Pi'el: the Busy Binyan
Talk, pay, look for, travel, tell: a huge share of everyday verbs live in pi'el, and new ones keep moving in. One doubled letter and fixed vowels carry you through every tense.
Look at the middle root letter: the dagesh in דִּבֵּר, מְדַבֵּר and לְדַבֵּר is pi'el's signature. In ב, כ and פ you can even hear it: סִפֵּר is siper, not sifer.
The pattern: a doubled middle letterthe signature
Look at the middle letter
An ordinary day in Hebrew is full of pi'el: you talk (דִּבֵּר), pay (שִׁלֵּם), look for your keys (חִפֵּשׂ), tell someone what happened (סִפֵּר), go on a trip (טִיֵּל). In the verbs lesson you met pi'el as one of the active binyanim. Here is how it works, and how to recognise it in one second.
Its signature is the middle root letter. In ד־ב־ר the ב is doubled, and nikud marks the doubling with a dagesh, a “strong dagesh” (דָּגֵשׁ חָזָק). The vowels are fixed too: i–e in the past (דִּבֵּר), a–e in all the other forms (מְדַבֵּר, יְדַבֵּר, לְדַבֵּר, דַּבֵּר).
Today the dagesh changes the sound only in ב, כ and פ, which become b, k and p: סִפֵּר is siper, קִבֵּל is kibel. In the other letters it is still written, but not heard.
One verb, five forms
| Form | Verb | Meaning | What gives it away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Past (he) | דִּבֵּר | he spoke, talked | i–e and a dagesh: di-ber |
| Present (m.) | מְדַבֵּר | speaks, is speaking | מְ, then a–e: me-da-ber |
| Future (he) | יְדַבֵּר | he will speak | a shva under the prefix: ye-da-ber |
| Infinitive | לְדַבֵּר | to speak | לְ + the same a–e: le-da-ber |
| Imperative (m.) | דַּבֵּר | speak! | the stem on its own: da-ber |
A few groups of verbs bend these vowels a little. You'll meet them in the last chapters: roots that end in ה, like נִסָּה, and roots with ר or א in the middle, like סֵרֵב.
Six pi'el verbs you'll use today
diber
spoke, talked
shilem
paid
khipes
looked for
bikesh
asked for, requested
siper
told
tiyel
travelled, went on a trip
Pi'el in every tense
דִּבַּרְתִּי עִם אִמָּא בַּטֶּלֶפוֹן.
dibarti im ima ba-telefon
I talked to Mom on the phone.
אֲנִי מְחַפֵּשׂ אֶת הַמַּפְתְּחוֹת שֶׁלִּי.
ani mekhapes et ha-maftekhot sheli
I'm looking for my keys.
מִי מְשַׁלֵּם הַיּוֹם?
mi meshalem ha-yom?
Who's paying today?
בַּשַּׁבָּת נְטַיֵּל עִם הַיְלָדִים.
ba-shabat netayel im ha-yeladim
On Saturday we'll go on a trip with the kids.
Which מ is it?
In the verbs lesson you saw that several binyanim open their present with מ. Pi'el has a plain מְ followed by an a: מְדַבֵּר. Hif'il opens with מַ (מַדְלִיק), hitpa'el with מִתְ (מִתְלַבֵּשׁ). Pu'al, the passive partner of pi'el, also has מְ, but its vowels are u–a, as in עַל מָה מְדֻבָּר? (what is it about?). We'll meet it in the lesson on pu'al and huf'al.
Present: מְ and the four formsten everyday verbs
Every pi'el verb, one template
In the lesson on the present you met מְדַבֵּר and its four forms. Every pi'el verb works the same way: מְ, the root with a–e, and the endings you already know: מְסַפֵּר (tells), מְסַפֶּרֶת, מְסַפְּרִים, מְסַפְּרוֹת.
Two small changes come with the endings. Before ־ֶת the tsere turns into a segol, which sounds the same: mesaperet. Before ־ִים and ־וֹת it drops out: mesaprim, mesaprot. The dagesh, and with it the hard p, stays in every form.
Remember: the present cares about gender and number, not about I, you or he. A man says אֲנִי מְסַפֵּר, a woman says אֲנִי מְסַפֶּרֶת.
