The passive is determined by the active verb's binyan, not by the event's meaning and not by stylistic preference. Start with the Hebrew active lexeme: pa'al points to nif'al, pi'el to pu'al, and hif'il to huf'al. Then verify that the particular passive partner is actually used, because morphology offers more possible forms than the living lexicon accepts.
המנהלת סגרה את המשרד מוקדם.
hamenahélet sagrá et hamisrád mukdám
The manager closed the office early. (pa'al active)
המשרד נסגר מוקדם בגלל התקלה.
hamisrád nisgár mukdám biglál hatakalá
The office was closed early because of the fault. (nif'al passive / eventive middle)
The active-passive pairs
The transformation promotes the active direct object to passive subject. The old את disappears, the passive verb agrees with its new subject, and the old agent is omitted or moved into an agent phrase such as בידי or על ידי in formal prose.
| Active binyan → passive | Active sentence | Passive sentence |
|---|---|---|
| pa'al → nif'al כָּתַב / נִכְתַּב katáv → nikhtáv | הָעוֹרֶכֶת כָּתְבָה אֶת הַהוֹדָעָה. The editor wrote the notice. | הַהוֹדָעָה נִכְתְּבָה בִּידֵי הָעוֹרֶכֶת. The notice was written by the editor. |
| pi'el → pu'al סִידֵּר / סוּדַּר sidér → sudár | הַצֶּוֶות סִידֵּר אֶת הַחֶדֶר. The team arranged the room. | הַחֶדֶר סוּדַּר לִפְנֵי שֶׁהָאוֹרְחִים הִגִּיעוּ. The room was arranged before the guests arrived. |
| hif'il → huf'al הִזְמִין / הוּזְמַן hizmín → huzmán | הַמְּאַרְגְּנִים הִזְמִינוּ אֶת הַמַּרְצִים. The organisers invited the speakers. | הַמַּרְצִים הוּזְמְנוּ לְדַבֵּר בַּכֶּנֶס. The speakers were invited to talk at the conference. |
הצוות סידר את הכיסאות לפני שהקהל נכנס.
hatsévet sidér et hakis'ót lifnéi shehakahál nikhnás
The team arranged the chairs before the audience came in. (pi'el active)
הכיסאות סודרו בשורות של עשרה.
hakis'ót sudrú beshurót shel asará
The chairs were arranged in rows of ten. (pu'al passive)
הזמינו את כל העובדים לפגישה.
hizmínu et kol ha'ovdím lapgishá
They invited all the employees to the meeting. (hif'il active; the subject can also be impersonal)
כל העובדים הוזמנו לפגישה.
kol ha'ovdím huzmenú lapgishá
All the employees were invited to the meeting. (huf'al passive)
Meaning cannot choose the binyan
The root ס־פ־ר proves the point. Pa'al סָפַר means “count,” so its passive is nif'al נִסְפַּר. Pi'el סִיפֵּר means “tell,” so its passive is pu'al סוּפַּר. Both involve information, but their meanings do not license swapping the passive patterns.
כל הקולות נספרו עוד באותו לילה.
kol hakolót nisperú od be'otó láyla
All the votes were counted that same night. (pa'al ספר → nif'al נספר)
הסיפור סופר מנקודת המבט של הילדה.
hasipúr supár minekudát hamabát shel hayaldá
The story was told from the girl's point of view. (pi'el סיפר → pu'al סופר; literary / critical prose)
The active citation form is therefore essential. An English gloss such as publish, translate, arrange does not tell you the passive binyan. The Hebrew verbs פרסם, תרגם, סידר are pi'el, so the passives are פורסם, תורגם, סודר. The verbs הזמין, הוציא, החליט are hif'il, so their huf'al forms are הוזמן, הוצא, הוחלט.
| Active | Passive | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| פִּרְסֵם | פּוּרְסַם | pirsém → pursám |
| תִּרְגֵּם | תּוּרְגַּם | tirgém → turgám |
| הוֹצִיא | הוּצָא | hotsí → hutsá |
| הֶחְלִיט | הוּחְלַט | hekhlít → hukhlát |
The pair must be attested
The arrows name a morphological relationship; they do not guarantee a live partner for every active verb. Many pa'al verbs lack an ordinary nif'al passive, and much of nif'al is middle rather than passive. Likewise, a form generated by a pu'al or huf'al template may be understandable on paper but absent from current usage. Verify the pair in a current dictionary rather than trusting the root alone.
Even where two related forms exist, their event structures can differ. סידר “arranged” has the pu'al passive סודר “was arranged,” but hitpa'el הסתדר means “worked out / got organised” and does not assert an external arranger.
הבעיה סודרה בידי מחלקת התמיכה.
habe'ayá sudrá bidéi makhléket hatmikhá
The problem was dealt with by the support department. (pu'al passive; an agent is named)
הבעיה הסתדרה אחרי שהפעלנו מחדש את המחשב.
habe'ayá histadrá akharéi shehif'álnu mekhadásh et hamakhsév
The problem sorted itself out after we restarted the computer. (hitpa'el middle; no external arranger is asserted)
Why pu'al and huf'al stop at finite forms
Pu'al and huf'al have past, present participle and future, but no infinitive and no imperative. Nif'al is not defective in this way: להיכתב, להיסגר, להימכר are ordinary infinitives. This asymmetry matters whenever English gives a non-finite passive such as to be arranged.
