יכול: The Verb With No Real Future | Hebrew Grammar

יכול "can, be able to" is the verb every learner needs in week two and nobody's paradigm chart survives. It is not simply irregular — it is four unrelated systems wearing one lexical entry, and the fourth of them has dropped out of the spoken language altogether. Lay all four out at once and the verb stops feeling arbitrary.

The four parts

Part	Forms	Shape
Present	יָכוֹל yakhól · יְכוֹלָה yekholá · יְכוֹלִים yekholím · יְכוֹלוֹת yekholót	inflects like an adjective, not like כּוֹתֵב
Past	יָכוֹלְתִּי yakhólti · יָכוֹלְתָּ yakhólta · יָכוֹלְתְּ yakhólt · (3 m.sg. — see below) · יָכְלָה yakhlá · יָכוֹלְנוּ yakhólnu · יָכְלוּ yakhlú	the rare פָּעֹל past pattern
Future	אוּכַל ukhál · תּוּכַל tukhál · תּוּכְלִי tukhlí · יוּכַל yukhál · נוּכַל nukhál · תּוּכְלוּ tukhlú · יוּכְלוּ yukhlú	a u-stem — the root is barely visible
Infinitive · imperative	none in ordinary use

Nothing in that table follows from anything else in it. Take them one at a time.

The present is an adjective in disguise

An ordinary pa'al participle has the shape קוֹטֵל — כּוֹתֵב, כּוֹתֶבֶת, כּוֹתְבִים. יָכוֹל does not: the vowels are a–o, the feminine is יְכוֹלָה rather than yokhélet, and the whole set behaves like גָּדוֹל · גְּדוֹלָה · גְּדוֹלִים · גְּדוֹלוֹת. That is why it never takes a direct object and always leans on an infinitive complement: יכול is a state you are in with respect to an action, not an action.

אני יכול לעזור לך עם זה, אין בעיה.

aní yakhól la'azór lekhá im ze, ein be'ayá

I can help you with that, no problem. (m. speaker, to a man)

היא לא יכולה לדבר עכשיו, היא בישיבה.

hi lo yekholá ledabér akhsháv, hi bishivá

She can't talk right now, she's in a meeting.

אתם יכולים לשבת פה, המקומות פנויים.

atém yekholím lashévet po, hamekomót pnuyím

You can sit here, these seats are free. (to a group)

The past, and the one cell Israelis avoid

The past belongs to פָּעֹל, the o-vowel past pattern, which in Modern Hebrew has essentially this verb and nothing else — the whole story of that pattern is on the three pa'al past patterns. Written out in ktiv male it looks entirely ordinary: יכולתי, יכולת, יכולנו, יכלה, יכלו, and those forms are in constant use.

The exception is the bare third person masculine singular. Normatively it is יָכֹל, spelled יכול — identical on the page to the present tense, which makes the sentence ambiguous. Israeli writers dodge it: the standard solution is יכול היה (formal, written) or היה יכול (neutral, and the ordinary spoken choice), both meaning "he could / he was able to".

לא יכולתי להירדם כל הלילה.

lo yakhólti leheradém kol haláyla

I couldn't fall asleep all night.

היא לא יכלה לסרב, זה היה הבוס שלה.

hi lo yakhlá lesarév, ze hayá habós shelá

She couldn't say no — it was her boss.

הוא יכול היה להתקשר, פשוט לא בא לו.

hu yakhól hayá lehitkashér, pashút lo ba lo

He could have called — he just didn't feel like it. (informal second clause)

The future abandons the root

אוּכַל, תּוּכַל, יוּכַל, נוּכַל. No כ־ל stem you would recognise from יכולתי, no yod, just a u where the first root letter should be. Historically י־כ־ל is a פ״י root and the prefix contracted with the original first radical exactly as it does in the פ״י class — but into u rather than into the tsere of יֵשֵׁב. The result reads more like a huf'al passive (יוזמן yuzmán "will be invited") than like a pa'al, and there is no way to derive it: learn אוכל · תוכל · יוכל · נוכל as four words.

