The pi'el present is four forms, like every Hebrew present: it marks gender and number and nothing else, so one form covers I, you and he. What makes it recognisable is the מְ־ in front and the stressed e at the end.
The paradigm, on three verbs
| Root | m. sg. | f. sg. | m. pl. | f. pl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ד־ב־ר speak | מְדַבֵּר medabér | מְדַבֶּרֶת medabéret | מְדַבְּרִים medabrím | מְדַבְּרוֹת medabrót |
| ב־ק־שׁ ask for | מְבַקֵּשׁ mevakésh | מְבַקֶּשֶׁת mevakéshet | מְבַקְּשִׁים mevakshím | מְבַקְּשׁוֹת mevakshót |
| ט־י־ל travel around | מְטַיֵּיל metayél | מְטַיֶּילֶת metayélet | מְטַיְּילִים metaylím | מְטַיְּילוֹת metaylót |
One shape runs through all twelve cells: מְ־ + a + a stressed e. Say it as three beats — me-da-BÉR, me-va-KÉSH, me-ta-YÉL — and the binyan is already in your mouth.
אני מדבר איתה בטלפון כל ערב לפני השינה.
aní medabér itá batélefon kol érev lifnéi hasheiná
I talk to her on the phone every evening before bed. (m. speaker)
היא מדברת מהר מדי, אני לא מצליח לעקוב.
hi medabéret mahér midái, aní lo matslíakh la'akóv
She talks too fast — I can't keep up. (m. speaker)
הילדים מדברים עברית בגן ורוסית בבית.
hayeladím medabrím ivrít bagán verusít babáyit
The kids speak Hebrew at nursery and Russian at home.
הן מדברות בשקט כדי לא להעיר את הילדים.
hen medabrót beshéket kdei lo leha'ír et hayeladím
They're talking quietly so as not to wake the children.
Where the stress goes — and where it moves
Hebrew stress is not decoration, and this paradigm is where English speakers lose it. The default is on the last syllable: medabér, mevakésh, metayél, and in the plural medabrím, medabrót.
The feminine singular is the exception: the ending ־ֶת pulls the stress back one syllable. medabéret, mevakéshet, melamédet, metayélet — never medabarét.
סליחה, אני מבקשת חשבון, אנחנו ממהרות.
slikhá, aní mevakéshet kheshbón, anákhnu memaharót
Excuse me, could I have the bill — we're in a hurry. (f. speaker, of a group of women)
הם מבקשים תשובה עד יום חמישי.
hem mevakshím tshuvá ad yom khamishí
They want an answer by Thursday.
הוא מטייל כל שבת עם הכלב ביער.
hu metayél kol shabát im hakélev bayá'ar
He goes walking in the woods with the dog every Saturday.
הן מטיילות בצפון כל סוף שבוע.
hen metaylót batsafón kol sof shavúa
They go up north every weekend.
The plural drops a vowel
Look again at the singular and the plural side by side and something moves: מְדַבֵּר medabér has three syllables, מְדַבְּרִים medabrím has three as well — but not the same three. The e of the middle syllable is gone: not medaberím but me-dab-RÍM.
This happens right across the paradigm — mevakésh → mevakshím, melaméd → melamdím, mesapér → mesaprím — because the ending ־ים or ־ות takes the stress, and the vowel the stress has just left collapses to a shva. The feminine singular does not do this: its ־ֶת ending does not take the stress, so medabéret keeps every vowel it had.
It is a small thing to say and a very audible thing to get wrong, since medaberím is the shape an English speaker will produce by default.
One systematic variant: א and ר in the middle
There is exactly one place the vowel pattern changes, and it is worth learning at A1 because several very common verbs are in it. Five letters refuse the dot that pi'el wants in its middle radical — א, ה, ח, ע, ר — and of the five, only א and ר make up for the loss by stretching the a to a kamatz. The other three leave it a patach:
| Middle letter א or ר — kamatz | Middle letter ה, ח or ע — patach |
|---|---|
| מְגָרֵשׁ megarésh — throws out | מְמַהֵר memahér — hurries |
| מְבָרֵךְ mevarékh — blesses, congratulates | מְנַהֵל menahél — manages |
| מְתָאֵר meta'ér — describes | מְשַׂחֵק mesakhék — plays |
| מְסָרֵב mesarév — refuses | מְתַעֵד meta'éd — documents |
In Israeli speech kamatz and patach sound identical, so this changes nothing you say — it changes what you see in a pointed text and it explains why some pi'el verbs look different in a dictionary. The reason behind it is on the dagesh and the gutturals.
הוא מסרב לענות לי מאז המריבה.
hu mesarév la'anót li me'áz hamerivá
He's been refusing to answer me since the argument.
המנהל החדש מנהל את הכול מהטלפון.
hamenahél hekhadásh menahél et hakól mehatélefon
The new manager runs everything off his phone.
Spelling: no yod here
The pi'el past writes a yod — דיבר, ביקש, סיפר — because its first vowel is an i. The present does not, because its first vowel is a shva, and a shva gets no letter: מדבר, מבקש, מלמד, מסרב. The one place a letter doubles is a consonantal yod inside the root, which is why ט־י־ל gives מטייל with two.
היא מדברת עכשיו עם הבנק, תחזרי אליה בעוד רגע.
hi medabéret akhsháv im habánk, takhzerí eléha be'ód réga
She's on the phone to the bank right now — call her back in a minute. (to a woman)
היא מדברת ארבע שפות ולומדת עוד אחת.
hi medabéret árba safót velomédet od akhát
She speaks four languages and is learning a fifth.
