Bible HebrewNiphal & Piel
Passive and intensive stems.
Niphal and Piel, in every form
Each stem has all the verb forms you know from the Qal: the past, the future, the story form with וַ, the command and the participle. In the Bible you will meet the future, story and participle forms far more often than the plain past, so learn to spot the stem in all of them.
Niphal is usually passive or reflexive (“was broken”, “hid himself”). How to spot it: in the past and the participle it has נִ in front: נִשְׁבַּר “it was broken”. After any other prefix the נ disappears, and the first root letter gets a dot that doubles it: יִשָּׁבֵר “it will be broken”. Compare the Qal יִשְׁמֹר “he will keep”, with no doubling. Some verbs are only used in the Niphal and have an active meaning, like “fight”.
Piel is active and often makes the basic meaning stronger or different. How to spot it: the middle root letter is doubled. The past has i under the first letter: דִּבֶּר “he spoke”. With a prefix, the prefix gets only the quick ְ and the first root letter gets a: יְדַבֵּר “he will speak”. The participle starts with מְ. When the middle letter can't be doubled, like ר, the vowel before it gets longer instead: וַיְבָרֶךְ “and he blessed” (Genesis 1:22).
| Stem | Past (he) | Future (he) | Story form (and he) | Command (you!) | Participle (-ing) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niphal, “be broken” | נִשְׁבַּר it was broken | יִשָּׁבֵר it will be broken | וַיִּשָּׁבֵר and it was broken | — | נִשְׁבָּר broken |
| Niphal, “fight” | נִלְחַם he fought | יִלָּחֵם he will fight | וַיִּלָּחֶם and he fought | הִלָּחֵם fight! | נִלְחָם fighting |
| Piel, “speak” | דִּבֶּר he spoke | יְדַבֵּר he will speak | וַיְדַבֵּר and he spoke | דַּבֵּר speak! | מְדַבֵּר speaking |
The Bible uses them like this: יְהוָה יִלָּחֵם לָכֶם “Yəḥawwe will fight for you” (Exodus 14:14). וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים “And God spoke” (Exodus 20:1). דַּבֵּר כִּי שֹׁמֵעַ עַבְדֶּךָ “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10).
Two things to watch. The Niphal command starts with הִ, like the Hiphil past in the next lesson. The doubled letter after it shows it is Niphal: הִלָּחֵם “fight!”. And the Niphal participle differs from the past only by a vowel: נִשְׁבָּר “broken” and נִשְׁבַּר “it was broken”. The sentence tells you which one it is.
Check yourself
A verb starting with נִ (like נִשְׁמַר) is usually…
✓ Niphal (passive) · Piel (intensive) · Hiphil (causative) · Qal (basic)
נִ in front is the sign of the Niphal, which usually means something was done to someone: שָׁמַר “he kept”, but נִשְׁמַר “he was kept”.
All four are Piel forms of “speak”. Which one is the participle, “speaking”?
✓ מְדַבֵּר · דִּבֶּר · יְדַבֵּר · וַיְדַבֵּר
Participles of the Piel start with מְ: מְדַבֵּר “speaking”. דִּבֶּר is “he spoke”, יְדַבֵּר “he will speak”, וַיְדַבֵּר “and he spoke”.
Moses says יְהוָה יִלָּחֵם לָכֶם (Exodus 14:14). Later the Egyptians cry יְהוָה נִלְחָם לָהֶם (Exodus 14:25). How do the two verbs differ?
✓ “will fight”, then “is fighting” · “fought”, then “will fight” · “fight!”, then “fought” · “is fighting”, then “was fought”
יִלָּחֵם has the י prefix: “he will fight”. נִלְחָם, with נִ and no prefix, is the participle: “yəḥawwe is fighting for them”.
Adam says of the woman לְזֹאת יִקָּרֵא אִשָּׁה (Genesis 2:23). What does יִקָּרֵא mean?
✓ will be called · will call · called out · is calling
יִ and then a doubled ק: the Niphal future of קָרָא “call”. “This one will be called woman.”
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