Classical Hebrew grammars describe three vowel patterns for the pa'al past, named on the root פ־ע־ל as פָּעַל, פָּעֵל and פָּעֹל. Every reference book prints all three. What almost none of them says is how little of the system is left: one pattern does nearly all the work, the second has retreated into a corner, and the third is down to a single living verb. This page is a reading and etymology aid — the distinction is invisible in ordinary unpointed Israeli text, and no learner ever needs to choose between the three.
(The pattern names themselves are cited the traditional way, pointed on פ־ע־ל. They are technical labels, like קְטִילָה and קָטֵל, not words you would ever write.)
The three, and what is left of each
| Pattern | Past 3 m.sg. | Status in Modern Hebrew |
|---|---|---|
| פָּעַל — patach | כָּתַב · שָׁמַר · לָמַד · יָשַׁן · שָׂמַח | the working pattern; effectively the whole binyan |
| פָּעֵל — tsere | שָׂנֵא · מָלֵא · צָמֵא · יָרֵא | residual — a few ל״א verbs, plus one cell elsewhere |
| פָּעֹל — cholam | יָכוֹל (יכול) | one live verb, plus קָטֹן and frozen Biblical forms |
פָּעַל: the one that works
Patach in the past is the default and covers the overwhelming majority of pa'al verbs, including the ones textbooks most often cite as members of the other classes. Check them rather than trusting the list: יָשַׁן "slept", שָׂמַח "was glad", רָעַב "went hungry" and חָסַר "lacked" all have a patach past, and so does זָקַן — Isaac says "הִנֵּה־נָא זָקַנְתִּי" "behold, I have grown old" in Genesis 27:2, with a patach.
גדלתי בחיפה, אבל אני בתל אביב כבר עשרים שנה.
gadálti bekhéifa, avál aní betél avív kvar esrím shaná
I grew up in Haifa, but I've been in Tel Aviv for twenty years now.
שמחתי לשמוע שהכול הסתדר.
samákhti lishmóa shehakól histadér
I was glad to hear it all worked out.
פָּעֵל: two narrow survivals
The tsere past has not vanished, but it survives in two specific places and nowhere else.
First, in a handful of ל״א verbs, where the whole paradigm keeps it. שָׂנֵא "hated", מָלֵא "was full", צָמֵא "was thirsty", יָרֵא "feared" — and the tsere runs right through: שָׂנֵאתִי, שָׂנֵאתָ, שָׂנֵאנוּ. This is not just the alef doing something predictable, because within ל״א the two classes still contrast: מָצָא "found" has a kamatz throughout (מָצָאתִי matsáti), while שָׂנֵא has a tsere (שָׂנֵאתִי sanéti). The vowel is a property of the individual verb, exactly as the future vowel is.
תמיד שנאתי את הצליל של המילה הזאת.
tamíd sanéti et hatslíl shel hamilá hazót
I've always hated the sound of that word.
האולם היה מלא, לא נשאר מקום פנוי.
ha'ulám hayá malé, lo nish'ár makóm panúy
The hall was full — there wasn't a free seat left.
מלאו לה שלושים אתמול.
mal'ú la shloshím etmól
She turned thirty yesterday. (literally 'thirty filled for her' — the standard idiom)
Second, in one cell of a few stative verbs. For גָּדַל, כָּבַד and קָטַן, dictionaries list a tsere alongside the patach — but only in the bare third person masculine singular:
| Verb | Past 3 m.sg. | Past 1 sg. | Present |
|---|---|---|---|
| ג־ד־ל grow | גָּדֵל or גָּדַל | גָּדַלְתִּי — patach only | גָּדֵל |
| כ־ב־ד be heavy | כָּבֵד or כָּבַד | כָּבַדְתִּי — patach only | כָּבֵד |
| ק־ט־ן diminish | קָטֵן or קָטַן, alt. קָטֹן | קָטַנְתִּי, alt. קָטֹנְתִּי — never a tsere | קָטָן or קָטֵן |
That cell is exactly the one that is identical to the present tense. גָּדֵל is both "he grew" and "growing", and the moment you add a suffix the tsere is gone. What looks like a surviving past class is a participle standing in for a past form — which is why nothing productive can be built on it. קטן is the odd member: it also keeps a cholam alternative right through the paradigm, קָטֹן · קָטֹנְתִּי, which puts it in the next class as much as this one.
פָּעֹל: one live verb
The cholam past has come down to יָכֹל, written יכול in ktiv male and pointed יָכוֹל — יכולתי, יכולת, יכולנו. It is a full and frequent paradigm, and the only member of the class anyone still uses. That verb has its own page, יכול, because the past is only the least strange thing about it.
