Pa'al Imperative: כתוב! כתבי! כתבו! | Hebrew Grammar

The צִיווּי has three cells — a man, a woman, a group — and no first or third person at all, because you cannot order someone who is not there. Its shape is the simplest derivation in the verb system: take the second-person future and take the ת off the front.

Where it comes from

Future	Drop the ת	Written	Reading
תִּכְתּוֹב	כְּתוֹב	כתוב	ktov — to a man
תִּכְתְּבִי	כִּתְבִי	כתבי	kitví — to a woman
תִּכְתְּבוּ	כִּתְבוּ	כתבו	kitvú — to a group

The consonants are exactly the future minus its prefix. The vowels resettle, because Hebrew will not begin a word with two shvas in a row: תִּכְתְּבִי loses its ת and the orphaned shva under the כ hardens into a chirik, giving kitví.

Three more verbs, and the second vowel class

The a-class carries its patach into the imperative exactly as it does into the future — לְמַד matches אֶלְמַד, not the cholam of כתב:

Root	to a man	to a woman	to a group
ש־מ־ר	שְׁמוֹר shmor	שִׁמְרִי shimrí	שִׁמְרוּ shimrú
ס־ג־ר	סְגוֹר sgor	סִגְרִי sigrí	סִגְרוּ sigrú
ג־מ־ר	גְּמוֹר gmor	גִּמְרִי gimrí	גִּמְרוּ gimrú
ל־מ־ד (a-class)	לְמַד lemád	לִמְדִי limdí	לִמְדוּ limdú

Classical Hebrew adds a fourth cell, a separate feminine plural — כְּתוֹבְנָה, שְׁמוֹרְנָה. It is not incorrect and it has not been abolished; it is simply not something Israelis produce. Learn it to recognise, and address a group of women with כִּתְבוּ like everyone else.

שמרי על הכרטיס עד סוף הנסיעה.

shimrí al hakartís ad sof hanesi'á

Keep your ticket until the end of the journey. (to a woman — the register of a public announcement)

סגרו את הדלת אחריכם, בבקשה.

sigrú et hadélet akhareikhém, bevakashá

Please close the door behind you. (to a group — a notice on a door)

למד את זה בעל פה, זה יופיע במבחן.

lemád et ze be'ál pe, ze yofía bamivkhán

Learn this by heart, it'll be on the test. (to a man — a teacher speaking)

What Israelis actually say

Here is the fact the table cannot show you. Outside the army, official signage, classroom instructions and a short list of frozen expressions, the ordinary Israeli command is the second-person future: תכתוב לי, תשב, תסלח לי, תשלח לי הודעה.

This is not sloppiness and it is not an error. Using the future in an imperative role is a recognised construction with its own name in Hebrew grammar — עתיד בתפקיד ציווי — and both options are correct. What separates them is register: the true imperative reads neutral to formal, the future form reads as ordinary speech.

סגור את החלון, נכנס קור.

sgor et hakhalón, nikhnás kor

Close the window, the cold's getting in. (to a man — neutral, slightly clipped)

תסגור את החלון, נכנס קור.

tisgór et hakhalón, nikhnás kor

Shut the window, the cold's getting in. (to a man — how this actually gets said)

אולי תוכל לסגור את החלון? קצת קר פה.

ulái tukhál lisgór et hakhalón? ktsat kar po

Do you think you could close the window? It's a bit cold in here. (to a man — softened)

One request, three registers, all three correct. Choosing between them is a social decision, not a grammatical one, and the machinery for softening is on making requests.

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Do not conclude from this that the true imperative is dead and can be skipped. You will meet it constantly in writing — instructions, forms, headlines, recipes, road signs, advertising — and using it in speech does not make you wrong, only brisk. The mistake to avoid is the opposite one: producing כתוב! at a friend and wondering why it landed like a drill order.

The short ones that everybody uses

A handful of true imperatives survived intact in everyday speech, and it is no accident which ones: they are short, they are frequent, and almost all of them come from weak roots, so no rule on this page generates them. Learn them as vocabulary.

