Hebrew can borrow a noun almost whole, but it cannot leave a verb unconjugated. It extracts a consonantal base, assigns that base to a binyan, and then supplies Hebrew tense, person, gender, number, infinitive and often a verbal noun. Thus English SMS supplied ס־מ־ס, but speakers supplied the Hebrew verb לסמס.
סימסתי לה את הכתובת והיא כבר בדרך.
simásti la et haktóvet vehí kvar badérekh
I texted her the address, and she's already on her way. (informal)
צריך לפרמט את הכונן לפני שמתקינים את המערכת.
tsaríkh lefarmét et hakonán lifnéi shematkiním et hama'arékhet
The drive needs to be formatted before the system is installed. (technical)
Where new verbs normally land
Pi'el is the default, especially when a loan contributes three or four stable consonants. It adds no derivational consonant to the visible root and can accommodate a fourth radical, so טלפון gives לטלפן “to telephone,” format gives לפרמט, and flirt gives לפלרטט. The source word is not simply inserted unchanged: the consonants enter pi'el's changing vowel-and-prefix frames.
That default is not an exclusive rule. Hitpa'el productively supplies an intransitive or self-involving partner when the meaning requires one. Hif'il remains active in specific niches, including inchoatives and loans whose consonant cluster is preserved well there, such as להשפריץ “to squirt/splash” (informal). Pa'al is essentially closed to new coinages, not literally dead. The precise productivity evidence and the contrast among binyanim are set out on new pi'el verbs.
הוא מטלפן לספק בכל בוקר עד שמישהו עונה.
hu metalpén lasapák bekhól bóker ad shemíshu oné
He phones the supplier every morning until someone answers.
היא פלרטטה איתו כל הערב ואז יצאה בלי להיפרד.
hi flirtetá itó kol ha'érev ve'áz yats'á bli lehiparéd
She flirted with him all evening and then left without saying goodbye.
One borrowed verb in full: לסמס
The dictionary-attested verb לסמס is pi'el and labelled slang. Its register makes it natural in conversation and messaging; שלח הודעה “send a message” is safer in formal prose. Notice the stress contrast: past סימסתי is simásti, with stress before the ending, while present מסמס is mesamés, with final stress.
| Slot | Pointed | Written | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | לְסַמֵּס | לסמס | lesamés |
| Present m.sg. / f.sg. | מְסַמֵּס · מְסַמֶּסֶת | מסמס · מסמסת | mesamés · mesaméset |
| Present m.pl. / f.pl. | מְסַמְּסִים · מְסַמְּסוֹת | מסמסים · מסמסות | mesamsím · mesamsót |
| Past 1sg. | סִימַּסְתִּי | סימסתי | simásti |
| Past 2sg. m. / f. | סִימַּסְתָּ · סִימַּסְתְּ | סימסת · סימסת | simásta · simást |
| Past 3sg. m. / f. | סִימֵּס · סִימְּסָה | סימס · סימסה | simés · simsá |
| Past 1pl. | סִימַּסְנוּ | סימסנו | simásnu |
| Past 2pl. m. / f. | סִימַּסְתֶּם · סִימַּסְתֶּן | סימסתם · סימסתן | simástem · simásten |
| Past 3pl. | סִימְּסוּ | סימסו | simsú |
| Future 1sg. | אֲסַמֵּס | אסמס | asamés |
| Future 2sg.m. / 3sg.f. | תְּסַמֵּס | תסמס | tesamés |
| Future 2sg.f. | תְּסַמְּסִי | תסמסי | tesamsí |
| Future 3sg.m. | יְסַמֵּס | יסמס | yesamés |
| Future 1pl. | נְסַמֵּס | נסמס | nesamés |
| Future 2pl. / 3pl. | תְּסַמְּסוּ · יְסַמְּסוּ | תסמסו · יסמסו | tesamsú · yesamsú |
| Imperative m.sg. / f.sg. / pl. | סַמֵּס · סַמְּסִי · סַמְּסוּ | סמס · סמסי · סמסו | samés · samsí · samsú |
The future and imperative plural forms above are the ordinary modern mixed-group forms. The distinct feminine plural סמסנה and תסמסנה survive mainly in elevated or deliberately normative language (formal/literary), not in normal conversation.
