“Normal” or “regular” verbs are called strong verbs in Hebrew. This means they have three “strong” consonants that do not normally produce irregularities. (Note: in German strong verbs are irregular, the opposite of the case in Hebrew.) The verb paqad is a normal or “strong” verb that may be used as a sample or paradigm (model) verb for the purpose of demonstrating the regular pattern of vowels. The vowels from paqad may be inserted into the consonants of any other strong, regular verb. Paqad means “deal with,” come to help or punish, conventionally translated “visit.”
Qal Perfect of paqad (he visited, etc.)
The spelling below is simplified. The upside down ‘e’ is a very short ‘e’ or the very short neutral vowel sound of the first syllable of ‘about’.
|
Person and Gender |
Singular |
Plural |
| 3m
3f 2m 2f 1c |
paqad
paqədah paqadtah paqadt paqadti |
paqədu
paqədu pəqadtem pəqadten paqadnu |
Gender means masculine or feminine. The first person is the person speaking, “I” is 1 singular; “we” is 1 plural. In English as in Hebrew, the gender is common for “I” and “we”; we don’t distinguish “I” feminine from “I” masculine.
The second person is “You”. Hebrew distinguishes gender, masculine from feminine, and singular from plural; so there are 4 forms for the second person.
The third person singular is “he” or “she”; the plural is “they”.
