A pa'al root ending in ח or ע — שׁ־מ־ע hear, שׁ־ל־ח send, פ־ת־ח open, נ־ג־ע touch — is regular in the past and in the future skeleton, and then does something no other class does: it adds a vowel that no ending accounts for. שׁוֹמֵעַ is not shomé but shoméa; לִפְתּוֹחַ is not liftókh but liftóakh. That extra a is the furtive patach, and getting it into your mouth matters more than any table on this page.
The present, where the extra vowel is unmissable
| Root | m.sg | f.sg | m.pl | f.pl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כ־ת־ב (regular) | כּוֹתֵב kotév | כּוֹתֶבֶת kotévet | כּוֹתְבִים kotvím | כּוֹתְבוֹת kotvót |
| שׁ־מ־ע hear | שׁוֹמֵעַ shoméa | שׁוֹמַעַת shomá'at | שׁוֹמְעִים shom'ím | שׁוֹמְעוֹת shom'ót |
| פ־ת־ח open | פּוֹתֵחַ potéakh | פּוֹתַחַת potákhat | פּוֹתְחִים potkhím | פּוֹתְחוֹת potkhót |
| שׁ־ל־ח send | שׁוֹלֵחַ sholéakh | שׁוֹלַחַת sholákhat | שׁוֹלְחִים sholkhím | שׁוֹלְחוֹת sholkhót |
| נ־ג־ע touch | נוֹגֵעַ nogéa | נוֹגַעַת nogá'at | נוֹגְעִים nog'ím | נוֹגְעוֹת nog'ót |
Two cells deserve a stop. The masculine singular has an a after the tsere that no other verb has. And the feminine singular is פּוֹתַחַת potákhat, not potékhet — the regular ־ֶ־ֶת ending has had both its vowels pulled to a by the guttural. It is not a typo, and it surprises everyone, because the feminine of a regular verb (כּוֹתֶבֶת) is one of the first forms a beginner learns.
The plurals, by contrast, are perfectly ordinary: שׁוֹמְעִים, פּוֹתְחִים. The guttural is no longer at the end of the word there, so nothing is required of it.
אני לא שומעת כלום, תדבר יותר חזק.
aní lo shomá'at klum, tedabér yotér khazák
I can't hear a thing — speak up. (f. speaker, to a man)
החנות פותחת רק בעשר.
hakhanút potákhat rak be'éser
The shop doesn't open until ten.
שמעתי שאתם עוברים דירה.
shamáti she'atém ovrím dirá
I heard you're moving house.
Why the vowel is there, and why it comes first
A ח or ע at the end of a word cannot be pronounced straight after an i, e, o or u — the throat has to travel too far in one step. Hebrew solves this by sliding a short a in as a transition. Niqqud normally writes a vowel under the consonant it follows — בַּ is ba, never ab — and this is the one place that convention is broken: the sign is parked under the final guttural even though the vowel is sounded in front of it. So every learner reads it in the wrong order.
And now the condition, which most textbooks leave implicit: the extra vowel appears only when the preceding vowel is not already a. Compare down this column:
| Form | Vowel before the guttural | Furtive patach? |
|---|---|---|
| שָׁמַע shamá | patach — already a | no |
| יִשְׁמַע yishmá | patach — already a | no |
| שׁוֹמֵעַ shoméa | tsere | yes |
| לִשְׁמוֹעַ lishmóa | cholam | yes |
| רוּחַ rúakh | shuruk | yes |
That is one rule doing all the work, and it is not restricted to verbs: מַפְתֵּחַ maftéakh, גָּבוֹהַּ gavóa, יָרֵחַ yaréakh are nouns and adjectives obeying the same condition.