אני אוכל לענות לך רק אחרי הצהריים.

aní ukhál la'anót lekhá rak akharéi hatsohoráyim

I won't be able to get back to you until the afternoon.

תוכל לשלוח לי את זה במייל?

tukhál lishlóakh li et ze beméil?

Could you send me that by email? (to a man — polite)

נוכל להיפגש מחר בבוקר?

nukhál lehipagésh makhár babóker?

Could we meet tomorrow morning?

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Unpointed אוכל is three different words: אוּכַל "I'll be able", אוֹכֵל "eats / eating", and אֹכֶל — written אוכל — "food". Only the sentence tells you which. אוכל טוב is "good food"; אני אוכל is "I'm eating"; אוכל לעזור, with an infinitive behind it, can only be the future of יכול, because neither of the other two takes one.

There is no infinitive you can use

This is the gap that sends learners looking for a word that does not exist — except that it half exists, which is worse. Pealim files the entry under the artificial headword לוּכַל, prints a second, bookish infinitive לִיכֹל · ליכול beside it, and then says on the same page that the infinitive is normally להיות מסוגל. The form is in the table and not in the language: no Israeli says ליכול, and in a modern sentence it reads as an error rather than as elevated style. Hebrew's three real options are:

the future — אוכל / תוכל / יוכל plus an infinitive. This is what covers most of English "will be able to".
להיות מסוגל (neutral, slightly weighty) — literally "to be capable of", and the only infinitive anyone actually uses here.
rewriting with a clause — שאוכל, שתוכל: הלוואי שאוכל לבוא "I wish I could come".

There is no imperative either, which follows from the meaning: you cannot order someone into an ability.

Choosing between יכול and its neighbours

Word	Covers	Grammar
יָכוֹל	can — ability or permission, tied to a person	agrees with the subject; + infinitive
אֶפְשָׁר	it is possible / one may — no subject at all	invariant; + infinitive. Negative: אי אפשר
מְסוּגָּל	capable of, up to it — capacity, often emotional	agrees; + infinitive
הִצְלִיחַ	managed to, succeeded in — the attempt worked	a full hif'il verb; + infinitive

אפשר לשלם באשראי?

efshár leshalém be'ashráy?

Can I pay by card? (literally 'is it possible to pay' — no subject)

אני פשוט לא מסוגל לשמוע את השיר הזה עוד פעם.

aní pashút lo mesugál lishmóa et hashír hazé od pá'am

I honestly can't take hearing that song one more time. (m. speaker)

The split against אפשר is worked through on אפשר or יכול. One practical habit is worth flagging here: Israelis often skip the modal entirely and use a plain future where English needs "will be able to". אעזור לך says everything אוכל לעזור לך says, in half the words, and sounds less hedged.

אעזור לך אחר כך, עכשיו אני באמצע משהו.

e'ezór lekhá akhár kakh, akhsháv aní be'émtsa máshehu

I'll help you later — I'm in the middle of something right now.

אני יוכל: a register fact, not an error

In casual Israeli speech the first-person future is very widely replaced by the third-person masculine form — אני יגיד for אני אגיד, אני ילך for אני אלך, and here אני יוכל for אני אוכל. It is not a slip of the tongue and not a regional oddity; it is a stable feature of colloquial Israeli Hebrew across the country, and it is also one of the most heavily stigmatised things a speaker can do. It stays out of writing completely.

אני אוכל להגיע רק בשמונה.

aní ukhál lehagía rak bishmoné

I'll only be able to get there at eight. (neutral — the form you write)

אני יוכל להגיע רק בשמונה.

aní yukhál lehagía rak bishmoné

I'll only be able to get there at eight. (informal spoken Israeli — recognise it; do not write it)

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Recognise it, and let it be. Learners who adopt אני יוכל to sound native tend to deploy it in exactly the situations — a job interview, an email, a form — where Israelis themselves switch it off. The safe posture is to understand it instantly and produce the standard form.

