Gutturals in פ, ע and ל Position | Hebrew Grammar

The gutturals are not a גזרה in the ordinary sense. פ״נ and ל״ה are defined by a slot; א, ה, ח and ע cause trouble wherever they sit, so a root can be guttural and פ״נ and ל״ה at once. What holds them together is not a position but a pair of refusals, set out in full on gutturals: they will not carry a plain mobile shva, and they will not carry a dagesh.

Neither refusal changes a consonant. Both force a vowel to move — and which vowel moves depends entirely on where in the root the letter is standing. This page takes the three positions in turn and asks what each does across all seven binyanim. Niqqud throughout, because in ktiv male none of it is visible and almost all of it is audible.

First position: the prefix bends

ח־שׁ־ב is the ideal test root, because Pealim gives it a live verb in all seven binyanim — which almost no root has.

בניין	past (he)	present m.sg.	infinitive	Meaning
pa'al	חָשַׁב khasháv	חוֹשֵׁב khoshév	לַחְשׁוֹב lakhshóv	thought
nif'al	נֶחְשַׁב nekhsháv	נֶחְשָׁב nekhsháv	לְהֵיחָשֵׁב lehekhashév	is considered (to be)
pi'el	חִישֵּׁב khishév	מְחַשֵּׁב mekhashév	לְחַשֵּׁב lekhashév	calculated
pu'al	חוּשַּׁב khusháv	מְחוּשָּׁב mekhusháv	— none exists	was calculated (formal)
hif'il	הֶחְשִׁיב hekhshív	מַחְשִׁיב makhshív	לְהַחְשִׁיב lehakhshív	held in esteem (formal)
huf'al	הוֹחְשַׁב hokhsháv	מוֹחְשָׁב mokhsháv	— none exists	was esteemed (formal)
hitpa'el	הִתְחַשֵּׁב hitkhashév	מִתְחַשֵּׁב mitkhashév	לְהִתְחַשֵּׁב lehitkhashév	took into account

Those two huf'al cells need a word about their vav: the vowel on it is a kamatz katan, an o, not a shuruk — and ktiv male writes every o with a vav, so they are pointed exactly as they are spelled. Pealim gives the kubuts reading הֻחְשַׁב ~ הוחשב as an equally current second one, so you will hear hukhsháv too.

Now line the prefixes up against a sound root and the whole of first position is one column:

Cell	Sound root	Guttural first radical	What moved
pa'al future	יִכְתּוֹב yikhtóv	יַחְשׁוֹב yakhshóv · יַעֲמוֹד ya'amód	chirik → patach
pa'al infinitive	לִכְתּוֹב likhtóv	לַחְשׁוֹב · לַעֲמוֹד	chirik → patach
nif'al past	נִסְגַּר nisgár	נֶחְשַׁב nekhsháv · נֶעֱמַד ne'emád	chirik → segol
nif'al future	יִיסָּגֵר yisagér	יֵיחָשֵׁב yekhashév · יֵיעָמֵד ye'améd	chirik → tsere (no dagesh available)
hif'il past	הִסְבִּיר hisbír	הֶחְשִׁיב hekhshív · הֶעֱמִיד he'emíd	chirik → segol
huf'al past	הוּסְבַּר husbár	הוֹחְשַׁב hokhsháv · הוֹעֳמַד ho'omád	shuruk → kamatz katan
pi'el past	דִּיבֵּר dibér	חִישֵּׁב khishév · עִימֵּד iméd	nothing
hitpa'el past	הִתְלַבֵּשׁ hitlabésh	הִתְחַשֵּׁב hitkhashév	nothing

The last two rows are the ones that make the rest make sense. pi'el and hitpa'el hand the first radical a full vowel of its own — a chirik in חִישֵּׁב, a patach in הִתְחַשֵּׁב — so there is no shva to refuse and nothing bends. Every other binyan asks that radical to sit on a reduced vowel, and the prefix in front of it pays for the refusal.

הוא נחשב לאחד המומחים הגדולים בתחום, וזה לא סתם.

hu nekhsháv le'ekhád hamumkhím hagdolím batkhúm, vezé lo stam

He's considered one of the top experts in the field, and that's not for nothing.

תתחשב בה קצת, היא עבדה כל הלילה.

titkhashév ba ktsat, hi avdá kol haláyla

Show her a bit of consideration — she worked all night. (informal, to a man)

יש שלושה מועמדים ואף אחד מהם לא מתאים.

yesh shloshá mo'omadím ve'áf ekhád mehém lo mat'ím

There are three candidates and not one of them is right.

💡

מוֹעֳמָד "candidate" is a huf'al participle of ע־מ־ד wearing everyday clothes — literally "one who has been put forward". Its second vowel is a chataf-kamatz, a sign most learners never meet, and ktiv male hides it completely: מועמד. Say mo'omád, not mu'amád — although Pealim lists מֻעֲמָד as a second reading, so you will hear both. And say it light: a chataf is a reduced vowel leaning on the syllable in front, so mo'omád and ne'emád are three quick syllables, not a spelling-out of the letters.

