Past Tense
One past tense for everything that already happened. The verb carries the person in its ending, so nine endings unlock every verb in the language.
The endings are the same in every binyan. Learn them once on לִכְתֹּב and they work on דִּבֵּר, הִתְחִיל and הִתְלַבֵּשׁ.
One past for everything
Wrote, was writing, have written
Hebrew has a single past tense. It covers “I wrote”, “I was writing” and “I have written”: the context and time words do the rest, exactly as in the present tense.
Unlike the present, the past tense marks the person. The ending tells you whether it was I, you, she or we, which is why the pronoun is often left out.
The third-person masculine singular (הוּא כָּתַב) is the shortest form and the one dictionaries list. Everything else is built on it.
Three sentences in the past
כָּתַבְתִּי מִכְתָּב.
katavti mikhtav
I wrote a letter.
אֶתְמוֹל לָמַדְנוּ עִבְרִית.
etmol lamadnu ivrit
Yesterday we studied Hebrew.
הִיא אָכְלָה וְהָלְכָה לִישׁוֹן.
hi akhla ve-halkha lishon
She ate and went to sleep.
The person endingsthe core table
Base form + ending
Start from the base form כָּתַב (he wrote). Add ־תִּי for I, ־תָּ for you (m.), ־תְּ for you (f.), ־ָה for she, ־נוּ for we, ־תֶּם / ־תֶּן for you (pl.), ־וּ for they.
The endings echo the pronouns: ־תִּי sounds like the end of אֲנִי is not the point, but ־תָּ / ־תְּ mirror אַתָּה / אַתְּ, ־נוּ mirrors אֲנַחְנוּ and ־תֶּם mirrors אַתֶּם. Use that to remember them.
Watch the small vowel shifts: הִיא כָּתְבָה and הֵם כָּתְבוּ lose the vowel under the second letter; אַתֶּם כְּתַבְתֶּם shifts the first one.
Two regular verbs across all persons
| Person | Ending | לִכְתֹּב | לִלְמֹד |
|---|---|---|---|
| אֲנִי | ־תִּי | כָּתַבְתִּי | לָמַדְתִּי |
| אַתָּה | ־תָּ | כָּתַבְתָּ | לָמַדְתָּ |
| אַתְּ | ־תְּ | כָּתַבְתְּ | לָמַדְתְּ |
| הוּא | base form | כָּתַב | לָמַד |
| הִיא | ־ָה | כָּתְבָה | לָמְדָה |
| אֲנַחְנוּ | ־נוּ | כָּתַבְנוּ | לָמַדְנוּ |
| אַתֶּם / אַתֶּן | ־תֶּם / ־תֶּן | כְּתַבְתֶּם | לְמַדְתֶּם |
| הֵם / הֵן | ־וּ | כָּתְבוּ | לָמְדוּ |
הֵם and הֵן share one form. In everyday speech אַתֶּם is used for women too, but אַתֶּן is the standard.
A rhythm to memorise
Say it as a chant: katavti, katavta, katavt, katav, katva, katavnu, ktavtem, katvu. Ten repetitions out loud beat an hour of reading.
Quick check
We studied Hebrew.
אֲנַחְנוּ ___ עִבְרִית.
The verb says who: drop the pronoun
First and second person stand alone
Because the ending already marks the person, אֲנִי, אַתָּה, אַתְּ, אֲנַחְנוּ and אַתֶּם are usually dropped in the past tense. כָּתַבְתִּי on its own is a complete sentence: I wrote.
The third person is different. כָּתַב could be any male: a name, a noun or הוּא has to say who. Keep the subject in the third person.
You can keep the pronoun for emphasis or contrast: אֲנִי כָּתַבְתִּי, לֹא אַתָּה (I wrote it, not you).
With and without the pronoun
דָּנָה כָּתְבָה מִכְתָּב.
Dana katva mikhtav
Dana wrote a letter (the name is the subject).
הוּא כָּתַב מִכְתָּב.
hu katav mikhtav
He wrote a letter (הוּא is needed here).
The past in the other binyanimsame endings
Different stems, identical endings
Every binyan has its own past-tense stem: דִּבֵּר, הִתְחִיל, הִתְלַבֵּשׁ, נִכְנַס. The endings you add to that stem are exactly the ones from the table above. Learn the “he” form of a new verb and you have all eight.
In פִּעֵל and הִפְעִיל the stem vowel shifts before an ending: דִּבֵּר → דִּבַּרְתִּי, הִתְחִיל → הִתְחַלְתִּי. Third person keeps the long vowel: הִיא הִתְחִילָה.
One verb per binyan
| Binyan | אֲנִי | הוּא | הִיא | הֵם |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פָּעַל | כָּתַבְתִּי | כָּתַב | כָּתְבָה | כָּתְבוּ |
| פִּעֵל | דִּבַּרְתִּי | דִּבֵּר | דִּבְּרָה | דִּבְּרוּ |
| הִפְעִיל | הִתְחַלְתִּי | הִתְחִיל | הִתְחִילָה | הִתְחִילוּ |
| הִתְפַּעֵל | הִתְלַבַּשְׁתִּי | הִתְלַבֵּשׁ | הִתְלַבְּשָׁה | הִתְלַבְּשׁוּ |
| נִפְעַל | נִכְנַסְתִּי | נִכְנַס | נִכְנְסָה | נִכְנְסוּ |
Look at the אֲנִי column: the ending ־תִּי is identical in every row.