Textbooks add קָטֹן as a second member, and they are not wrong. Watch where the dictionaries put it now.
"קָטֹנְתִּי מִכֹּל הַחֲסָדִים" — "I am unworthy of all the kindness" (Genesis 32:11)
קטונתי is still quoted as a set expression of humility, and the cholam forms are still printed — Pealim's לקטון table carries both קָטֹן · קטון and קָטֹנְתִּי · קטונתי. What it no longer does is put them first: the cells are headed קָטֵן ~ קָטַן and קָטַנְתִּי, with the cholam filed underneath as an alternative. Demoted, not deleted — which is what a pattern looks like on the way out, and why "one verb" here is a claim about usage, not about the tables.
לא יכולנו להישאר יותר, הילדים היו הרוסים.
lo yakhólnu lehisha'ér yotér, hayeladím hayú harusím
We couldn't stay any longer — the kids were wrecked. (informal)
Where the tsere went: forward
Here is the pattern worth actually learning, because it is alive and it predicts something. The tsere has migrated out of the past and into the present and the future of the stative verbs. Their past is ordinary; their present has the קָטֵל shape, and that shape reliably signals a patach future.
| Present (קָטֵל) | Past | Future | Infinitive |
|---|---|---|---|
| יָשֵׁן asleep | יָשַׁן | יִישַׁן yishán | לִישׁוֹן |
| גָּדֵל growing | גָּדַל | יִגְדַּל yigdál | לִגְדּוֹל |
| שָׂמֵחַ glad | שָׂמַח | יִשְׂמַח yismákh | לִשְׂמוֹחַ |
| רָעֵב hungry | רָעַב | יִרְעַב yir'áv | לִרְעוֹב |
| חָסֵר missing | חָסַר | יֶחְסַר yekhsár | לַחְסוֹר |
| צָמֵא thirsty | צָמֵא | יִצְמָא yitsmá | לִצְמוֹא |
היא רוצה לישון עוד קצת, היא תישן עד עשר.
hi rotsá lishón od ktsat, hi tishán ad éser
She wants to sleep a bit more — she'll sleep until ten. (cholam infinitive, patach future, one verb)
חסר לי עוד מסמך אחד והתיק סגור.
khasér li od mismákh ekhád vehatík sagúr
I'm one document short and the file is closed.
אני צמא, יש משהו קר?
aní tsamé, yesh máshehu kar?
I'm thirsty — is there anything cold? (m. speaker)
Reading unpointed: what actually reaches you
None of this is visible in an Israeli newspaper. What you see is a two- or three-letter string, and the sentence around it settles which reading is meant. This is the practical skill the page exists to build:
| Written | Could be | or | or |
|---|---|---|---|
| גדל | גָּדַל gadál — he grew up | גָּדֵל gadél — growing | גִּידֵּל gidél — he raised (pi'el, spelled גידל) |
| מלא | מָלֵא malé — full | מָלֵא malé — it became full | — |
| שמח | שָׂמַח samákh — he was glad | שָׂמֵחַ saméakh — glad | — |
| קטן | קָטָן katán — small | קָטֵן katén — it diminished | — |
| יכול | יָכוֹל yakhól — can | יָכוֹל yakhól — he could | — |
Work through them in order: הוא גדל בירושלים has a place and no time adverb, so it is a past — "he grew up in Jerusalem". הוא גדל מהר describes an ongoing state, so it is a present. הילדים גדלו is a past, because the present would be גְּדֵלִים · גדלים. Two readings of the same three letters, settled by the rest of the sentence and never by the spelling. The tangle of readings behind ישן is sorted out on the pa'al statives.
הילד גדל מהר, כבר לא נכנס לבגדים משנה שעברה.
hayéled gadél mahér, kvar lo nikhnás labgadím mishaná she'avrá
The kid's growing fast — he doesn't fit last year's clothes any more.
אחרי האמבטיה הוא יישן עד הבוקר.
akharéi ha'ambátya hu yishán ad habóker
After his bath he'll sleep through till morning.
Do not extend the pattern
Because the tsere and cholam classes are closed, there is no situation in which you choose one. Every past-tense form you build takes a patach, and the few verbs that do otherwise are learned as vocabulary: שָׂנֵא, מָלֵא, צָמֵא, יָרֵא, יָכוֹל. If a verb is not on that short list, its past has a patach.
Common Mistakes
1. מלא where Hebrew needs מילא. מָלֵא is the pa'al — a state, and intransitive. "Filling something in" is the pi'el מִילֵּא, and in ktiv male the two are spelled differently.
