The Nif'al Verbs You Actually Need | Hebrew Grammar

A Hebrew course will hand you נכנס, נמצא, נשאר, נראה, נשמע and נגמר in the first months, as ordinary words with ordinary meanings, long before anyone says the word binyan out loud. That is the right order to learn them in. But it leaves a gap, and this page closes it: those six verbs are not six unrelated facts. They are one pattern, they conjugate identically, and once you see the pattern the rest of the binyan comes almost free.

Say the warning first, because it is the thing the table below will otherwise be misread as: nif'al is not simply the passive of pa'al. Of the eighteen verbs below, exactly one is a passive outright and four more carry a passive reading beside another job. The other thirteen are middles, statives and one reciprocal.

The table

Four principal parts each. The pointed forms are the classical spellings; the ktiv male columns are what you will actually see written, and the two-yod spelling of the future is the single most useful recognition cue this binyan has.

Meaning	Past 3ms	Present ms	Future 3ms	Future, ktiv male	Infinitive, ktiv male	Job
go in, enter	נִכְנַס	נִכְנָס	יִכָּנֵס	ייכנס	להיכנס	middle
be located, be present	נִמְצָא	נִמְצָא	יִמָּצֵא	יימצא	להימצא	stative
stay; be left over	נִשְׁאַר	נִשְׁאָר	יִשָּׁאֵר	יישאר	להישאר	stative
look, seem; be seen	נִרְאָה	נִרְאֶה	יֵרָאֶה	ייראה	להיראות	stative · passive
sound; be heard	נִשְׁמַע	נִשְׁמָע	יִשָּׁמַע	יישמע	להישמע	stative · passive
end; run out	נִגְמַר	נִגְמָר	יִגָּמֵר	ייגמר	להיגמר	middle
meet (עם)	נִפְגַּשׁ	נִפְגָּשׁ	יִפָּגֵשׁ	ייפגש	להיפגש	reciprocal
be born	נוֹלַד	נוֹלָד	יִוָּלֵד	ייוולד	להיוולד	middle · passive
enjoy (מ־)	נֶהֱנָה	נֶהֱנֶה	יֵהָנֶה	ייהנה	ליהנות	stative
be careful (מ־)	נִזְהַר	נִזְהָר	יִזָּהֵר	ייזהר	להיזהר	middle
open	נִפְתַּח	נִפְתָּח	יִפָּתַח	ייפתח	להיפתח	middle
close, shut	נִסְגַּר	נִסְגָּר	יִסָּגֵר	ייסגר	להיסגר	middle
break, come apart	נִשְׁבַּר	נִשְׁבָּר	יִשָּׁבֵר	יישבר	להישבר	middle
be chosen, be elected	נִבְחַר	נִבְחָר	יִבָּחֵר	ייבחר	להיבחר	passive
disappear	נֶעְלַם	נֶעְלָם	יֵעָלֵם	ייעלם	להיעלם	middle
fall asleep	נִרְדַּם	נִרְדָּם	יֵרָדֵם	יירדם	להירדם	middle
be injured	נִפְצַע	נִפְצָע	יִפָּצַע	ייפצע	להיפצע	passive · middle
be considered (ל־)	נֶחְשַׁב	נֶחְשָׁב	יֵחָשֵׁב	ייחשב	להיחשב	stative

Read the last column across rather than trusting an impression of it. Exactly one row is labelled passive outright — נבחר. Four more carry a passive reading alongside another job: נראה and נשמע (which mostly mean "look" and "sound"), נולד (the intransitive partner of ילד) and נפצע (a passive when somebody did the injuring, a middle when nobody did). The remaining thirteen are eight middles, four statives and one reciprocal, with no passive reading at all. The three jobs have pages of their own: the middle voice, the statives and the real passives.

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The infinitives above are given in ktiv male because that is how you will meet and type them. Their pointed shape is uniform and worth knowing once: לְהִיכָּנֵס — le-hi-ka-nés, with the dagesh in the first root letter. Where that letter is a guttural or ר and cannot take a dagesh, the vowel in front lengthens to a tsere instead: לְהֵירָדֵם, לְהֵיעָלֵם, לְהֵיחָשֵׁב.

Three recognition traps

נכנס is both the past and the present, and they are pronounced the same. So is נשאר, and נמצא, and נגמר, and every other verb in the table: the past 3ms has a patach where the present ms has a kamatz, and Israeli Hebrew makes no distinction between them.

הוא נכנס עכשיו לישיבה, תתקשר עוד שעה.

hu nikhnás akhsháv lishivá, titkashér od sha'á

He's just going into a meeting — ring back in an hour. (present נִכְנָס, to a man)

הוא נכנס לישיבה לפני חצי שעה ועדיין לא יצא.

hu nikhnás lishivá lifnéi khatsí sha'á va'adáyin lo yatsá

He went into a meeting half an hour ago and still hasn't come out. (past נִכְנַס — same letters, same sound)

נראה is also a pa'al future. Unpointed נראה is the nif'al "looks, seems", the nif'al past "was seen", and נִרְאֶה "we will see" from לראות. The same holds for נשמע, and for every pa'al verb whose future has no cholam to keep it apart — the trio is worked out on נראה and נשמע.

Every verb here becomes unrecognisable in the future and the infinitive. The נ־ that identified the binyan is gone; a dagesh or a tsere has taken its place, and in writing a second yod appears at the front. נכנס → ייכנס → להיכנס. Learn only the past and the present of these verbs and you will not recognise the verb at all when it turns up in the other two forms.

