” or “I had a chance to.”
יצא לי לדבר איתו אחרי ההרצאה.
yatsá li ledabér itó akharéi hahartsa'á
I got a chance to speak with him after the lecture.
לא יצא לנו להיפגש לפני הטיסה.
lo yatsá lánu lehipagésh lifnéi hatisá
We didn't manage to meet before the flight.
Useful fixed combinations include יצא לאור “was published / came to light,” יצא צודק “turned out to be right,” יצא מזה בשלום “came through it unharmed,” and יצא מהכלים “lost control / flew off the handle” (informal).
בסוף הוא יצא צודק, והם התנצלו.
basóf hu yatsá tsodék, vehem hitnatslú
In the end he turned out to be right, and they apologized.
Key Takeaways
- Learn יָצָא – יוֹצֵא – יֵצֵא – לָצֵאת together: two weak-root patterns shape one verb.
- In unpointed text, יצא and יצאו can be past or future; יצאת can address a man or a woman.
- Use מ־ for the place left, ל־ for destination or purpose, and עם for a companion or dating partner.
- A release “comes out,” and a result יוצא good, bad, expensive or surprising.
- יצא ל־ + infinitive means “get the chance / happen to manage to do.”
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- Pa'al פ״י: ישב, ידע, ירד, יצאB1 — Two different classes hide behind one name. The large one drops its yod and gives יֵשֵׁב, לָשֶׁבֶת, לָדַעַת, לָצֵאת; the small one keeps it and gives יִישַׁן. Split them and the paradigm stops looking random.
- Pa'al ל״א: מצא, קרא, יצאB1 — Where ל״ה loses its final letter the moment an ending arrives, ל״א keeps its א in every single form and simply stops pronouncing it. That one difference reverses the feminine present — מוֹצֵאת, not a ־ָה form — and produces the קרא/קרה collision, which is not the one most books describe.
- ירד — to go downA2 — Conjugate ירד and use it for descent, getting off, falling measures, weather and common figurative extensions.
- Doubly Weak Roots: היה, בא, ראה, יצאC1 — The most frequent verbs in Hebrew look the most irregular because they carry two weaknesses at once. But the deformations stack rather than collide: each class does exactly what it does elsewhere, in its own half of the word — which means these verbs can be parsed instead of memorised.