Imperative	Meaning	From
בּוֹא bo · בּוֹאִי · בּוֹאוּ	come	בָּא
לֵךְ lekh · לְכִי · לְכוּ	go	הָלַךְ
שֵׁב shev · שְׁבִי · שְׁבוּ	sit down	יָשַׁב
קוּם kum · קוּמִי · קוּמוּ	get up	קָם
תֵּן ten · תְּנִי · תְּנוּ	give	נָתַן
קַח kakh · קְחִי · קְחוּ	take	לָקַח
סַע sa · סְעִי · סְעוּ	drive, go	נָסַע
עֲצוֹר atsór	stop	עָצַר
סְלַח לִי slakh li	excuse me	סָלַח
שְׁמַע shma	listen; also just "look…"	שָׁמַע

בוא, שב, קח כוס מים.

bo, shev, kakh kos máyim

Come in, sit down, have a glass of water. (to a man)

שמע, אני חושב שכדאי לנו לחכות עוד קצת.

shma, aní khoshév shekhedái lánu lekhakót od ktsat

Look, I think we're better off waiting a bit longer. (to a man — שמע opens a turn; nobody is being told to listen)

The negative is a different construction entirely

There is no negative imperative in Hebrew. You cannot put a particle in front of כתוב and be done. A negative command is אַל plus the second-person future, always:

Positive	Negative
כתוב / תכתוב	אל תכתוב
לכי / תלכי	אל תלכי
סגרו / תסגרו	אל תסגרו

אל תסגור את הדלת, אני יוצא עוד רגע.

al tisgór et hadélet, aní yotsé od réga

Don't close the door, I'm coming out in a second. (to a man)

אל and לא are not interchangeable here. אל negates a request. לא plus the future is a statement about what will happen — or, in the register of the Bible and of law, a permanent prohibition.

אל תגנוב את המטרייה שלי, קניתי אותה אתמול.

al tignóv et hamitriyá shelí, kaníti otá etmól

Don't nick my umbrella, I bought it yesterday. (to a man — a request)

לא תגנוב.

lo tignóv

Thou shalt not steal. (Exodus 20 — לא plus the future is the register of a commandment, not of a request)

Common Mistakes

1. Negating the imperative form itself. The ציווי cell simply has no negative counterpart.

❌ אל סגור את החלון

Incorrect — אל is followed by the future, never by an imperative. It is אל תסגור. This holds in every binyan and for every verb, including the frozen short ones: אל תיקח, not *אל קח.

✅ אל תסגור את החלון, נעים ככה.

al tisgór et hakhalón, na'ím kákha

Don't close the window, it's nice like this. (to a man)

2. Building the feminine and plural on the full masculine form. The stem reduces before ־י and ־ו, exactly as it does in the future.

❌ שמורי על הכרטיס

Incorrect — the cholam drops and the prefix vowel becomes a chirik: שמרי, shimrí. The same for the plural: שמרו, not *שמורו.

✅ שמרי על הכרטיס, יש ביקורת ברכבת.

shimrí al hakartís, yesh bikóret barakévet

Hold on to your ticket, they check them on the train. (to a woman)

3. Writing the imperative without its vav. In ktiv male the cholam has to be written, and the form without it is a different word.

❌ שמר על עצמך

Incorrect as a command — שמר with no vav is the past tense, 'he guarded'. The imperative carries a cholam and is written שמור. The same pair: סגר 'he closed' against סגור 'close!'

✅ שמור על עצמך, הכביש הזה מסוכן בלילה.

shmor al atsmekhá, hakvísh hazé mesukán baláyla

Take care of yourself — that road is dangerous at night. (to a man)

4. Giving סלח the wrong complement. English excuse me takes a direct object; the Hebrew verb takes ל.

❌ סלח אותי, איפה התחנה?

Incorrect — סלח governs ל, not את: סלח לי. In ordinary speech the future form is commoner still: תסלח לי.

✅ סלח לי, אתה יודע איפה התחנה המרכזית?

slakh li, atá yodéa eifó hatakhaná hamerkazít

Excuse me, do you know where the central station is? (to a man)

Key Takeaways

The true imperative has three cells, formed by removing ת־ from the second-person future: כְּתוֹב · כִּתְבִי · כִּתְבוּ. The vowels resettle; the consonants do not change.
The a-class carries its patach across: אֶלְמַד gives לְמַד, לִמְדִי, לִמְדוּ.
The classical feminine plural כְּתוֹבְנָה is normative but not produced by Israelis. Recognise it; use כִּתְבוּ.
Israelis normally command with the second-person future — תסגור, תשב, תסלח לי. This is עתיד בתפקיד ציווי, a matter of register, not correctness: the true imperative is neutral-to-formal, the future is everyday.
The true forms that survive in speech are short, frequent and mostly from weak roots: בוא, לך, שב, קום, תן, קח, סע, עצור, סלח לי, שמע. Learn them as vocabulary.
There is no negative imperative. A negative command is אל + second-person future (אל תכתוב). לא + future is a prediction or a commandment, not a request.

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