אל תסמסי לי באמצע הלילה אלא אם כן זה דחוף.
al tesamsí li be'émtsa haláyla éla im ken ze dakhúf
Don't text me in the middle of the night unless it's urgent. (informal, to a woman)
הם מסמסים בקבוצה גם כשהם יושבים באותו חדר.
hem mesamsím bakvutsá gam kshehém yoshvím be'otó khéder
They text in the group chat even when they're sitting in the same room. (informal)
The verb is Hebrew all the way down
Four things show that לסמס is integrated rather than an English verb pasted into a Hebrew sentence:
- it alternates by Hebrew tense: סימס, מסמס, יסמס;
- it agrees with person, gender and number: מסמסת, מסמסים, תסמסי;
- it has a Hebrew infinitive: לסמס;
- it selects Hebrew complements: לסמס ל־ someone, and לסמס את the content when that content is definite.
Other borrowed verbs keep their own government. לטלפן marks the person called with ל־ or אל־; לפלרטט takes עם; לפרמט and לארגן normally take a direct object. There is no shortcut here: integration supplies Hebrew morphology, but it does not make every new verb take the same preposition.
תטלפן אליי כשתגיע לתחנה, ואני אאסוף אותך.
tetalpén elái kshetagía latakhaná, va'aní e'esóf otkhá
Call me when you get to the station, and I'll pick you up. (to a man)
ארגנו את כל החומר בתיקיות לפי שנה.
irgánu et kol hakhómer betikiyót lefí shaná
We organized all the material into folders by year.
Borrowed sounds and spelling
When a base contains a sound outside the older Hebrew inventory, its geresh remains part of the spelling: ג׳ writes j, צ׳ writes tsh, and ז׳ writes zh. Use the true Hebrew geresh ׳ (U+05F3) in careful writing. The straight apostrophe is extremely common in Israeli typing (informal/digital), but it is a keyboard substitution, not the typographic standard. See geresh and gershayim.
Do not assume that a plausible consonant string is already a conventional verb. Speakers can understand one-off coinages because the binyan advertises “this is a verb,” yet professional writing still requires an established term or an explanation.
Common Mistakes
1. Using the past citation form after a plural subject. Hebrew verbs still mark person and number even when the source is foreign.
❌ אנחנו סימס להם שהסיור בוטל
Incorrect—סימס is third-person masculine singular; with אנחנו in the past, use סימסנו.
✅ אנחנו סימסנו להם שהסיור בוטל בגלל הגשם.
anákhnu simásnu lahém shehasiyúr butál biglál hagéshem
We texted them that the tour had been cancelled because of the rain. (informal)
2. Treating the source noun as an uninflected verb. English-speaking learners sometimes code-switch a bare English verb and let an adverb carry the tense. Bilingual Israelis also code-switch creatively (informal), so an English island is not inherently “bad Hebrew”; it simply is not the integrated Hebrew derivative a learner needs to conjugate. An English-shaped item does not replace the Hebrew present form.
❌ היא סמס ללקוחות עכשיו
Incorrect—present-tense agreement requires the feminine form מסמסת.
✅ היא מסמסת עכשיו ללקוחות שאיחרו לפגישה.
hi mesaméset akhsháv lalakukhót she'eikharú lapgishá
She's texting the clients who were late for the meeting now. (informal)
3. Dropping the recipient preposition. לסמס normally marks the recipient with ל־.
❌ סימסתי אותה שאני מאחר
Incorrect for ‘I texted her’—mark the recipient with ל־: סימסתי לה.
✅ סימסתי לה שאני מאחר בעשר דקות.
simásti la she'aní me'akhér be'éser dakót
I texted her that I'm running ten minutes late. (informal, m. speaker)
4. Putting the stress on the ending of סימסתי. The past form is simásti, not simastí.
❌ סימסתי
simastí
Incorrect stress—the everyday pi'el past form is simásti.
✅ סימסתי לך, אבל כנראה ההודעה לא הגיעה.
simásti lekhá, avál kanir'é hahoda'á lo higía
I texted you, but apparently the message didn't arrive. (informal, to a man)
Key Takeaways
- Hebrew rebuilds a borrowed verbal base inside a binyan; it does not merely attach Hebrew pronouns to an English verb.
- Pi'el is the productive default, hitpa'el supplies many intransitive partners, hif'il retains real niches, and pa'al is essentially closed to new coinages.
- לסמס is slang and fully inflected: סימסתי, מסמס, יסמס, לסמס.
- Stress can move across the paradigm: simásti but mesamés.
- Learn government with the verb: לסמס ל־, לטלפן ל־, לפלרטט עם, לפרמט את.
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