❌ הוא מלא את הטופס וחתם למטה
Incorrect — מלא is intransitive and cannot take את. Filling something in is the pi'el: מילא את הטופס.
✅ הוא מילא את הטופס וחתם למטה.
hu milé et hatófes vekhatám lemáta
He filled in the form and signed at the bottom.
2. A cholam future on a patach-class verb. The infinitive לִשְׂמוֹחַ has a cholam, and it gets carried into the future, where the verb takes a patach.
❌ הוא ישמוח כשהוא יראה את זה
Incorrect — there is no such form. שמח takes a patach future: הוא ישמח כשהוא יראה את זה, yismákh. The cholam belongs to the infinitive, לשמוח.
✅ הוא ישמח כשהוא יראה את זה.
hu yismákh kshehú yir'é et ze
He'll be delighted when he sees this.
3. Reading גדל as a present when it is a past. Both sentences below are ✅ and differ in one vowel nobody writes. Take the time adverbial and the argument structure as your evidence.
הוא גדל בבית שהיה מלא ספרים.
hu gadál bebáyit shehayá malé sfarím
He grew up in a house that was full of books. (past — gadál)
העסק גדל כל שנה בעשרה אחוזים.
ha'ések gadél kol shaná ba'asará akhuzím
The business grows ten per cent a year. (present — gadél)
4. Assuming the alef sets the vowel. Learners meet שָׂנֵאתִי, notice the alef, and conclude that ל״א verbs take a tsere. They do not — the class is lexical, and both sentences below are ✅ with different past vowels on identically-shaped roots.
מצאתי את המפתחות מתחת לספה.
matsáti et hamaftekhót mitákhat lasapá
I found the keys under the sofa. (מָצָאתִי — kamatz)
שנאתי את הסרט הזה, יצאתי באמצע.
sanéti et haséret hazé, yatsáti ba'émtsa
I hated that film — I walked out halfway through. (שָׂנֵאתִי — tsere)
Key Takeaways
- Hebrew inherited three pa'al past patterns — פָּעַל, פָּעֵל, פָּעֹל. Treat them as a reading aid: the distinction is invisible in unpointed text and you never have to choose.
- פָּעַל (patach) is the working pattern. Verbs commonly cited for the other classes — יָשַׁן, שָׂמַח, רָעַב, חָסַר, זָקַן — all take a patach past.
- פָּעֵל (tsere) survives in two places: through the whole paradigm of a few ל״א verbs (שָׂנֵא, מָלֵא, צָמֵא, יָרֵא), and in the bare 3 m.sg. cell of גדל, כבד, קטן — the cell that is identical to the present anyway.
- Within ל״א the contrast is still lexical: מָצָאתִי with a kamatz against שָׂנֵאתִי with a tsere.
- פָּעֹל (cholam) is one live verb, יָכֹל · יכול. קָטֹנְתִּי (Gen. 32:11) is still quoted as a set phrase and still printed — but as an alternative form, behind קָטֵן ~ קָטַן and קָטַנְתִּי.
- The tsere moved forward: it lives in the present of statives (יָשֵׁן, גָּדֵל, שָׂמֵחַ, רָעֵב, חָסֵר) and predicts a patach future (יִישַׁן, יִגְדַּל, יִשְׂמַח).
- The infinitive keeps its cholam regardless — לגדול, לשמוח, ללמוד. The named exceptions are לִשְׁכַּב, which has only the patach form, and spoken לִרְכַּב beside standard לִרְכֹּב · לרכוב.
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- Stative Pa'al Verbs: גדל, זקן, ישן, רעבB1 — A group of pa'al verbs names states rather than actions — and the morphology that marks them sits in the present tense, not the past. Their present is קָטֵל (יָשֵׁן, רָעֵב, שָׂמֵחַ), it doubles as an ordinary adjective, and it is why אני רעב needs no verb in it.
- יכול: The Verb With No Real FutureB1 — Four cells of one paradigm, built four different ways: a present that inflects like an adjective, a past on the rare פָּעֹל pattern, a future on a u-stem that looks like it came from another binyan, and an infinitive that exists only on paper.
- Kamatz and Patach: The A-VowelsB1 — Two signs, one sound: in Israeli Hebrew both kamatz and patach are a. The two things worth real attention are the kamatz katan, which is read o, and the furtive patach that adds a ghost a before a final ח, ע or ה.
- Pa'al Past: Regular Roots (כתבתי, כתבת, כתב…)A2 — The past is a suffix conjugation: nine cells, eight written strings, and a stem that quietly reshuffles its vowels before ־ָה and ־וּ. It is also the one tense where the verb already says who the subject is — which is exactly the licence learners then carry one tense too far.
- 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.
- 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.