The irregular verbs you use every day
Three small families
Verbs whose root ends in ה (לִקְנוֹת, לִרְצוֹת, לִרְאוֹת) take ־ִיתִי in the first and second person: קָנִיתִי, רָצִיתִי, רָאִיתִי. The “she” form ends in ־תָה: קָנְתָה.
Two-letter verbs (לָקוּם, לָבוֹא, לָגוּר) have a short stem: קַמְתִּי, בָּאתִי, גַּרְתִּי; and “he” is just קָם, בָּא, גָּר. The verb “to be” follows the first family: הָיִיתִי, הָיָה, הָיְתָה, הָיוּ.
There is no “was” in the present tense, so הָיָה is how the past of every nominal sentence is formed: הָיִיתִי מוֹרֶה (I was a teacher).
Seven verbs to learn by heart
| Verb | Meaning | אֲנִי | הוּא | הִיא | הֵם |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| לִהְיוֹת | to be | הָיִיתִי | הָיָה | הָיְתָה | הָיוּ |
| לִקְנוֹת | to buy | קָנִיתִי | קָנָה | קָנְתָה | קָנוּ |
| לִרְצוֹת | to want | רָצִיתִי | רָצָה | רָצְתָה | רָצוּ |
| לִרְאוֹת | to see | רָאִיתִי | רָאָה | רָאֲתָה | רָאוּ |
| לָקוּם | to get up | קַמְתִּי | קָם | קָמָה | קָמוּ |
| לָבוֹא | to come | בָּאתִי | בָּא | בָּאָה | בָּאוּ |
| לָגוּר | to live | גַּרְתִּי | גָּר | גָּרָה | גָּרוּ |
“I had”: the past of יֵשׁ לִי
haya li zman
I had time
hayta li she’ela
I had a question
hayu lanu orkhim
we had guests
lo haya li kesef
I had no money
הָיָה agrees with the thing you had, not with you: הָיְתָה לִי שְׁאֵלָה because שְׁאֵלָה is feminine.
Quick check
I was at home all day.
___ בַּבַּיִת כָּל הַיּוֹם.
Time words and real sentences
Anchor the past with a time word
Negate the past with לֹא before the verb: לֹא כָּתַבְתִּי. Ask with a question word in front: מָתַי בָּאתָ? Add כְּבָר (already) or עוֹד לֹא (not yet) to say whether it is done.
There is no “did” in questions or negatives: לֹא הָלַכְתִּי is “I did not go”, and הָלַכְתָּ? is “did you go?”.
Time words that go with the past
Sentences to read aloud
אֶתְמוֹל הָלַכְתִּי לַיָּם.
etmol halakhti la-yam
Yesterday I went to the beach.
לֹא לָמַדְנוּ אֶתְמוֹל.
lo lamadnu etmol
We did not study yesterday.
מָה עָשִׂיתָ בְּסוֹף הַשָּׁבוּעַ?
ma asita ba-sof shavua
What did you do at the weekend?
כְּבָר אָכַלְתִּי, תּוֹדָה.
kvar akhalti, toda
I have already eaten, thanks.
עוֹד לֹא קָרָאתִי אֶת הַסֵּפֶר.
od lo karati et ha-sefer
I have not read the book yet.
Common mistakes
- אֲנִי הָיָה בַּבַּיִתהָיִיתִי בַּבַּיִת
“I was” has its own form, הָיִיתִי. הָיָה is only “he was”.
- הִיא כָּתַב מִכְתָּבהִיא כָּתְבָה מִכְתָּב
הִיא needs the feminine ending ־ָה: כָּתְבָה.
- אֲנִי לֹא הָיָה לִי זְמַןלֹא הָיָה לִי זְמַן
“I had” is הָיָה לִי with no אֲנִי in front: the owner comes after לְ.
- הֵם קָנִיתִי לֶחֶםהֵם קָנוּ לֶחֶם
The ending must match the subject: הֵם takes ־וּ.
What to remember
- One past tense; time words and context give the nuance.
- Base form + person ending; the endings are the same in every binyan.
- First and second person drop the pronoun; third person keeps a subject.
- Learn הָיָה, ה-verbs (קָנִיתִי) and two-letter verbs (קַמְתִּי) as families.
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Frequently asked questions
- Is there a difference between “I wrote” and “I was writing”?
- Not in the verb. Hebrew uses one past form for both; if you need the ongoing sense, add a time phrase such as כָּל הַיּוֹם (all day) or כְּשֶׁ (when): כְּשֶׁהִיא בָּאָה, כָּתַבְתִּי.
- Do I have to say אֲנִי before כָּתַבְתִּי?
- No. The ending already means “I”, so כָּתַבְתִּי alone is correct and more natural. Keep the pronoun only for emphasis. In the third person, though, you need a subject: הוּא כָּתַב, דָּנָה כָּתְבָה.
- Why does דִּבֵּר become דִּבַּרְתִּי?
- When an ending that starts with a consonant (־תִּי, ־תָּ, ־נוּ, ־תֶּם) is added in פִּעֵל, the long vowel of the stem shortens. Before a vowel ending (־ָה, ־וּ) it stays: דִּבְּרָה, דִּבְּרוּ.
- How do I say “I had”?
- With the past of יֵשׁ לִי: הָיָה לִי (masculine thing), הָיְתָה לִי (feminine thing), הָיוּ לִי (plural). The verb agrees with what you had, never with you.
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