AQA A-Level Biblical Hebrew (7677)

## Learning Outcomes

- Understand how Biblical Hebrew verbs are formed from a שֹׁרֶשׁ (_shoresh_, root) and pattern
- Identify the difference between a verbal stem and a verbal form
- Recognise the main formations of Qal, Niphal, Piel, Hiphil and Hithpael
- Explain how perfect, imperfect, imperative, jussive, cohortative, participle and infinitives are formed and used
- Identify the main behaviour of weak verbs, especially guttural verbs
- Parse unusual poetic verb forms by reconstructing the root and stem step by step

## AQA A-Level Biblical Hebrew (7677) Syllabus

For the AQA A-Level Biblical Hebrew (7677), you are expected to understand verb formation in Biblical Hebrew, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know the formation and function of the main verbal stems: Qal, Niphal, Piel, Hiphil and Hithpael
- Identify all persons and numbers of the perfect and imperfect, including imperative forms
- Understand the formation and use of the jussive, cohortative and polite imperative
- Recognise participles in all major conjugations, including the Qal passive participle
- Distinguish infinitive construct from infinitive absolute in both form and function
- Explain how weak roots alter expected verb patterns through loss, assimilation, contraction or vowel change
- Recognise major weak classes relevant to the specification, especially guttural verbs, פ״נ, פ״י, ע״ו, ל״ה and geminate verbs
- Apply this knowledge to poetic texts, where shortened and contracted forms are common

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. What is the difference between a binyan and a conjugation such as perfect or imperfect?
2. How can you tell whether an unusual verb form is weak rather than belonging to a different stem?
3. What usually happens in Piel or Hithpael when the second radical is a guttural?
4. Name two ways in which guttural letters affect Hebrew verb formation.
5. Why can the same form sometimes be translated as either an imperfect or a jussive?

## Introduction

Verb formation is one of the most tested grammar skills in Biblical Hebrew because it sits at the centre of parsing, translation and close reading. In poetry, this matters even more. Poetic lines often compress forms, omit expected vowels, or preserve short forms that can look strange at first sight. If you can identify how a verb has been built, you are far less likely to mistranslate the passage.

A strong exam approach is to separate three questions. First, what is the root? Second, what is the stem? Third, what is the form? Students often mix these up. A root such as ב־ר־ך may appear in different stems, and each stem can then appear in several different forms such as perfect, imperfect or imperative.

> **Key Term: שֹׁרֶשׁ (shoresh)**
> The verbal root, usually made of three consonants, from which Hebrew verb forms are built.

### Building a verb: root, stem and form

Biblical Hebrew verbs are not built by adding one simple ending to a dictionary form. Instead, a root is fitted into a **pattern**. That pattern gives two kinds of information at once: the **stem** and the **form**. The stem tells you the broad verbal idea, while the form tells you aspect, mood, or person-number-gender.

> **Key Term: binyan**
> A verbal stem or pattern such as Qal, Niphal, Piel, Hiphil or Hithpael.
>
> **Key Term: parsing**
> Identifying a verb fully by giving its root, stem, form or conjugation, and person-gender-number where relevant.

The most important exam distinction is this:

- **Stem** = Qal, Niphal, Piel, Pual, Hiphil, Hophal, Hithpael
- **Form/conjugation** = perfect, imperfect, imperative, jussive, cohortative, participle, infinitive construct, infinitive absolute

Students often say “this is a Hiphil imperfect” and stop there. That is incomplete. Good parsing must also identify person, gender and number where possible, and then make sense of the form in context.

The five major stems required in detail are:

- **Qal**: usually simple active
- **Niphal**: often passive or reflexive relative to Qal
- **Piel**: often intensive, factitive, or denominative
- **Hiphil**: often causative
- **Hithpael**: often reflexive or iterative

These are tendencies, not automatic meanings. You must still learn the meaning of the verb as it actually appears.

A regular strong root gives you the baseline. Once you know the strong patterns, weak verbs become easier because you can see what has changed. For example, if a form looks as if a radical is “missing”, you should first ask whether the root is weak before deciding that you have misread the stem.

