Dictionaries give the root of רָצָה as ר־צ־ה, and that spelling is a convenience. The ה is not a consonant — it is a mater lectionis, a letter written to show a final vowel, and it is standing in for an original י. Once you know that, the whole paradigm stops looking irregular: the ה disappears the instant an ending is added, and the underlying י resurfaces in רָצִיתִי.
This is the largest weak class in Hebrew, and it is stuffed with the verbs a beginner cannot avoid — want, see, do, buy, build, drink, go up, answer, be. Treating ל״ה as advanced material is not an option. The class runs through every binyan, not just pa'al; that picture is on ל״ה across the binyanim.
רצה in full
| עָבָר past | עָתִיד future | |
|---|---|---|
| אני | רָצִיתִי ratsíti | אֶרְצֶה ertsé |
| אתה · את | רָצִיתָ ratsíta · רָצִית ratsít | תִּרְצֶה tirtsé · תִּרְצִי tirtsí |
| הוא · היא | רָצָה ratsá · רָצְתָה ratstá | יִרְצֶה yirtsé · תִּרְצֶה tirtsé |
| אנחנו | רָצִינוּ ratsínu | נִרְצֶה nirtsé |
| אתם · אתן | רְצִיתֶם retsitém · רְצִיתֶן retsitén | תִּרְצוּ tirtsú |
| הם · הן | רָצוּ ratsú | יִרְצוּ yirtsú |
Present: רוֹצֶה rotsé · רוֹצָה rotsá · רוֹצִים rotsím · רוֹצוֹת rotsót. Infinitive לִרְצוֹת lirtsót.
Watch where the ה goes. It survives only where the word ends in a vowel — רָצָה, רוֹצֶה, יִרְצֶה. Add a consonantal ending and it is replaced: רָצִיתִי (the י of the old root), רָצְתָה (nothing left of it at all), רָצוּ, תִּרְצִי.
רציתי לדבר איתך רגע לפני שאתה הולך.
ratsíti ledabér itkhá réga lifnéi she'atá holékh
I wanted to talk to you for a second before you go. (to a man)
מה את רוצה לשתות?
ma at rotsá lishtót?
What would you like to drink? (to a woman)
Six more, in principal parts
| Verb | Past 1s | Past 3ms | Present ms | Future 3ms | Infinitive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| רָאָה see | רָאִיתִי ra'íti | רָאָה ra'á | רוֹאֶה ro'é | יִרְאֶה yir'é | לִרְאוֹת lir'ót |
| קָנָה buy | קָנִיתִי kaníti | קָנָה kaná | קוֹנֶה koné | יִקְנֶה yikné | לִקְנוֹת liknót |
| עָשָׂה do, make | עָשִׂיתִי asíti | עָשָׂה asá | עוֹשֶׂה osé | יַעֲשֶׂה ya'asé | לַעֲשׂוֹת la'asót |
| בָּנָה build | בָּנִיתִי baníti | בָּנָה baná | בּוֹנֶה boné | יִבְנֶה yivné | לִבְנוֹת livnót |
| שָׁתָה drink | שָׁתִיתִי shatíti | שָׁתָה shatá | שׁוֹתֶה shoté | יִשְׁתֶּה yishté | לִשְׁתּוֹת lishtót |
| עָלָה go up, cost | עָלִיתִי alíti | עָלָה alá | עוֹלֶה olé | יַעֲלֶה ya'alé | לַעֲלוֹת la'alót |
עשה and עלה look different, and it is not the ל״ה part. Their first root letter is the guttural ע, which pulls the future prefix to a patach and the infinitive to לַ־: יַעֲשֶׂה, לַעֲשׂוֹת, יַעֲלֶה, לַעֲלוֹת. Strip that away and they are ordinary ל״ה verbs — the ־וֹת ending is the class's regular infinitive shape. רָאָה carries a second weakness in a different slot: its middle root letter is א, and that is why its forms keep a little catch the others do not — ra'íti, lir'ót, yir'é, where קָנִיתִי and לִקְנוֹת run straight through.
ראיתי אותה אתמול בשוק, היא נראית מצוין.
ra'íti otá etmól bashúk, hi nir'ét metsuyán
I saw her yesterday at the market — she looks great.
מה עשית בסוף השבוע?
ma asíta besóf hashavúa?
What did you do over the weekend? (to a man)
נעשה את זה מחר בבוקר, עכשיו אין לי כוח.
na'asé et ze makhár babóker, akhsháv ein li kóakh
We'll do it tomorrow morning — I've got no energy now. (informal)
How to spot the class in unpointed text
Two signatures, both visible without niqqud:
The past carries a yod immediately before its ending — ־יתי, ־ית, ־ינו. רָצִיתִי, קָנִיתִי, שָׁתִית, עָשִׂינוּ — written רציתי, קניתי, שתית, עשינו. No strong verb does this: כָּתַבְתִּי has no yod, and neither does the hollow קַמְתִּי or the ל״א מָצָאתִי. A yod sitting in that slot is the class's signature.
The feminine singular present ends in ־ה, not ־ת. רוֹצָה, קוֹנָה, עוֹשָׂה — against שׁוֹמֶרֶת, כּוֹתֶבֶת and the ל״א form מוֹצֵאת. There is no such form as *רוצת.
The problem the spelling hides
Here is the part that catches female learners in particular, and it is not a spelling problem at all. רוצה is the same string for both genders.
| Written | Pointed | Reads as | Who says it |
|---|---|---|---|
| רוצה | רוֹצֶה | rotsé | a man |
| רוֹצָה | rotsá | a woman |
The whole distinction lives in the final vowel — e against a — and unpointed writing prints neither. A woman who has learned the verb from a page as "rotsé" will say אני רוצה aní rotsé about herself and never see the mistake, because the sentence she wrote is correct. Only the audio is wrong. The same holds for רוֹאֶה/רוֹאָה, עוֹשֶׂה/עוֹשָׂה, קוֹנֶה/קוֹנָה, שׁוֹתֶה/שׁוֹתָה — the entire class.