The four forms of מְסַפֵּר
mesaper
tells
mesaperet
tells
mesaprim
tell
mesaprot
tell
Ten verbs for every day
| A man / he | A woman / she | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| מְבַקֵּשׁ | מְבַקֶּשֶׁת | asks for, requests |
| מְחַפֵּשׂ | מְחַפֶּשֶׂת | looks for |
| מְשַׁלֵּם | מְשַׁלֶּמֶת | pays |
| מְסַדֵּר | מְסַדֶּרֶת | tidies up, arranges |
| מְטַיֵּל | מְטַיֶּלֶת | travels, goes on trips, goes for a walk |
| מְבַשֵּׁל | מְבַשֶּׁלֶת | cooks |
| מְלַמֵּד | מְלַמֶּדֶת | teaches |
| מְקַבֵּל | מְקַבֶּלֶת | receives, gets |
| מְסַפֵּר | מְסַפֶּרֶת | tells |
| מְצַלֵּם | מְצַלֶּמֶת | takes photos, films |
When the last root letter is ח or ע, the feminine ends in ־ַחַת or ־ַעַת instead: מְנַצֵּחַ becomes מְנַצַּחַת (wins). And a ב, כ or פ at the start of the root turns soft after מְ: bikesh in the past, but mevakesh in the present.
Sentences to read aloud
אִמָּא שֶׁלִּי מְלַמֶּדֶת מָתֵמָטִיקָה.
ima sheli melamedet matematika
My mom teaches maths.
מִי מְבַשֵּׁל אֶצְלְכֶם?
mi mevashel etslekhem?
Who does the cooking at your place?
אֲנַחְנוּ מְטַיְּלִים בַּצָּפוֹן כָּל קַיִץ.
anakhnu metaylim ba-tsafon kol kayits
We go hiking in the north every summer.
כַּמָּה אַתָּה מְקַבֵּל לְשָׁעָה?
kama ata mekabel le-sha’a?
How much do you get an hour?
Without nikud a doubled י is written twice: מְטַיְּלִים is spelled מטיילים.
Quick check
Which of these present-tense verbs is pi'el?
Keep going, it's free
Sign in with Google or Apple to open the rest of this lesson. It takes a few seconds.
- The rest of this lesson and the lesson test
- Hemy, the AI tutor who explains the rules and quizzes you
- Your progress, synced between the website and the app
- A review of the questions you got wrong
Keep practicing anywhere with the Hemy app
Scan with your phone camera
How was this lesson?
Thirty seconds of your feedback shapes the next lesson.
Tap a star to start
Practise Pi'el Binyan in the HEMY app
Games on this lesson's words and a voice conversation with AI on the same topic, so the rule turns into speech.
Scan with your phone camera
Frequently asked questions
- What is pi'el in Hebrew?
- Pi'el (פִּעֵל) is one of the seven binyanim, and one of the busiest: דִּבֵּר (spoke), שִׁלֵּם (paid), חִפֵּשׂ (looked for), טִיֵּל (travelled) and קִבֵּל (received) all belong to it. You recognise it by the dagesh in the middle root letter, i–e in the past, מְ in the present (מְדַבֵּר), a shva under the future prefix (יְדַבֵּר) and לְ + a–e in the infinitive (לְדַבֵּר).
- Is pi'el the intensive form of pa'al?
- Only sometimes: שָׁבַר is “broke” and שִׁבֵּר “smashed to pieces”. Usually the pi'el verb is simply a different word from the same root, often one that makes someone else do the action: לָמַד (learned) and לִמֵּד (taught), גָּדַל (grew up) and גִּדֵּל (raised). Many pi'el verbs, like בִּקֵּשׁ and טִיֵּל, have no pa'al partner in today's Hebrew at all.
- Why is it נִסִּיתִי and לְנַסּוֹת?
- The root of נִסָּה ends in ה (נ־ס־ה). As with קָנָה in pa'al, the ה becomes י before a past ending (נִסִּיתִי, נִסִּינוּ), ת in the “she” form (נִסְּתָה) and וֹת in the infinitive (לְנַסּוֹת). The present ends in ־ֶה / ־ָה: מְנַסֶּה, מְנַסָּה. The dagesh in the middle letter stays all the way through.
- Why do new verbs like לְגַגֵּל go into pi'el?
- The pi'el pattern stretches easily to four or even five consonants (סִנְכְּרֵן, synced), so a borrowed word slips into it: Google gives לְגַגֵּל, SMS gives לְסַמֵּס, and Yiddish gave לְפַרְגֵּן. Most new Hebrew verbs are born in pi'el.
Finished this lesson?
Mark it complete to track your path through the grammar course.
Where to go next
All grammar lessonsYour progress0 of 8 done
- The pattern: a doubled middle letter
- Present: מְ and the four forms
- Past: the full table and the vowel swap (Free account)
- Future, infinitive and imperative (Free account)
- What pi'el does to a root (Free account)
- Special cases you meet every day (Free account)
- Common mistakes and summary (Free account)
- Practice game (Free account)
- Lesson test (Free account)
- Keep practising
- Questions