In short

The frequent-gzarot lesson (32) taught you the two flagship weak classes — ל”ה (רצה, קנה) and the hollow verbs (בא, קם) — and let you treat שמע, עבד, פתח, נתן, נסע, לקח as “near-strong.” This lesson closes the set. It covers the roots whose weak letter is a guttural (א/ה/ח/ע, sometimes ר), plus the three “disappearing first-radical” classes: פ”נ (a נ in slot 1), פ”י (a י in slot 1) and פ”א (an א in slot 1).

The good news: none of these deform everywhere. A guttural, a נ, a י or an א mostly leaves the present and past looking strong, and bends the verb only in one or two predictable slots — usually the future and the infinitive. So instead of memorizing whole new paradigms, you learn where each class diverges from the strong template of lessons 6 / 21 / 37, and copy the strong forms everywhere else.

The rule

• Guttural, pe-position — the future/infinitive prefix vowel turns from i to a. עמד (amad, “stand”) and חשב (chashav, “think”) look strong in the present (עומד omed, חושב choshev) and past (עמדתי amadti). They diverge only in the future and infinitive, where the strong i-prefix (יכתוב yikhtov, לכתוב likhtov) becomes an a: יעמוד (ya’amod), לעמוד (la’amod); יחשוב (yachshov), לחשוב (lachshov). With ע/ה the vowel is often echoed under the guttural (ya-a-mod).

• Guttural, ayin-position — the future theme vowel turns from o to a. בחר (bachar, “choose”) and שאל (sha’al, “ask”) are strong-looking in present/past/infinitive (בוחר bocher, לבחור livchor; שואל sho’el, לשאול lish’ol). The one deviation is the future vowel between radicals: strong -o (yikhtov) becomes -a: יבחר (yivchar), ישאל (yish’al) — never *yivchor.

• Guttural, lamed-position — a furtive patach in the present/infinitive and an a-vowel future. A word ending in ח or ע after an o/i vowel sprouts an automatic, unwritten -a (patach genuva): שומע (shome’a), פותח (pote’ach), infinitives לשמוע (lishmoa), לפתוח (liftoach). The feminine present takes an a-colour too: שומעת (shoma’at), not *shome’et. And the future theme vowel is again a: ישמע (yishma), יפתח (yiftach). The past stays strong (שמע shama, שמעתי shamati).

• Pe-nun (פ”נ) — the נ assimilates when it would close a syllable. In the future and infinitive the first-slot נ vanishes (classically doubling the next letter): נפל (nafal, “fall”) → ייפול (yipol), ליפול (lipol); present/past stay strong (נופל nofel, נפל nafal). נתן (natan, “give”) is the irregular star — it assimilates the נ in the past too (נתתי natati), and gives infinitive לתת (latet), future ייתן (yiten). The assimilation carries into hif’il: הגיע (higia, “arrive”), הכיר (hikir, “know/recognize”).

• Pe-yod (פ”י) — the yod drops and the prefix takes tzere. ישב (yashav, “sit/live”), ירד (yarad, “go down”), יצא (yatza, “go out”), ידע (yada, “know”) look strong in present (יושב yoshev, יורד yored) and past (ישב yashav). But the future loses the yod and colours the prefix with e: ישב (yeshev), ירד (yered), יצא (yetze), ידע (yeda). The infinitive becomes a short la-…-et segolate: לשבת (lashevet), לרדת (laredet), לצאת (latzet), לדעת (lada’at). In hif’il the pe-yod turns to a vav/o: הוריד (horid, “bring down”), הוציא (hotzi, “take out”).

• Pe-alef (פ”א) — a tiny closed class where the alef goes silent and the future prefix takes o. Only about five common verbs behave this way — chiefly אכל (achal, “eat”) and אמר (amar, “say”). Present/past are strong (אוכל ochel, אמר amar), but the future silences the א and rounds the prefix to o: יאכל (yochal), תאכל (tochal), אוכל (ochal); יאמר (yomar). אכל keeps a regular-looking infinitive לאכול (le’echol); אמר has the irregular infinitive לומר (lomar). Ordinary pe-alef verbs like אסף (asaf) do not join this club — they follow the plain pe-guttural pattern (יאסוף ye’esof).

Forms & patterns

Guttural verbs — only the cells that DIVERGE from strong pa’al are shown; blank = same as the strong template.

The strong reference points: present כותב (kotev) / כותבת (kotevet), past כתב (katav), future יכתוב (yikhtov), infinitive לכתוב (likhtov).

Pe-nun (פ”נ) — assimilation shows up in future + infinitive (and נתן’s past):

Pe-yod (פ”י) — the yod drops in future + infinitive; hif’il turns it to o:

Pe-alef (פ”א) — the closed class; alef silent + o-prefix in the future:

Note the pe-alef collision: the 1sg future אוכל (ochal) is spelled exactly like the present אוכל (ochel) — only the vowel you say and the time word tell them apart.

Examples

Common mistakes

• ינפול (yinpol) -> ייפול (yipol) - the pe-nun נ assimilates in the future; it never surfaces to give a strong-style *yinpol.
• לירוד (lirod) -> לרדת (laredet) - a pe-yod verb drops its yod; the infinitive is the short la-…-et segolate, not a strong li-…-o form.
• לאמור (le’emor) -> לומר (lomar) - אמר has the irregular infinitive לומר; don’t rebuild it on the strong template. (The spelling לאמור does exist, but only as the literary lemor, “saying / namely”, not as the everyday “to say”.)
• נתנתי (natanti) -> נתתי (natati) - נתן assimilates its final נ in the past, so “I gave” is natati, not a strong *natanti.
• yivchor (יבחר) -> yivchar (יבחר) - an ayin-guttural future takes the a theme vowel; it is yivchar, yish’al — where a strong verb would say -o.
• lishmo (לשמוע) -> lishmoa (לשמוע) - a word-final ח/ע after o/i needs the furtive patach; pronounce the ending -oa/-ea, never a bare *lishmo.
• ye’echol (יאכל) -> yochal (יאכל) - in the pe-alef future the alef goes silent and the prefix rounds to o: yochal, tochal, ochal — the alef is not sounded.

Tips

• Anchor every weak verb by its present m.sg + infinitive. The infinitive is the loudest class-detector: לשבת says pe-yod, ליפול says pe-nun, לומר/לאכול say pe-alef, לעמוד says pe-guttural.
• For פ”נ, פ”י and פ”א the deviation is concentrated in the future and infinitive — present and past stay strong. Learn just those two slots per verb and copy the rest from lessons 6 / 21.
• The furtive patach is automatic and unwritten: anything ending in ח or ע after o/i gets a spoken -a — שומע (shome’a), פותח (pote’ach), לשמוע (lishmoa), לפתוח (liftoach).
• The guttural future theme vowel is a, not o: lamed-guttural ישמע (yishma), יפתח (yiftach); ayin-guttural יבחר (yivchar), ישאל (yish’al).
• לקח (take) is an honorary pe-nun: its ל assimilates just like a נ — future ייקח (yikach), infinitive לקחת (lakachat).
• נסע (travel) sits in two classes at once — pe-nun and lamed-guttural: the future ייסע (yisa) assimilates the נ and takes the guttural a theme vowel, yet the infinitive keeps the נ, לנסוע (linsoa).
• Register (see lesson 60): literary “he’ll say” is יאמר (yomar), but everyday speech prefers the hif’il יגיד (yagid); both are correct MIH.
• Hif’il doesn’t escape these classes either: pe-nun still assimilates (הגיע higia, הכיר hikir) and pe-yod still rounds to o (הוריד horid, הוציא hotzi).