תיזהר, הרצפה רטובה.

tizahér, haritspá retubá

Careful — the floor's wet. (to a man; the future doing the work of an imperative)

נולדתי בחיפה אבל גדלתי בדרום.

noládti bekhéifa avál gadálti badaróm

I was born in Haifa but I grew up in the south.

היא נבחרה ליושבת ראש הוועד בפעם השנייה.

hi nivkherá leyoshévet rosh hava'ád bapá'am hashniyá

She was elected chair of the committee for the second time. (a genuine passive — a vote chose her)

שני אנשים נפצעו קל בתאונה הבוקר.

shnei anashím niftse'ú kal bate'uná habóker

Two people were lightly hurt in the accident this morning. (journalistic)

Eight of them in one story

Read this straight through. Every nif'al verb in it comes from the table above, and between them they cover the past, the present and the future.

נכנסתי לבית קפה בשבע וכבר לא נשארו מקומות בחוץ.

nikhnásti leveit kafé beshéva ukhvár lo nish'arú mekomót bakhúts

I went into a café at seven and there were already no tables left outside.

חיכיתי חצי שעה ונראה לי שהוא פשוט שכח.

khikíti khatsí sha'á venir'é li shehú pashút shakhákh

I waited half an hour and I think he simply forgot.

נשארתי עוד קצת, נהניתי מהשקט, ובסוף כמעט נרדמתי על השולחן.

nish'árti od ktsat, nehenéti mehashéket, uvasóf kim'át nirdámti al hashulkhán

I stayed a bit longer, enjoyed the quiet, and in the end I nearly fell asleep at the table.

מחר ניפגש שוב, ואם הוא ייעלם גם הפעם הסיפור נגמר.

makhár nipagésh shuv, ve'ím hu ye'além gam hapá'am hasipúr nigmár

Tomorrow we're meeting again, and if he disappears this time too the whole thing is over. (informal)

Eight verbs from the table appear there: נכנס, נשאר, נראה, נהנה, נרדם, נפגש, נעלם, נגמר — and not one of them is a passive.

Common Mistakes

1. Giving נכנס a direct object. English enters a room; Hebrew's verb takes ל־, and no nif'al verb takes את at all.

❌ נכנסתי את המשרד שלו

Incorrect — נכנס governs ל־. It has to be נכנסתי למשרד; a nif'al has no direct object to mark.

✅ נכנסתי למשרד שלו בלי לדפוק והוא לא אמר כלום.

nikhnásti lamisrád sheló bli lidpók vehú lo amár klum

I walked into his office without knocking and he didn't say a thing.

2. Giving נפגש an object. Hebrew has two verbs here and they are not interchangeable: the pa'al פגש takes a direct object, the nif'al נפגש takes עם.

❌ נפגשתי את דנה אתמול בערב

Incorrect — נפגש is reciprocal and takes no object. Either פגשתי את דנה (I ran into her) or נפגשתי עם דנה (I met up with her).

✅ פגשתי את דנה במקרה ליד התחנה.

pagáshti et dána bemikré leyád hatakhaná

I ran into Dana by chance near the station. (pa'al — one person acting on another)

✅ נפגשתי עם דנה לקפה אחרי העבודה.

nifgáshti im dána lekafé akharéi ha'avodá

I met up with Dana for coffee after work. (nif'al — both of them arranged it)

3. Writing the future and infinitive without their yod. The pointed forms have no extra yod, so the classical spelling looks right — but ktiv male needs it, and without it the word is a different verb or no verb at all.

❌ אני מקווה שהיא תשאר עוד קצת

Incorrect as ktiv male — the nif'al future needs its yod: תישאר. (תשאר without it reads as ktiv haser, and the eye takes it for a hif'il.)

❌ אני רוצה להכנס רגע לחנות

Incorrect as ktiv male — the infinitive is להיכנס, with the yod. Same for להישאר, להיפגש, להיגמר.

✅ אני רוצה להיכנס רגע לחנות לפני שסוגרים.

aní rotsé lehikanés réga lakhanút lifnéi shesogrím

I want to pop into the shop before they close. (m. speaker)

✅ אני מקווה שהיא תישאר עוד קצת אחרי הישיבה.

aní mekavé shehí tisha'ér od ktsat akharéi hayeshivá

I hope she'll stay on a bit after the meeting.

4. Assuming any of them is a passive. Two verbs from the table, one sentence apart, on opposite sides of the voice system.

הוא נבחר לתפקיד ברוב גדול.

hu nivkhár latafkíd berov gadól

He was elected to the post by a large majority. (a real passive — voters chose him)

הוא נכנס לתפקיד בינואר.

hu nikhnás latafkíd beyanuár

He took up the post in January. (not a passive in any sense — nobody entered him)

Key Takeaways

Eighteen verbs, four principal parts each. Learn the future and infinitive alongside the past and present, or you will not recognise the verb when it turns up in them.
Only נבחר is a plain passive; נראה, נשמע, נולד and נפצע carry a passive reading beside another one; the remaining thirteen are middles, statives or the one reciprocal (נפגש).
The two-yod future — ייכנס, יישאר, ייגמר, ייפגש, ייוולד, ייהנה, ייראה, ייעלם, ייחשב — is the most reliable nif'al cue in unpointed text.
Past 3ms and present ms are homophones throughout the binyan: נִכְנַס and נִכְנָס are both nikhnás.
נראה and נשמע double as pa'al 1pl futures ("we will see", "we will hear").
Governed prepositions are part of the verb: נהנה מ־, נפגש עם, נזהר מ־, נחשב ל־, נכנס ל־.
Where the first root letter cannot take a dagesh (ר or a guttural), the future and infinitive take a tsere instead: יֵרָדֵם, יֵעָלֵם, יֵחָשֵׁב.

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