Hebrew has several legitimate restructurings:
- Make the passive finite: אני רוצה שהחדר יסודר “I want the room to be arranged.”
- Use the active infinitive and name the object: צריך לסדר את החדר “The room needs arranging,” literally “one must arrange the room.”
- Describe a required state with להיות plus an adjective-like participle: החדר צריך להיות מסודר “The room needs to be tidy.”
The last option does not invent a pu'al infinitive. להיות is a real infinitive, and מסודר is functioning as the required resulting state.
אני רוצה שהכול יסודר לפני שהאורחים יגיעו.
aní rotsé shehakól yesudár lifnéi sheha'orkhím yagí'u
I want everything to be arranged before the guests arrive. (finite pu'al clause; m. speaker)
החדר צריך להיות מסודר עד שש.
hakhéder tsaríkh lihyót mesudár ad shesh
The room needs to be tidy by six. (state adjective, not a pu'al infinitive)
Participles that have become adjectives
The present forms of pu'al and huf'al frequently function as ordinary adjectives: מסודר “tidy / organised,” מוזמן “invited / welcome,” מוגזם “exaggerated / excessive.” Their history still reveals the passive pair, but present-day syntax may describe a stable property rather than an unfolding event.
הכול מסודר, ואתם מוזמנים להיכנס.
hakól mesudár, ve'atém muzmaním lehikanés
Everything is ready, and you're welcome to come in. (participles functioning as adjectives)
That adjectival life is developed on the pages for pu'al participles and huf'al participles. It does not alter the passive-selection rule for finite events.
Register comes after morphology
A correctly formed passive may still be the wrong discourse choice. News, reports and formal prose use morphological passives freely; conversation often prefers an agentless third-person plural: הזמינו אותי rather than הוזמנתי, ביטלו את הפגישה rather than הפגישה בוטלה. Both strategies are grammatical. Choose the form first from the active binyan, then decide whether a passive is the most natural strategy in that register.
Common Mistakes
1. Sending a pi'el verb to huf'al. תרגם is pi'el, so its passive is pu'al תורגם.
❌ המסמך הותרגם לעברית
Incorrect — הותרגם is not the passive of תרגם. Pi'el תרגם pairs with pu'al תורגם.
✅ המסמך תורגם לעברית ונשלח לעורך.
hamismákh turgám le'ivrít venishlákh la'orékh
The document was translated into Hebrew and sent to the editor.
2. Inventing a nif'al for a pi'el passive. פרסם is pi'el; the attested passive is pu'al פורסם.
❌ הכתבה נפורסמה אתמול בערב
Incorrect — pi'el פרסם does not take a nif'al passive. Use פורסמה.
✅ הכתבה פורסמה אתמול בערב וכבר עוררה ויכוח.
hakatavá pursemá etmól ba'érev ukhvar orerá vikúakh
The article was published last night and has already sparked an argument.
3. Building a pu'al infinitive. The passive binyan has no infinitive; use a finite clause or the active.
❌ החדר צריך לסודר לפני האירוע
Incorrect — there is no pu'al infinitive לסודר. Say החדר צריך להיות מסודר, or צריך לסדר את החדר.
✅ צריך לסדר את החדר לפני שהאירוע מתחיל.
tsaríkh lesadér et hakhéder lifnéi sheha'eirúa matkhíl
The room needs to be arranged before the event starts. (active impersonal restructuring)
4. Forgetting agreement after promotion to subject. A plural patient requires a plural passive verb.
❌ כל ההזמנות תורגם לאנגלית
Incorrect — הזמנות is plural, so the pu'al passive must be תורגמו.
✅ כל ההזמנות תורגמו לאנגלית ונשלחו הבוקר.
kol hahazmanót turgemú le'anglít venishlekhú habóker
All the invitations were translated into English and sent this morning.
Key Takeaways
- Find the active verb first: pa'al → nif'al, pi'el → pu'al, hif'il → huf'al.
- Meaning cannot override the pair: ספר “count” gives נספר, while סיפר “tell” gives סופר.
- The pattern predicts a possible form, not necessarily an attested word. Verify the passive partner.
- Pu'al and huf'al have no infinitive or imperative; restructure with a finite clause, an active impersonal, or a state adjective.
- After choosing the morphologically correct passive, decide whether the register prefers that passive or an agentless third-person plural.
Now practice Hebrew
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Hebrew →Related Topics
- בניין פועל: The Passive of Pi'elB2 — pu'al is not a binyan you choose — it is the passive shadow of a pi'el verb, it has only three tenses because a passive has nobody to command, and most learners meet it as an adjective years before they meet it as a verb.
- בניין הופעל: The Passive of Hif'ilB2 — huf'al is what happens to a hif'il verb when the thing acted on becomes the subject — three tenses, no infinitive, no imperative, and a vav sitting right after the prefix that gives it away on sight.
- The 3rd-Person-Plural Impersonal (אומרים ש…)B1 — A subjectless third-person plural—אומרים, גנבו, בנו—lets everyday Hebrew report what people say or do without identifying them, often where English chooses a passive.
- Participles Used as Adjectives: מעניין, עייף, סגורA2 — A large share of everyday Hebrew adjectives are not adjectives at all — they are verb participles that settled down. Once you can see which binyan a word came out of, you stop memorising pairs like מעניין and מעוניין and start deriving them.