> **Test Tip:** In the exam, do not guess from translation alone. Start with visible markers such as prefixes, suffixes and internal vowels, then test whether a weak root explains the irregular shape.

### The main forms you must recognise

The two core conjugations are the **perfect** and the **imperfect**. The perfect is the suffix-conjugation. The imperfect is the prefix-conjugation. This matters because when you parse, endings point you to perfect forms, while prefixes point you first toward imperfect-type formations.

> **Key Term: perfect**
> The suffix-conjugation, often presenting an action as complete or whole.
>
> **Key Term: imperfect**
> The prefix-conjugation, often presenting an action as incomplete, future, repeated or in progress.

The perfect usually adds endings to the root pattern. The imperfect usually adds prefixes such as י, ת, א, נ. From there, person and number are identified by the full set of prefixes and endings together.

You must also know the secondary and non-finite forms:

- **imperative**: command, usually second person
- **jussive**: volitive, commonly third person, often “may he” or “let them”
- **cohortative**: first-person volitive, often marked by final ה
- **participle**: verbal adjective or substantive
- **infinitive construct**: verbal noun, often with prepositions
- **infinitive absolute**: verbal noun often used for emphasis
  > **Key Term: jussive**
  > A volitive verbal form or use, usually expressing a wish, command or permission in the third person.
  >
  > **Key Term: cohortative**
  > A first-person volitive form, often expressing resolve or desire, commonly with a final ה.

The tricky part is that in many verbs, especially strong verbs, the jussive may look identical to the imperfect. That means context becomes decisive. In a prayer, wish, prohibition, or blessing, an imperfect-looking form may function as a jussive. In poetry, this happens often because short forms are common and clauses are compressed.

Participles are another regular trap. Students sometimes translate them only as finite verbs. But a participle can act:

- verbally: “is blessing”
- adjectivally: “blessing” or “blessed”
- substantivally: “one who blesses”

This is why parsing must be tied to syntax, not shape alone.

> **Key Term: participle**
> A verbal form that can function as a verb, adjective or noun-like expression.

The two infinitives must be kept separate. The **infinitive construct** usually fits into the syntax of the clause, often after a preposition or another verb. The **infinitive absolute** more often gives emphasis, sometimes alongside a finite verb from the same root. If you confuse them, you may miss the force of the line.

> **Test Tip:** When a form could be imperfect or jussive, ask what the clause is doing. Is it stating a fact, expressing a wish, making a command, or voicing prayer? Syntax and meaning settle the parsing.

### Weak roots and guttural behaviour

A weak verb is not “exceptional” in a random way. It follows patterns caused by certain radicals that resist normal behaviour. A root may lose a consonant, assimilate it into another consonant, contract vowels, or attract different vowels. That is why weak verbs should be studied as rule-based patterns, not as isolated oddities.

> **Key Term: weak verb**
> A verb whose root contains a consonant that causes predictable changes in form, such as loss, contraction, assimilation or vowel shift.

For this topic, the most important weak behaviour is that of **gutturals**. The five letters to remember are א, ה, ח, ע and ר in many environments.

Their main effects are:

- they do not take **dagesh forte**
- they prefer **a-class vowels**
- they often take a **composite shewa** rather than a simple shewa
- final gutturals may be preceded by a furtive patach in some environments
  > **Key Term: guttural**
  > A consonant such as א, ה, ח or ע, often also ר in practice, which affects neighbouring vowels and resists doubling.

These effects matter because many stems rely on consonant doubling. Piel, Pual and Hithpael especially often mark the stem by doubling the second radical. But if the second radical is a guttural, that doubling cannot happen in the normal way. Hebrew therefore compensates by changing the vowel.

This is the key rule for **II-guttural verbs**: in Piel, Pual and Hithpael, the second radical does not receive its expected doubling, and the preceding vowel may lengthen instead. In simple terms, the stem marker shifts from consonant doubling to vowel behaviour.

That is why a II-guttural form may look less obviously Piel than a strong verb. Students often misread such forms as Qal because they cannot see the expected doubled middle radical. The correct move is to ask whether a guttural in second position explains the missing doubling.

