The future is a prefix conjugation, and hitpa'el already has a prefix of its own. Put the person marker in front of it and you get the spellings that stop learners dead the first time: תתלבש, תתרגשי, תתכתבו — two ת's in a row, and both of them belong there.
The full paradigm
| Subject | Pointed | Written | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| אֲנִי | אֶתְלַבֵּשׁ | אתלבש | etlabésh |
| אַתָּה | תִּתְלַבֵּשׁ | תתלבש | titlabésh |
| אַתְּ | תִּתְלַבְּשִׁי | תתלבשי | titlabshí |
| הוּא | יִתְלַבֵּשׁ | יתלבש | yitlabésh |
| הִיא | תִּתְלַבֵּשׁ | תתלבש | titlabésh |
| אֲנַחְנוּ | נִתְלַבֵּשׁ | נתלבש | nitlabésh |
| אַתֶּם / אַתֶּן | תִּתְלַבְּשׁוּ | תתלבשו | titlabshú |
| הֵם / הֵן | יִתְלַבְּשׁוּ | יתלבשו | yitlabshú |
| אַתֶּן / הֵן (classical) | תִּתְלַבֵּשְׁנָה | תתלבשנה | titlabéshna |
תתלבש is two cells, אַתָּה and הִיא, exactly as it is in every other binyan — and it is the subject, never the verb, that tells you which.
אני אתלבש ונצא, תן לי חמש דקות.
aní etlabésh venetsé, ten li khamésh dakót
I'll get dressed and we'll go — give me five minutes. (to a man)
הוא יתלבש רק אחרי שהוא רואה מה מזג האוויר.
hu yitlabésh rak akharéi shehú ro'é ma mézeg ha'avír
He won't get dressed until he's seen what the weather's doing.
The prefix vowel, which is commonly mis-stated
The person prefix carries a chirik — תִּתְלַבֵּשׁ, יִתְלַבֵּשׁ, נִתְלַבֵּשׁ — not a shva. Only the first person singular is different, and it takes a segol: אֶתְלַבֵּשׁ. Get this wrong and the word loses a syllable in your mouth.
| Binyan | Pointed | Reading | Vowel under the prefix |
|---|---|---|---|
| pa'al | יִכְתּוֹב | yikhtóv | chirik |
| pi'el | יְדַבֵּר | yedabér | shva |
| hif'il | יַתְחִיל | yatkhíl | patach |
| hitpa'el | יִתְלַבֵּשׁ | yitlabésh | chirik |
Read the pi'el and hitpa'el rows against each other and the difference is audible in the first syllable: ye-dabér has almost no vowel there, yit-labésh has a full closed one. That is the ת of the binyan doing the work — it closes the prefix syllable and forces a real vowel into it. Everything after that syllable is the pi'el stem, unchanged, which is why the pi'el future is worth having first.
תתלבשי מה שבא לך, זה לא אירוע רשמי.
titlabshí ma shebá lakh, ze lo eirúa rishmí
Wear whatever you feel like — it's not a formal do. (to a woman)
The reordering does not stop at the past
Learners meet מסתכל and הסתכלתי, absorb the swap, and then rebuild the future from the root as if nothing had happened. It has: the ת stays where the metathesis put it, in every cell of every tense.
| Verb | אני | את | הוא |
|---|---|---|---|
| הסתכל look | אֶסְתַּכֵּל estakél | תִּסְתַּכְּלִי tistaklí | יִסְתַּכֵּל yistakél |
| השתמש use | אֶשְׁתַּמֵּשׁ eshtamésh | תִּשְׁתַּמְּשִׁי tishtamshí | יִשְׁתַּמֵּשׁ yishtamésh |
| הצטלם be photographed | אֶצְטַלֵּם etstalém | תִּצְטַלְּמִי titstalmí | יִצְטַלֵּם yitstalém |
| הזדקן grow old | אֶזְדַּקֵּן ezdakén | תִּזְדַּקְּנִי tizdakní | יִזְדַּקֵּן yizdakén |
Note what happens to the double ת in these: it stops being double. תתלבש has its two ת's side by side; תסתכלי and תשתמשי still have two, but with the root's sibilant wedged between them (ת־ס־ת, ת־שׁ־ת), and תצטלמי and תזדקני are left with one ת each, because the binyan's has turned into a ט and a ד. The mechanism is on the metathesis page; the practical point here is that a hitpa'el future does not always look like a hitpa'el future.
אני אשתמש בכרטיס שלי ואתה תחזיר לי אחר כך.
aní eshtamésh bakartís shelí ve'atá takhzír li akhár kakh
I'll use my card and you can pay me back later. (to a man)
מחר כולנו נצטלם לתמונה משפחתית, אז תבואי מוקדם.
makhár kulánu nitstalém litmuná mishpakhtít, az tavó'i mukdám
Tomorrow we're all getting photographed for a family picture, so come early. (to a woman)
כולנו נזדקן, השאלה רק איך.
kulánu nizdakén, hashe'elá rak eikh
We're all going to grow old — the only question is how.
The ־נָה cells, and what people actually say
The classical feminine plural is תִּתְלַבֵּשְׁנָה — and note the vowel: a tsere before the ־נָה, not a patach. Pealim prints the cell and then adds its standard note, in modern language, the masculine form is generally used, offering תִּתְלַבְּשׁוּ and יִתְלַבְּשׁוּ in its place.
Take that at face value rather than as a verdict. תתלבשו and יתלבשו covering both genders is correct Hebrew, not a sloppy shortcut, and it is what you will hear and write. תתלבשנה is not an error either — it is a form that belongs to a careful written register. The wider retreat of the ־נָה cells across the whole verb system is treated on spoken regularisation.