The future takes a patach; the infinitive keeps its cholam
| Root | Future 3 m.sg | Written | Infinitive | Written |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שׁ־מ־ע | יִשְׁמַע yishmá | ישמע | לִשְׁמוֹעַ lishmóa | לשמוע |
| שׁ־ל־ח | יִשְׁלַח yishlákh | ישלח | לִשְׁלוֹחַ lishlóakh | לשלוח |
| פ־ת־ח | יִפְתַּח yiftákh | יפתח | לִפְתּוֹחַ liftóakh | לפתוח |
| נ־ג־ע | יִגַּע yigá | ייגע | לָגַעַת lagá'at | לגעת |
The future behaves exactly as a middle guttural does: the theme vowel becomes a patach, יִשְׁמַע rather than yishmór. And exactly as there, the infinitive keeps its own o — לִשְׁמוֹעַ, לִשְׁלוֹחַ, לִפְתּוֹחַ — and merely adds the furtive patach on top of it. So the unpointed spelling separates them for you once again: ישמע has no vav and is yishmá; לשמוע has one and is lishmóa. The one row that does not fit that description is נ־ג־ע, and its ע is not the reason — that verb is unpicked in the next section.
אני אשלח לך הודעה כשאני יוצא.
aní eshlákh lekhá hoda'á kshe'aní yotsé
I'll text you when I leave. (m. speaker, to a man)
אני אפתח לך, רגע.
aní eftákh lekhá, réga
I'll get the door — one second. (to a man)
צריך לפתוח חלון, חם פה נורא.
tsaríkh liftóakh khalón, kham po norá
Someone should open a window — it's boiling in here.
אני רוצה לשמוע את הסיפור המלא.
aní rotsé lishmóa et hasipúr hamalé
I want to hear the whole story.
שלחתי לך את הקובץ אתמול בלילה.
shalákhti lekhá et hakóvets etmól baláyla
I sent you the file last night. (to a man)
The imperative is short and ends in the patach that is already there: שְׁמַע shmá, שְׁלַח shlákh, פְּתַח ptákh. That is the shma of שמע ישראל (Deuteronomy 6:4) — the same form, in liturgical use for three thousand years.
נגע is carrying two weaknesses at once
Look again at the נ־ג־ע row. Its future is יִגַּע and its infinitive is לָגַעַת, neither of which looks like the others — and that is because the ע is only half the story. The initial נ is also weak, so the verb belongs to פ״נ as well: the נ assimilates into the ג in the future (leaving the doubling dot in יִגַּע), and the infinitive is built on the פ״נ pattern לָ־־ַ־ַת. Everything this page teaches still applies — the ע gives the future its patach and puts a furtive vowel into נוֹגֵעַ — but the rest of the shape comes from the other class.
אל תיגע בזה, זה עוד רטוב.
al tigá bezé, ze od ratóv
Don't touch that, it's still wet. (informal, to a man)
לא נגעתי בכלום, נשבע.
lo nagáti bikhlúm, nishbá
I didn't touch anything, I swear. (informal, m. speaker)
Why this survives the loss of ח and ע
Most Israelis no longer pronounce ע at all, and ח has merged with כ. So a reasonable learner asks why a silent letter should be worth a page. The answer is that the letter went silent and its effects did not. שׁוֹמֵעַ really does end in an audible a; פּוֹתַחַת really ends in two a-vowels; יִשְׁמַע really is yishmá. Say shomé and potékhet and you have not made a subtle phonetic slip — you have said forms that no Israeli produces. The whole system is set out on gutturals.
Roots ending in the other two gutturals are not in this class. A final א is a guttural but gives a kamatz rather than a patach and no furtive vowel at all — יִמְצָא, לִמְצוֹא — which is ל״א; a final ה in קנה, רצה, בנה is not a consonant but a vowel letter, which is ל״ה.
Common Mistakes
1. Swallowing the furtive patach. The single most common error on this class, and the most audible.
❌ שומע, פותח, לשלוח
shomé · potékh · lishlókh
Incorrect — a final ח or ע after a non-a vowel takes a furtive patach, pronounced before the letter: shoméa, potéakh, lishlóakh.
✅ אתה שומע מוזיקה בזמן שאתה עובד?
atá shoméa múzika bizmán she'atá ovéd?
Do you listen to music while you work? (to a man)
2. Regularising the feminine singular. כּוֹתֶבֶת is learned first and gets applied everywhere.
❌ שומעת, פותחת
shomé'et · potékhet
Incorrect — the guttural pulls both vowels of the ending to a: shomá'at, potákhat. There is no e in either form.