החלטנו לא להעמיד אותו במצב הזה.

hekhlátnu lo leha'amíd otó bamatsáv hazé

We decided not to put him in that position.

Middle position: only the binyanim that double are affected

This is where most treatments overstate the case. A middle guttural is a problem only for a binyan that wants to double the middle radical — and only three do.

pi'el, pu'al and hitpa'el double it, so they must compensate. א and ר stretch the vowel in front (בֵּירֵךְ berékh, תֵּיאֵר te'ér, לְהִתְקָרֵא lehitkaré); ה, ח and ע take virtual doubling and keep the short vowel (מִיהֵר mihér, נִיהֵל nihél, שִׂיחֵק sikhék, הִתְנַהֵג hitnahég). That split is argued in full on dagesh and gutturals in pi'el.
nif'al, hif'il and huf'al never double the middle radical, so their base forms are unaffected: נִשְׁאַל, הִשְׁאִיל, הוּשְׁאַל and נִבְחַר are shaped exactly like נִסְגַּר, הִסְבִּיר, הוּסְבַּר and נִכְתַּב — except that the shva under the guttural still becomes a chataf when an ending follows: נִשְׁאֲלָה against נִסְגְּרָה.
pa'al is affected for a different reason: it puts a mobile shva on that radical in four cells, and it takes a patach in the future. שׁוֹאֲלִים, בּוֹחֲרִים, יִשְׁאַל, יִבְחַר — pa'al with a middle guttural owns this.

And the limit that keeps the whole picture honest: ר joins for the dagesh and for nothing else. It takes an ordinary mobile shva, and it does not pull the pa'al future to an a — יִדְרוֹשׁ, יִזְרוֹק and יִשְׂרוֹף keep their cholam while יִבְחַר and יִשְׁאַל do not.

הוא התנהג כאילו כלום לא קרה.

hu hitnahég ke'ílu klum lo kará

He behaved as if nothing had happened.

השאלתי לה את הרכב ליומיים וקיבלתי אותו נקי.

hish'álti la et harékhev leyomáyim vekibálti otó nakí

I lent her the car for two days and got it back clean.

הוא ידרוש התנצלות בכתב, אתה מכיר אותו.

hu yidrósh hitnatslút bikhtáv, atá makír otó

He'll want a written apology — you know what he's like. (to a man)

Third position: the vowel you can hear

ח and ע at the end of a word take a furtive patach — a short a written under the guttural and pronounced in front of it. Unlike the other two positions, this one survives into every binyan and is unmissable in speech.

בניין	Infinitive	present m.sg.	present f.sg.
pa'al	לִפְתּוֹחַ liftóakh	פּוֹתֵחַ potéakh	פּוֹתַחַת potákhat
nif'al	לְהִיפָּתֵחַ lehipatéakh	נִפְתָּח niftákh	נִפְתַּחַת niftákhat
pi'el	לְפַתֵּחַ lefatéakh	מְפַתֵּחַ mefatéakh	מְפַתַּחַת mefatákhat
pu'al	— none exists	מְפוּתָּח mefutákh	מְפוּתַּחַת mefutákhat
hitpa'el	לְהִתְפַּתֵּחַ lehitpatéakh	מִתְפַּתֵּחַ mitpatéakh	מִתְפַּתַּחַת mitpatákhat
huf'al (שׁ־מ־ע)	— none exists	מוּשְׁמָע mushmá	מוּשְׁמַעַת mushmá'at
hif'il (שׁ־מ־ע)	לְהַשְׁמִיעַ lehashmía	מַשְׁמִיעַ mashmía	מַשְׁמִיעָהmashmi'á

Two things to read out of that grid. The feminine singular is ־ַחַת / ־ַעַת in six binyanim — both vowels of the ending pulled to a — and only hif'il escapes, because its long i already fills the syllable and the ending reverts to a plain ־ָה. And the furtive patach is conditional: it appears only when the vowel in front of the guttural is not already an a. That is why every infinitive above has one (cholam or tsere in front) and why נִפְתָּח, מְפוּתָּח and מוּשְׁמָע do not — their kamatz has already supplied the a.

הכביש נפתח מחדש רק אחרי חודשיים של עבודות.

hakvísh niftákh mekhadásh rak akharéi khodsháyim shel avodót

The road only reopened after two months of roadworks.

הסיפור הזה מתפתח לכיוון שלא ציפיתי לו.

hasipúr hazé mitpatéakh lekhivún sheló tsipíti lo

This story is going in a direction I wasn't expecting.

החברה מפתחת אפליקציה לניהול תורים.

hakhevrá mefatákhat aplikátsya lenihúl torím

The company is building an app for managing queues.