Common Mistakes

1. Leaving יכול uninflected. English can never changes, so learners treat יכול as a fixed word.

❌ היא יכול לבוא מחר בבוקר

Incorrect — יכול agrees with the subject like an adjective. A feminine subject takes יכולה.

✅ היא יכולה לבוא מחר בבוקר.

hi yekholá lavó makhár babóker

She can come tomorrow morning.

2. Reaching for a one-word infinitive. to be able to is two words in Hebrew, or none. The temptation is to build ליכול on the model of לאכול — and the trap is that the dictionaries do print it, so the form looks confirmed. It is not spoken. Both sentences below are ✅ and both go around it.

הייתי רוצה להיות מסוגל לעזור, אבל זה לא בידיים שלי.

hayíti rotsé lihyót mesugál la'azór, avál ze lo bayadáyim shelí

I'd like to be able to help, but it's not in my hands. (m. speaker — the real infinitive)

הלוואי שאוכל לעזור לך, אבל אני לא בארץ השבוע.

halvái she'ukhál la'azór lekhá, avál aní lo ba'árets hashavúa

I wish I could help you, but I'm out of the country this week. (the future in a ש־ clause)

3. A second finite verb instead of an infinitive. English I can help has two bare verbs; Hebrew allows only one finite form per clause.

❌ אני יכול עוזר לך עם ההרשמה

Incorrect — יכול takes an infinitive, never a second present-tense form: אני יכול לעזור לך.

✅ אני יכול לעזור לך עם ההרשמה, זה לוקח שתי דקות.

aní yakhól la'azór lekhá im haharshamá, ze lokéakh shtei dakót

I can help you with the registration, it takes two minutes. (m. speaker, to a man)

4. יכולתי where Hebrew means "managed to". English could covers both; Hebrew splits them, and both sentences below are ✅ with different meanings.

יכולתי לפתוח את הדלת, פשוט לא רציתי להיכנס.

yakhólti liftóakh et hadélet, pashút lo ratsíti lehikanés

I could have opened the door — I just didn't want to go in. (the ability was there)

בסוף הצלחתי לפתוח את הדלת עם מברג.

basóf hitslákhti liftóakh et hadélet im mavrég

In the end I managed to get the door open with a screwdriver. (the attempt worked)

5. A personal "can you" where Hebrew is impersonal. Asking a waiter can I get the bill is not a question about your abilities. Both are ✅; the second is what you actually hear.

אתה יכול להביא לי את החשבון?

atá yakhól lehaví li et hakheshbón?

Can you bring me the bill? (to a man — addressed to him personally)

אפשר את החשבון, בבקשה?

efshár et hakheshbón, bevakashá?

Could we get the bill, please? (impersonal — the ordinary way to ask)

Key Takeaways

יכול is four systems in one entry: adjective-shaped present, פָּעֹל past, u-stem future, and no infinitive.
Present: יָכוֹל · יְכוֹלָה · יְכוֹלִים · יְכוֹלוֹת — agrees like an adjective and always takes an infinitive complement.
Past: יכולתי, יכולת, יכולנו, יכלה, יכלו are ordinary and frequent. Only the bare 3 m.sg. is avoided — Israelis write יכול היה (formal) or היה יכול.
Future: אוּכַל · תּוּכַל · תּוּכְלִי · יוּכַל · נוּכַל · יוּכְלוּ. The root is not recoverable from these; memorise them.
No usable infinitive and no imperative. The dictionaries print לוּכַל and a bookish לִיכֹל · ליכול; the language uses להיות מסוגל, or rebuilds the sentence around the future (שאוכל, שתוכל).
Distinguish אפשר (impersonal, invariant), מסוגל (capacity), הצליח (managed to). And remember Israelis often drop the modal altogether: אעזור לך.
אני יוכל / אני יגיד is real, widespread colloquial Israeli and heavily stigmatised in writing — recognise it, write the standard form.

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