In short

Everything you learned about the pa’al present (lesson 6) and past (lesson 21) assumed a strong root — three solid consonants that never move, like כ־ת־ב (k-t-v). But many of the commonest verbs in Hebrew hold a weak letter in the root — an א, ה, ו, or י that refuses to stay put. When it does, the stem doesn’t break; it deforms predictably, dropping or hiding a letter where a strong verb keeps all three. These weak-root patterns are called the גזרות (gzarot, “classes”; singular גזרה, gizra).

This lesson takes two of the most frequent classes — the ל”ה type (רצה, קנה, ראה) and the hollow ע”ו/ע”י type (בא, גר, קם) — and builds their pa’al present and past. You already met one of these forms as a modal: רוצה (rotze, “want”) from lesson 18 is simply the ל”ה verb רצה in the present. We stay in pa’al, present and past only.

The rule

• Weak roots are named by position and letter. The teaching template for a root is פ־ע־ל (pe-ayin-lamed): the first radical is the “פ” slot, the middle is the “ע” slot, the third is the “ל” slot. A gizra is named for which slot holds which weak letter: ל”ה = a ה in the third slot (רצה, קנה); ע”ו / ע”י = a ו or י in the middle slot (בא, קם — the “hollow” verbs); פ”נ = a נ in the first slot (נסע). This lets you predict how the stem will bend.

• ל”ה present: the singular is one spelling for both genders. The four present forms of רצה are רוצה (rotze, m.sg), רוצה (rotza, f.sg), רוצים (rotzim, m.pl), רוצות (rotzot, f.pl). Crucially the masculine and feminine singular are the identical written word רוצה — only the vowel you say differs (rotze vs rotza). There is no strong-verb ־ת feminine ending here: it is רוצה, never *רוצת.

• ל”ה past: a י threads through most persons. רציתי (ratziti, I), רצית (ratzit / ratzita, you), רצה (ratza, he), רצתה (ratzta, she), רצינו (ratzinu, we), רצו (ratzu, they). The third-person forms — רצה / רצתה / רצו — are the ones without that י. Note the 3fs ends in ־תה: רצתה (ratzta, “she wanted”), not the strong-verb ־ה.

• Hollow verbs (ע”ו/ע”י) hide their middle letter. In בא, גר, קם, שם the middle ו/י vanishes from the spoken and written stem in both present and past. Present גר (gar), גרה (gara), גרים (garim), גרות (garot). Past גרתי (garti), גרת (garta), גר (gar), גרה (gara), גרנו (garnu), גרו (garu). So “I live” is גר (gar) — never *גור, and “I lived” is גרתי — never *גורתי.

• Hollow verbs overlap present and past. Because the stem is so short, forms collide: גר is both present “(he) lives” and past “he lived”; גרה is present “she lives” and past “she lived”; בא is present “comes” and past “came.” Context and the time word carry the tense.

• High-frequency guttural and pe-nun verbs look almost strong — for now. שמע (shama, hear), עבד (avad, work), פתח (patach, open), נתן (natan, give), נסע (nasa, travel), לקח (lakach, take) mostly just take an “a”-colored vowel next to the guttural (שומע shome’a, שמעתי shamati) and otherwise follow the strong pattern of lesson 21. Learn them now as near-regular; the systematic guttural/pe-nun paradigm comes in the B2 gzarot lesson.

• Everything else about the verb is unchanged. Definite objects still take את (ראיתי את הסרט, ra’iti et ha-seret), the pronoun is still optional in 1st/2nd person past (קניתי = “I bought”), and SVO order is the same. Only the stem shape is new.

Forms & patterns

ל”ה present — root רצה (want). One spelling for m/f singular:

ל”ה past — root רצה. The י threads through, except 3rd person:

More frequent ל”ה verbs — the anchor forms:

Hollow (ע”ו/ע”י) present — root גר (live/reside). No middle letter:

Hollow past across four frequent roots — the bare CaC skeleton stays:

High-frequency guttural & pe-nun verbs — near-strong, present + past:

Examples

Common mistakes

• היא רוצת קפה -> היא רוצה קפה (hi rotza kafe) - a ל”ה verb has no strong-verb ־ת in the feminine present; m and f singular are the identical spelling רוצה.
• אני קום בבוקר -> אני קם בבוקר (ani kam ba-boker) - hollow verbs show no middle letter in the present; it is קם (kam), never *קום.
• היא רצה אתמול (for “she wanted”) -> היא רצתה אתמול (hi ratzta etmol) - the ל”ה 3fs past ends in ־תה; רצה (ratza) is the masculine “he wanted.”
• קומתי מאוחר -> קמתי מאוחר (kamti me’uchar) - the hollow past also hides the middle ו; “I got up” is קמתי, not *קומתי.
• מה עשת? -> מה עשית? (ma asit) - the ל”ה singular past keeps its י; it is עשית (asit / asita), not *עשת.
• הם בואו אתמול -> הם באו אתמול (hem ba’u etmol) - the hollow 3pl past is באו (ba’u); do not add a stem ו — the middle letter stays hidden.

Tips

• Learn each weak verb as a pair of anchors: its present m.sg and its past 3ms (גר / גר, רוצה / רצה, קונה / קנה). From those two, the rest of the class falls into place.
• For ל”ה, remember the singular present is written one way for both genders — רוצה, קונה, רואה — and only the spoken vowel (rotze vs rotza) tells m from f. Don’t invent a *רוצת.
• The ל”ה past carries a י through every 1st and 2nd person, singular and plural — רציתי, קניתי, ראיתי, עשיתי, רצינו — while only 3ms/3fs/3pl (רצה / רצתה / רצו) drop it. And 3fs ends in ־תה.
• For hollow verbs, memorize the bare two-consonant skeleton (גר, קם, בא, שם) and add the ordinary past endings straight onto it: גרתי, קמנו, באו.
• Expect collisions unvocalized: גרה is present “she lives” and past “she lived”; בא is “comes” and “came.” A time word like אתמול (etmol) or עכשיו (achshav) resolves the tense.
• Treat שמע, עבד, פתח, נסע, לקח as near-strong: they follow lesson 21 with just an “a”-colored vowel by the guttural (שמעתי shamati, לקחתי lakachti). No new endings to learn.
• נתן (give) is high-frequency but slightly irregular — its final נ assimilates in the past (נתתי natati, נתת natata), so learn its set as a fixed block.
• The פ”נ / פ”י verbs (נסע, ידע) look almost regular at A2, but their first radical will start behaving differently in the future and imperative — a heads-up for lessons 37 and 38.