Hearing which binyan a מ־ word is
Four other binyanim also start their present with a מ, so the letter itself tells you nothing. The vowels do.
| Word | Reading | What to listen for |
|---|---|---|
| מדבר | medabér | me- and a stressed é at the end — pi'el |
| מתחיל | matkhíl | ma- and a stressed í |
| מסודר | mesudár | a u inside the stem |
| מוזמן | muzmán | the u is in the prefix itself |
| מתלבש | mitlabésh | a whole mit- syllable |
Which binyan each of those belongs to is set out on the pi'el overview. For now the practical point is smaller and more useful: hear me-…-é and you are looking at a pi'el.
Common Mistakes
1. Writing מטייל with one yod. The root's own yod is a consonant here, and ktiv male doubles a consonantal yod in the middle of a word.
❌ אני מטיל בצפון בסוף השבוע
Incorrect as ktiv male for metayél — the form is מטייל with two yods. Bare מטיל reads as metíl, 'casts, lays'.
✅ אני מטייל בצפון בסוף השבוע, בא לך להצטרף?
aní metayél batsafón besóf hashavúa, ba lekhá lehitstaréf?
I'm going up north this weekend — do you fancy coming? (m. speaker, to a man)
2. Asking a person directly. ביקש takes what you want as its object and the person you are asking with מ־.
❌ אני מבקש אותך לחכות רגע
Incorrect — when מבקש asks somebody to do something, the person goes on מ־ and never on את: אני מבקש ממך לחכות. (מבקשים אותך בטלפון is a different sense of the verb — 'they're asking for you'.)
✅ אני מבקש ממך לחכות רגע בחוץ.
aní mevakésh mimekhá lekhakót réga bakhúts
I'd like you to wait outside for a moment. (m. speaker, to a man)
3. A feminine plural subject with the masculine plural verb. ־ים is the masculine ending, not a general plural, and the agreement has to run through the whole clause.
❌ החברות שלי מטיילים בתאילנד עכשיו
Incorrect — חברות is feminine plural, so the verb is מטיילות. ־ים would need a masculine subject.
✅ החברות שלי מטיילות בתאילנד כבר חודש.
hakhaverót shelí metaylót beta'ilánd kvar khódesh
My friends have been travelling around Thailand for a month now. (f. friends)
4. Looking for a second form for the progressive. There is only one, and it covers both English tenses.
✅ אני מלמד בבית ספר יסודי כבר עשר שנים.
aní melaméd bevéit séfer yesodí kvar éser shaním
I've been teaching in a primary school for ten years. (m. speaker — a permanent situation)
✅ אני מלמד עכשיו, אחזור אליך בעוד שעה.
aní melaméd akhsháv, ekhzór elékha be'ód sha'á
I'm teaching right now — I'll get back to you in an hour. (m. speaker, to a man — this very moment)
Key Takeaways
- Four forms, gender and number only: מְדַבֵּר · מְדַבֶּרֶת · מְדַבְּרִים · מְדַבְּרוֹת.
- The shape is מְ־ + a + a stressed e: medabér, mevakésh, metayél.
- Stress is final — medabér, medabrím, medabrót — except in the feminine singular, where ־ֶת pulls it back: medabéret, melamédet, metayélet.
- Of the five letters that reject the middle dot (א, ה, ח, ע, ר), only א and ר turn the vowel into a kamatz: מְגָרֵשׁ, מְבָרֵךְ, מְתָאֵר, מְסָרֵב — against מְמַהֵר, מְנַהֵל, מְשַׂחֵק, מְתַעֵד. In Israeli speech it sounds the same.
- No yod in the present: מדבר, מבקש, מלמד. The yod belongs to the past (דיבר, ביקש). מטייל doubles a consonantal yod, which is a different rule.
- One form covers "speaks" and "is speaking" — Hebrew has no present copula and no progressive.
- A מ־ prefix is not a pi'el marker: מתחיל, מסודר, מוזמן and מתלבש all have one too. The cue is me-…-é.
Now practice Hebrew
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Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- בניין פיעל: Shape First, Meaning SecondA2 — pi'el carries דיבר, ביקש, סיפר, לימד and a large share of the verbs Hebrew has coined in the last century. Learn it by its shape — the i–e of the past, the me-…-é of the present — because the three labels the textbooks attach to its meaning predict almost nothing.
- Pi'el Past: דיברתי, ביקשת, סיפרA2 — The endings are the ones you already know from pa'al. What is new is a stem vowel that moves three ways — tsere, patach, shva — and is completely invisible in ktiv male, because all nine cells are written with the same yod.
- Why בירך but דיבר: Where the Dagesh Is CompensatedC1 — Five letters refuse the dagesh that defines pi'el, and they do not all react the same way: א and ר lengthen the vowel in front of them, while ה, ח and ע leave it short. That single split explains a set of spellings and readings that otherwise look arbitrary.
- The בינוני: Present Tense and Participle in One FormA1 — Hebrew's present tense is not a tense-form at all — it is the בינוני, a participle, which marks gender and number and has no person slot. One word therefore covers 'I write', 'you write' and 'he writes', doubles as an adjective, and moonlights as a noun.
- Past, Present, Future: Hebrew's Three SlotsA1 — Hebrew has exactly three finite tenses, no auxiliary verbs and no perfect — so everything English spreads across twelve tense-aspect boxes has to be redistributed across three slots. Here is the map, plus the two structural gaps that follow from having only three.