A second important II-guttural feature is found in the **Qal imperfect and imperative**. These forms tend to show an **a-class theme vowel** with both stative and dynamic roots. That means the guttural influences the usual vowel pattern and makes different root types look more alike than they would in strong verbs.

A third pattern concerns forms with **vocalic suffixes**. In many stems except Hiphil, the vowel around the second radical may be adjusted when the verb takes a suffix beginning with a vowel. Again, the reason is phonological: the guttural changes what syllable shapes are possible.

Practical examples from standard patternss help. With a II-guttural root such as ב־ר־ך in Piel-like formation, you do not get the normal strong-verb doubling of the middle radical. Instead, forms such as בָּרֵךְ show the compensating vowel pattern. The root is still the same; the stem is still recognisable; the marker has shifted.

Now compare **III-guttural verbs**, where the third radical is guttural, such as שָׁלַח. These often look more regular at first, especially in basic Qal forms like יִשְׁלַח or שְׁלַח. But the final guttural still affects surrounding vowels and certain endings. These verbs may take an **a-class theme vowel**, and the shape of the final syllable is often more open than students expect.

Why does this matter in poetry? Because poets often prefer shorter, tighter forms. A final guttural already limits how a syllable can close, so the result can be a form that looks reduced, archaic or unusual. If you know the guttural rule, the form becomes much less mysterious.

It also helps to compare the three guttural positions:

- **I-guttural**: affects prefix vowels and shewa under the first radical
- **II-guttural**: blocks expected doubling of the middle radical and changes theme vowels
- **III-guttural**: affects final-syllable shape and vowels near endings

This positional method is very useful in exams. Instead of trying to memorise every pattern separately, ask where the guttural sits in the root and then predict what kind of disruption it will cause.

Common student errors include:

- treating lack of dagesh in Piel as proof that the verb is not Piel
- missing a guttural root and inventing the wrong lexical form
- translating every short imperfect-looking form as future instead of checking for jussive force
- forgetting that poetry may shorten forms without changing their basic stem classification

### A method for parsing poetic verb forms

Paper 3 adds one extra challenge: poetic compression. A poetic verb may be shorter than the prose pattern you first learned. But you should still begin from standard grammar.

Use this sequence:

1. Identify obvious affixes: imperfect prefixes, perfect suffixes, ה of cohortative, imperative shape, participle מ where expected.
2. Test the likely stem: Qal, Niphal, Piel, Hiphil, Hithpael.
3. Reconstruct the three radicals.
4. Ask whether one radical is weak or guttural.
5. Decide whether context suggests statement, command, wish, prayer, resolve or emphasis.

For example, if you see a form that looks like an imperfect but appears in a blessing or plea, a jussive reading may be better. If the form seems to “lack” a doubled middle radical in what otherwise looks like Piel, check for II-guttural. If the final ה seems uncertain, ask whether it belongs to the lexical root or marks a cohortative or III-ה behaviour.

> **Test Tip:** In poetry, never panic over a shortened form. First ask: “What would the strong-verb version look like?” Then ask: “Which weak-verb rule could explain the difference?” This is much safer than translating by instinct.

The best students do not memorise forms in isolation. They recognise patterns. They know that a form can look odd for at least three different reasons: stem markers, weak-root behaviour, or poetic shortening. Exam success comes from separating those causes rather than mixing them together.

### Biblical Hebrew Language Toolkit

#### Topic vocabulary

| Hebrew             | Transliteration | English              |
| ------------------ | --------------- | -------------------- |
| שֹׁרֶשׁ            | shoresh         | root                 |
| בִּנְיָן           | binyan          | verbal stem          |
| פָּעַל / קַל       | qal             | Qal stem             |
| נִפְעַל            | nifal           | Niphal stem          |
| פִּעֵל             | piel            | Piel stem            |
| הִפְעִיל           | hifil           | Hiphil stem          |
| הִתְפַּעֵל         | hitpael         | Hithpael stem        |
| שָׁלֵם             | shalem          | strong verb          |
| פֹּעַל חָלָשׁ      | po'al chalash   | weak verb            |
| גּוּטּוּרָלִי      | gutturali       | guttural             |
| שְׁלֵמוּת          | shlemut         | perfect              |
| יִקְטוֹל           | yiqtol          | imperfect pattern    |
| צִוּוּי            | tzivui          | imperative           |
| יֻסִּיב / יֻסִיבִי | yussiv          | jussive              |
| קוֹהוֹרְטָטִיב     | kohortativ      | cohortative          |
| בֵּינוֹנִי         | beynoni         | participle           |
| מָקוֹר נָטוּי      | maqor natui     | infinitive construct |
| מָקוֹר מֻחְלָט     | maqor muchlat   | infinitive absolute  |