הוא רוצה לקנות אוטו יד שנייה, אבל אין לו כסף.
hu rotsé liknót óto yad shniyá, avál ein lo késef
He wants to buy a second-hand car, but he hasn't got the money.
אני עושה את זה כבר שנים ועדיין לא משעמם לי.
aní osá et ze kvar shaním va'adáyin lo mesha'amém li
I've been doing this for years and I'm still not bored of it. (f. speaker)
The one cell everybody gets wrong: היא רצתה
The third person feminine singular past drops the ה and the י, leaving a bare consonant cluster:
| Verb | 3fs past | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| רָצָה want | רָצְתָה | ratstá |
| קָנָה buy | קָנְתָה | kantá |
| עָשָׂה do | עָשְׂתָה | astá |
| עָלָה go up | עָלְתָה | altá |
| שָׁתָה drink | שָׁתְתָה | shatetá |
Count the letters in the last row: שָׁתְתָה has two tavs, not three — one from the root, one from the ending. It is also the odd one out in sound. A shva in that slot is normally silent, which is what gives רָצְתָה its ratstá cluster; but a shva standing before an identical consonant is vocal, so שָׁתְתָה comes out as three syllables, shatetá, and not as a shattá.
היא קנתה את זה באינטרנט וזה הגיע תוך יומיים.
hi kantá et ze ba'intérnet vezé higía tokh yomáyim
She bought it online and it arrived within two days.
שתינו קפה ודיברנו שעתיים.
shatínu kafé vedibárnu she'atáyim
We had coffee and talked for two hours.
עליתי לארץ לפני עשר שנים ועדיין לומדת עברית.
alíti la'árets lifnéi éser shaním va'adáyin lomédet ivrít
I moved to Israel ten years ago and I'm still learning Hebrew. (f. speaker)
Common Mistakes
1. Dropping the yod from the past. This is the single most common ל״ה error in writing.
❌ ראתי אותו אתמול
Incorrect as 'I saw' — the old root's י comes back in the past: ראיתי, ra'íti. ראתה, without a yod, is a real form, but it is 'she saw'.
✅ ראיתי אותו אתמול ליד הבית.
ra'íti otó etmól leyád habáyit
I saw him yesterday near the house.
2. Giving the feminine present a ־ת ending. The rest of pa'al does; this class does not.
❌ היא רוצת לבוא
Incorrect — there is no such form. The ל״ה feminine present ends in ־ה: היא רוצה.
3. A woman saying rotsé about herself. The page will never correct her, because the spelling is the same.
❌ אני רוצה
aní rotsé
Incorrect said by a woman — the feminine is rotsá. Same word on the page, different word in the air.
✅ אני לא רוצה לצאת הערב, אני מתה מעייפות.
aní lo rotsá latsét ha'érev, aní metá me'ayeifút
I don't want to go out tonight, I'm dead tired. (f. speaker, informal)
4. Building the infinitive on the ה. ל״ה infinitives end in ־וֹת, always.
❌ אני רוצה לקנה חלב
Incorrect as an infinitive — it is לקנות, liknót. The same for לרצות, לראות, לשתות, לבנות. (לְקָנֶה on its own is 'to a reed'.)
5. Using לִ־ where עשה and עלה take לַ־. The guttural ע changes the prefix, and this one gets said wrong constantly.
❌ לעשות
le'asót · li'asót
Incorrect — the prefix carries a patach: la'asót. Likewise la'alót, not le'alót.
✅ אין מה לעשות, נחכה למחר.
ein ma la'asót, nekhaké lemakhár
Nothing to be done — we'll wait until tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
- The ה is not a root consonant: it is a vowel letter covering for an original י, which resurfaces in רָצִיתִי, קָנִיתִי, עָשִׂיתָ.
- Two unpointed signatures: a yod right before the past ending (־יתי, ־ית, ־ינו), and a feminine singular present in ־ה rather than ־ת. There is no *רוצת.
- רוצה is one spelling for two genders — rotsé for a man, rotsá for a woman. The distinction is entirely audible, so learn these forms out loud, in pairs.
- The 3fs past loses both letters: רָצְתָה ratstá, קָנְתָה kantá, עָשְׂתָה astá — and שָׁתְתָה shatetá, with two tavs and a vocal shva.
- עשה and עלה carry a second weakness: the guttural ע gives יַעֲשֶׂה / לַעֲשׂוֹת and יַעֲלֶה / לַעֲלוֹת, with a patach rather than a chirik.
- This is the largest weak class, and it holds want, see, do, buy, build, drink and go up — so it belongs early, whatever its label suggests.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- ל״ה Across the BinyanimB2 — Hebrew's largest weak class, and the tidiest: whatever binyan you are in, a ל״ה verb takes the same six endings. Learn them once and קניתי, נראיתי, ניסיתי, הראיתי and השתניתי stop being five separate problems.
- Pa'al ל״א: מצא, קרא, יצאB1 — Where ל״ה loses its final letter the moment an ending arrives, ל״א keeps its א in every single form and simply stops pronouncing it. That one difference reverses the feminine present — מוֹצֵאת, not a ־ָה form — and produces the קרא/קרה collision, which is not the one most books describe.
- Pa'al Infinitive: לכתוב, לשמור, לגמורA1 — One indeclinable word built from ל־ plus the future stem — with a cholam that stays put even when the future has a patach — and the two verbs that do not play along. Here is the shape, the frames a beginner needs it in, and the handful of verbs whose infinitive no rule will generate.