הבנות יתלבשו לבד, אל תדאגי.
habanót yitlabshú levád, al tid'agí
The girls will get dressed on their own — don't worry. (to a woman; the masculine plural covers a feminine subject)
This is also how you give orders
Israelis command in the future far more often than in the imperative, and with hitpa'el verbs it is close to universal: תתלבש, תסתכל, תזדרז. The negative command is אל + the future.
תתלבש כבר, אנחנו מפספסים את ההתחלה.
titlabésh kvar, anákhnu mefasfesím et hahatkhalá
Get dressed already — we're missing the beginning. (to a man)
תסתכלי על זה רגע, אני לא בטוח שזה נכון.
tistaklí al ze réga, aní lo batúakh shezé nakhón
Have a look at this a second — I'm not sure it's right. (m. speaker, to a woman)
אל תתרגש, זה עוד לא סופי.
al titragésh, ze od lo sofí
Don't get excited — it isn't final yet. (to a man)
Common Mistakes
1. Rebuilding the future from the root and losing the swap. The reordering was learned in the present or the past and then not carried forward.
❌ אני אתסכל על זה מחר
Incorrect — the ס and the prefix ת stay swapped in every tense. The future is אסתכל, and likewise אשתמש, אצטלם, אזדקן. Note that the naively built form is not nonsense: אֲתַסְכֵּל ataskél is a real word, the pi'el 'I will frustrate' on the root ת־ס־כ־ל.
✅ אני אסתכל על זה מחר בבוקר ואחזור אלייך.
aní estakél al ze makhár babóker ve'ekhzór eláyikh
I'll look at it tomorrow morning and get back to you. (to a woman)
2. Spelling a yod into the prefix. Several binyanim do write one — nif'al's יִיכָּנֵס is ייכנס — so the habit spreads.
❌ הוא ייתלבש לבד
Incorrect as ktiv male — the chirik of יִתְלַבֵּשׁ sits in a closed syllable and takes no yod. The spelling is יתלבש, and the same goes for אתלבש, תתלבש, נתלבש.
✅ הוא יתלבש לבד, הוא כבר בן ארבע.
hu yitlabésh levád, hu kvar ben árba
He'll get dressed by himself — he's four already.
3. Breaking up the double ת. Two identical letters with nothing between them look impossible, so learners insert a vowel.
❌ תתלבשי
titelabshí
Incorrect — there is no vowel between the two ת's. The syllables are tit-lab-shí, with the first ת closed by the second: titlabshí, titragshí, titkatvú.
✅ תתכתבו ביניכם ותגידו לי מה יצא.
titkatvú beinékhem vetagídu li ma yatsá
Message each other and let me know what comes of it. (to a group)
4. One ת where two are needed. Both of these are ordinary Hebrew, and they are different verbs in different binyanim.
✅ תתלבש, אנחנו יוצאים בעוד רגע.
titlabésh, anákhnu yots'ím be'ód réga
Get dressed — we're leaving in a minute. (hitpa'el, to a man)
✅ תלבש משהו חם, בחוץ קפוא.
tilbásh máshehu kham, bakhúts kafú
Put something warm on — it's freezing outside. (pa'al, with an object)
Key Takeaways
- Four prefixes — א ת י נ — in front of the binyan's own ת, which is where the double-tav spellings come from: תתלבש, תתרגשי, תתכתבו.
- The prefix vowel is a chirik (תִּתְלַבֵּשׁ, יִתְלַבֵּשׁ, נִתְלַבֵּשׁ) and a segol in the first person singular (אֶתְלַבֵּשׁ). Not a shva — that is pi'el.
- תתלבש is both אַתָּה and הִיא. The subject is the only thing that separates them.
- The metathesis carries into the future: אסתכל, יסתכל, אשתמש, יצטלם, יזדקן — and there the two ת's are never adjacent (תסתכלי, תשתמשי), or there is only one left at all (תצטלמי, תזדקני).
- תִּתְלַבֵּשְׁנָה takes a tsere, not a patach. Pealim's note is that the masculine form is generally used instead, so תתלבשו and יתלבשו for both genders are correct Hebrew — and תתלבשנה is a careful written register, not an error.
- No yod anywhere in the prefix: אתלבש, תתלבש, יתלבש, נתלבש.
- The future does the work of the imperative — תתלבש, תסתכלי — and the negative command takes אל, not לא.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- Hitpa'el Past: התלבשתי, התעוררת, השתמשA2 — Nine cells, and almost none of them is new: the endings are the universal past suffixes and the stem is a pi'el stem with הת bolted on front, so anyone who has done the pi'el past already owns most of this paradigm.
- When the ת Moves: הסתכל, השתמש, הצטלם, הזדקןB1 — If the first root letter is a sibilant, the ת of the hitpa'el prefix changes places with it — and next to צ it hardens to ט, next to ז it voices to ד. Three outcomes across five letters, one phonetic reason, and a separate mechanism that is routinely confused with it.
- Israelis Regularise: Spoken Forms That Break the RulesC1 — The gap between the paradigms in a Hebrew grammar and the forms Israelis actually produce is wide, systematic, and always running the same direction — toward fewer distinct forms. Here is each change, with the prescriptive form, the spoken form, and an honest verdict on where each one still lives.
- Hitpa'el Present: מתלבש, מסתכל, מתרגשA2 — Four forms, one syllable of prefix, and a stress pattern English speakers get wrong on the first try — plus the מ־ table that finally separates מתלבש from מתחיל, which is the pair learners actually fail on.
- Pi'el Future: אדבר, תדברי, ידברA2 — The pi'el future is the tidiest paradigm in the verb system: a person prefix with almost no vowel, bolted straight onto the stem. Nothing is inserted, nothing is spelled with a mater, and the yod that filled every cell of the past has gone.