#### Sentence patterns from biblical texts

- הַפֹּעַל הַזֶּה הוּא בְּבִנְיָן הִפְעִיל.  
  This verb is in the Hiphil stem.

- הַצּוּרָה נִרְאֵית כְּמוֹ יִקְטוֹל, אֲבָל הַהֶקְשֵׁר מַרְאֶה שֶׁזֹּאת יוּסִּיב.  
  The form looks like an imperfect, but the context shows that it is a jussive.

- הָאוֹת הַגּוּטּוּרָלִית מְשַׁנָּה אֶת הַתְּנוּעָה לִפְנֵי הַשֹּׁרֶשׁ.  
  The guttural letter changes the vowel before the root.

- אַף שֶׁהַדָּגֵשׁ אֵינֶנּוּ נִרְאֶה, אֶפְשָׁר לְזַהוֹת פִּעֵל מִן הַתְּנוּעוֹת.  
  Although the dagesh is not visible, it is possible to identify Piel from the vowels.

- כְּדֵי לִפְרֹשׁ אֶת הַפֹּעַל, צָרִיךְ לְזַהוֹת שֹׁרֶשׁ, בִּנְיָן וְצוּרָה.  
  To parse the verb, you need to identify root, stem and form.

#### Key grammatical constructions

- יֵשׁ לְהַבְחִין בֵּין בִּנְיָן לְבֵין צוּרָה.  
  One must distinguish between stem and form.

- לִפְעָמִים הַצּוּרָה הַקְּצָרָה מוֹפִיעָה בַּשִּׁירָה.  
  Sometimes the shortened form appears in poetry.

- הַשֹּׁרֶשׁ הַחָלָשׁ גּוֹרֵם לְשִׁנּוּי בַּתְּנוּעוֹת.  
  The weak root causes a change in the vowels.

#### Opinion and argument phrases

- לְפִי דַעְתִּי הַצּוּרָה הַזֹּאת הִיא יוּסִּיב.  
  In my view this form is a jussive.

- אֶפְשָׁר לוֹמַר שֶׁהַהֶקְשֵׁר מַכְרִיעַ אֶת הַפֵּרוּשׁ.  
  It can be said that the context determines the meaning.

- מִצַּד אֶחָד זֹאת צוּרַת יִקְטוֹל, אֲבָל מִצַּד שֵׁנִי הִיא פוֹעֶלֶת כִּיוּסִּיב.  
  On the one hand this is an imperfect form, but on the other hand it functions as a jussive.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- Biblical Hebrew verbs are formed from a root fitted into a pattern
- A binyan is a stem, while perfect, imperfect, imperative and participle are forms
- Accurate parsing requires root, stem, form and person-gender-number where relevant
- The main stems required in detail are Qal, Niphal, Piel, Hiphil and Hithpael
- The perfect is the suffix-conjugation and the imperfect is the prefix-conjugation
- Jussive and imperfect may be formally identical, so context often decides the meaning
- Participles can function verbally, adjectivally or substantivally
- Infinitive construct and infinitive absolute must be distinguished in both shape and use
- Weak verbs follow patterns of loss, contraction, assimilation or vowel change
- Gutturals resist doubling, prefer a-class vowels and often affect shewa and syllable structure
- In II-guttural verbs, Piel, Pual and Hithpael lose the expected doubling of the second radical and compensate with vowel change
- Poetic Hebrew often uses shortened or contracted forms, but they can still be parsed by standard categories

## Key Terms and Concepts

- שֹׁרֶשׁ (shoresh)
- binyan
- parsing
- perfect
- imperfect
- jussive
- cohortative
- participle
- weak verb
- guttural


Grammar - Verb formation