Pa'al פ״א: אמר, אכל, אהב and the או־ Future

A root whose first letter is א is called פ״א, and the label covers two quite different behaviours. Almost every such verb is simply a first-guttural verb — א behaves like ח and ע, and nothing surprising happens. A closed set of six does something else entirely: it builds the whole future tense on a cholam, giving יֹאמַר and יֹאכַל where the pattern would predict ye'emór. This page is about telling the two apart, because unpointed writing gives you no clue at all.

The default: א as an ordinary guttural

Take אָסַף "collect". Its future and infinitive are exactly what any first-guttural verb produces: a segol in the prefix, a chataf-segol under the א, and a cholam theme vowel.

יֶאֱסוֹף ye'esóf, לֶאֱסוֹף le'esóf. אָסַף's neighbours in the dictionary — אָרַז "pack", אָסַר "forbid", אָרַךְ "last" — all work this way, and so does the vast majority of the class.

The six that go their own way

The traditional teaching list has five members: אָבַד, אָבָה, אָכַל, אָמַר, אָפָה. אָהַב is a sixth worth tabling beside them, because it takes the same cholam future — but with one caveat, which the footnotes below the table pick up.

Three rows need footnotes. אָבָה is archaic — it lives in the Bible and in high literary prose, and no Israeli says it; it is on the list because every Hebrew grammar puts it there. אָפָה and אָבָה are doubly weak, being ל״ה as well, which is why their future ends in a segol, יֹאפֶה, where אָכַל has a patach, יֹאכַל.

And אָהַב is the one that goes both ways: beside אוֹהַב and יֹאהַב, Pealim lists the ordinary guttural אֶאֱהַב and יֶאֱהַב as live alternatives. That is why the traditional list stops at five — the אהב row tells you what that verb may do, the other five rows what theirs must.

Notice what the list does not change: the past and the present are entirely regular. אָמַרְתִּי, אוֹמֵר, אוֹמֶרֶת are shaped like שָׁמַרְתִּי, שׁוֹמֵר, שׁוֹמֶרֶת. The oddity is confined to the future and, in one case, the infinitive.

Note that even the special six take the guttural-style infinitive: לֶאֱכוֹל, לֶאֱהוֹב, לֶאֱבוֹד are built exactly like לֶאֱסוֹף. The cholam belongs to the future alone.

The first person eats one of its alefs

The future prefix for "I" is א. Put it in front of a root that also starts with א and you should get two of them — and for the ordinary guttural type you do: אֶאֱסוֹף e'esóf "I will collect", two alefs, both written and both audible as a small catch.

The cholam verbs do not. Their first person singular has one א — with a ו after it, because in ktiv male that is how a cholam is written: אוֹמַר, אוֹכַל, אוֹבַד. The prefix and the root letter have fused into a single syllable. אהב fuses too — אוֹהַב — and, being the loose member of the group, keeps the two-alef אֶאֱהַב alongside it.

אומר is two words, and אוכל is four

This is the practical payoff. In ktiv male the cholam is written with a ו, so the future first person and the present participle land on the same string.

Four readings for one string. The last one is a bonus from a different root — אוּכַל is the future of יָכוֹל "can", root י־כ־ל — and it is thrown in because in unpointed text it is the same four letters as the other three. The first two are the stress pair taught on when stress is the only difference; the third differs from them in its vowel, not its stress.

Those two sentences are spelled identically for their first two words. Nothing but the vowel says whether you eat here daily or are about to eat in the car, and unpointed Hebrew prints no vowel. Context resolves it every time — but this is why reading Hebrew is a skill separate from knowing Hebrew.

לומר, and why Israelis say להגיד

לוֹמַר is a genuine irregularity. The pattern would predict לֶאֱמוֹר, on the model of לֶאֱכוֹל, and no such form exists. What does sit beside לומר is the biblical לֵאמֹר — an archaic-and-poetic alternative in Pealim, surviving in living Hebrew almost only as the quotative particle before direct speech in scripture and ceremonial prose. לאמר in a modern sentence is therefore not ungrammatical; it simply reads as a quotation from another century.

More importantly, in ordinary speech Israelis do not reach for לומר at all. The infinitive and imperative slots are filled by לְהַגִּיד, a hif'il verb from the unrelated root נ־ג־ד — Pealim marks it as used "mostly in the future tense, imperative and infinitive". The result is a mixed paradigm: the past and present come from אמר, the infinitive and imperative from הגיד.

לומר is alive in writing and in fixed phrases: כְּלוֹמַר "that is to say", אֵין מָה לוֹמַר "there's nothing to say", אֶפְשָׁר לוֹמַר "you could say". Neither choice is an error — this is a register split, and using לומר in casual speech sounds bookish rather than wrong.

Common Mistakes

1. Reading the future as if the א were pronounced. יֹאכַל is yokhál, two syllables. The א is a spelling relic.

2. Writing אמר's first person with two alefs. The cholam verbs fuse them; only the ordinary guttural type keeps both. (אהב, as above, allows either.)

3. Spreading the cholam future to every א-initial verb. The list is closed at six.

4. Writing a ו into the third person. The first person needs one, because nothing else carries the cholam; the other persons already have the א and do not.

Key Takeaways

• פ״א covers two behaviours. The default is ordinary first-guttural: אָסַף → יֶאֱסוֹף, לֶאֱסוֹף.
• Six verbs build the future on a cholam: אָבַד, אָבָה, אָכַל, אָמַר, אָפָה — the traditional five — plus אָהַב, which takes אוֹהַב and יֹאהַב but, alone in the group, also allows the guttural אֶאֱהַב and יֶאֱהַב.
• Their past and present are completely regular; the irregularity sits in the future, and in לוֹמַר.
• Even the six take the guttural infinitive: לֶאֱכוֹל, לֶאֱהוֹב, לֶאֱבוֹד.
• The first person fuses its two alefs: אוֹמַר, not *אאמר — unlike אֶאֱסוֹף, which keeps both.
• Unpointed אומר is omér "says" or omár "I will say"; unpointed אוכל has four readings — ókhel, okhél, okhál, ukhál.
• לומר is written and formal; להגיד is what people say. The everyday paradigm is mixed: אמרתי in the past, תגיד in the imperative.