אל תשמיע את זה עכשיו, כולם ישנים.

al tashmía et ze akhsháv, kulám yeshením

Don't play that now, everyone's asleep. (to a man)

💡

The furtive patach is the one thing on this page you cannot afford to skip, and the reason is a paradox. Most Israelis no longer pronounce ח and ע as throat consonants at all — ח has merged with כ and ע is silent — so the letters are effectively inaudible. Their vowels are not.Potéakh, mitpatéakh, lehashmía and mefatákhat are what people actually say, and dropping the extra a produces forms no Israeli uses.

A last word on ה

A ה at the end of a verb is almost never a guttural: in קנה, רצה and בנה it is a vowel letter marking the final a, and those verbs are ל״ה, where nothing on this page applies. A final א is a real consonant but takes no furtive patach — that is ל״א.

Common Mistakes

1. Swallowing the furtive patach. The most audible error in the whole guttural system, and it survives for years because nothing in the spelling warns you.

❌ מתפתח, לפתוח, פותחת

mitpatékh · liftókh · potékhet

Incorrect — a final ח or ע after a non-a vowel takes a furtive patach, sounded before the letter: mitpatéakh, liftóakh. And the feminine pulls both ending vowels to a: potákhat, mefatákhat, niftákhat.

2. Giving a guttural-initial hif'il the ordinary הִ־. הִסְבִּיר is learned first and the prefix gets copied.

❌ החליט, העמיד

hikhlít · hi'amíd

Incorrect — a guttural first radical lowers the hif'il prefix to a segol: hekhlít, he'emíd. Compare הִדְלִיק hidlík and הִסְבִּיר hisbír, where the first radical is ordinary.

3. Carrying the la- prefix to a guttural that is not first. This is the positional error the page exists to kill: לַעֲמוֹד and לַחְשׁוֹב are learned early, and the prefix then travels to roots whose guttural sits somewhere else.

❌ לשמוע, לבחור

lashmóa · lavkhór

Incorrect — the la- prefix belongs to a guttural in FIRST position only. In שׁ־מ־ע and ב־ח־ר the guttural is at the end and in the middle, so the ordinary li- stands: lishmóa, livkhór — and likewise lish'ól, liftóakh, lid'óg.

✅ בוא נשמע קודם מה יש להם להציע.

bo nishmá kódem ma yesh lahém lehatsía

Let's hear what they have to offer first. (to a man)

4. Spreading the pa'al patach future to a middle ר. The five-letter list "א ה ח ע ר" is what does the damage.

❌ הוא יזרק את זה לפח

Incorrect as the pa'al future of זרק — ר forces no a-vowel, so the cholam stays and ktiv male needs the vav: הוא יזרוק את זה לפח, yizrók. (Pointed יִזָּרֵק is the nif'al, ‘will be thrown away’ — a different verb.)

✅ הוא יזרוק את זה לפח ואף אחד לא ישים לב.

hu yizrók et ze lapákh ve'áf ekhád lo yasím lev

He'll throw it in the bin and nobody will notice.

Key Takeaways

The gutturals are positional in their effects, not in their membership: א, ה, ח and ע make trouble wherever they stand, and a root can be guttural and weak at the same time.
First position bends the prefix, in every binyan that leaves the radical on a reduced vowel: יַחְשׁוֹב, לַחְשׁוֹב, נֶחְשַׁב, יֵיחָשֵׁב, הֶחְשִׁיב, הוֹחְשַׁב. pi'el and hitpa'el are untouched (חִישֵּׁב, הִתְחַשֵּׁב), because they give the radical a full vowel.
Middle position matters only where a binyan doubles the middle radical — pi'el, pu'al, hitpa'el. nif'al, hif'il and huf'al are unaffected in their base forms: נִשְׁאַל, הִשְׁאִיל, הוּשְׁאַל are ordinary, and only a suffixed cell shows the chataf (נִשְׁאֲלָה). pa'al is affected for its own reasons (chataf plurals, patach future).
In the doubling binyanim, א and ר lengthen the vowel (בֵּירֵךְ, תֵּיאֵר, הִתְקָרֵא) and ה, ח, ע keep it short (מִיהֵר, שִׂיחֵק, הִתְנַהֵג).
ר rejects the dagesh and nothing else. It takes a plain shva, and it leaves the pa'al future's cholam alone: יִדְרוֹשׁ, יִזְרוֹק, יִשְׂרוֹף.
Third position adds a furtive patach in every binyan — לִפְתּוֹחַ, לְהִיפָּתֵחַ, לְהַשְׁמִיעַ — but only when the preceding vowel is not already a, which is why נִפְתָּח, מְפוּתָּח and מוּשְׁמָע have none.
The feminine participle is ־ַחַת / ־ַעַת in six binyanim — פּוֹתַחַת, נִפְתַּחַת, מְפַתַּחַת — and reverts to ־ָה only in hif'il: מַשְׁמִיעָה.
The consonants are inaudible in Israeli speech; every vowel effect on this page is not.

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