✅ היא פותחת את הדלת רק אחרי שהיא שואלת מי זה.
hi potákhat et hadélet rak akharéi shehí sho'élet mi ze
She only opens the door after she's asked who it is.
3. Giving the future a cholam. The regular יִשְׁמוֹר pattern generalised onto a verb that cannot take it.
❌ אני אשלוח לך את זה מחר
Incorrect — the future of שלח has a patach and no vav: אני אשלח לך את זה מחר, eshlákh. אשלוח is not a form of this verb.
✅ אני אשלח לך את זה מחר בבוקר.
aní eshlákh lekhá et ze makhár babóker
I'll send it to you tomorrow morning. (to a man)
4. Stressing the furtive vowel. It is a transition, not a syllable of its own, and it never carries the stress.
❌ לשמוע, יודע
lishmoá · yodeá
Incorrect — the stress stays on the cholam or tsere in front of the added vowel: lishmóa, yodéa. The furtive patach is a transition into the consonant, and it can never be the loudest thing in the word.
✅ אני יודע, אמרת לי כבר פעמיים.
aní yodéa, amárta li kvar pa'amáyim
I know, you've told me twice already. (m. speaker, to a man)
Key Takeaways
- Roots ending in ח or ע add a furtive patach: שׁוֹמֵעַ shoméa, פּוֹתֵחַ potéakh, לִשְׁלוֹחַ lishlóakh.
- It is written under the guttural and sounded before it, and it never takes the stress.
- It appears only when the preceding vowel is not already a — hence שָׁמַע shamá and יִשְׁמַע yishmá have nothing extra.
- The feminine singular is פּוֹתַחַת, not פּוֹתֶחֶת — both vowels of the ending go to a.
- The plurals are ordinary (שׁוֹמְעִים, פּוֹתְחִים) because the guttural is no longer word-final.
- The future takes a patach (יִשְׁמַע, יִשְׁלַח, יִפְתַּח) while the infinitive keeps its cholam and adds the furtive vowel on top (לִשְׁמוֹעַ, לִפְתּוֹחַ). The vav in the unpointed spelling tells you which is which.
- נגע is doubly weak — ל״ע and פ״נ — which is why יִגַּע and לָגַעַת look nothing like the rest of the table.
- The consonants are inaudible in Israeli speech and their vowel effects are not, which is exactly why the class cannot be skipped.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- Pa'al with a Guttural Second Radical (שאל, בחר, נהג)B1 — A guttural in the middle of the root does two things: it puts a short chataf vowel wherever the pattern would put a bare shva, and it forces the future's theme vowel to patach — יִשְׁאַל, יִבְחַר. The infinitive keeps its cholam, and that mismatch is what learners get wrong.
- Future Vowel: יִכְתּוֹב vs יִלְמַד vs יִשְׁמַעB1 — Why the pa'al future is יִכְתּוֹב here and יִלְמַד there: a cholam by default, a patach forced by a guttural, and a residue class that simply has to be learned verb by verb — plus the ktiv male spelling trick that tells you which one you are looking at.
- Gutturals in פ, ע and ל PositionC1 — א, ה, ח and ע refuse a plain shva and refuse a dagesh, so every binyan has to move a vowel out of their way. Where the guttural sits decides which vowel moves: the prefix in first position, the doubling in the middle, and the ending in third — and one of the three is fully audible in Israeli speech.
- Gutturals (א ה ח ע ר) and What They Do to a PatternB1 — The gutturals are not a list of exceptions to memorise — they are one conspiracy with three heads. Each of these letters refuses something an ordinary consonant does, and every irregular form you will meet is the pattern rearranging itself around that refusal.
- Pa'al פ״נ: The Disappearing נ (נפל, נסע, נגע)B1 — The initial נ of נפל, נסע and נתן is fully present in the past and the present, and in the future it is swallowed by the next letter, leaving only a dagesh — which is why יִפֹּל is yipól with a hard p. The infinitives, though, have to be learned one by one.