Page 28 - IL-Unit 3-RD3-V23101-080716

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Intermediate-Low, Unit 3

General Structure of the Past Tense

The past tense in Hebrew is characterized by adding suffixes to a verb
“kernel”.

The past structure is divided into two charts. This is not the traditional
division, but it will help you remember the past structure a lot more
easily.

The first chart, of the pronouns ‫ הם‬,‫ היא‬,‫ הוא‬usually* uses one kind of
verb “kernel”.

Pronoun ‫* ֵהן‬/ ‫ִּהיא ֵהם‬ ‫הּוא‬

Suffix  ‫ּו‬.... ‫ה‬.... ....

The second chart, for the pronouns ‫ אתם‬,‫ אנחנו‬,‫ את‬,‫ אתה‬,‫ אני‬uses a
different verb “kernel”. You can easily remember the suffixes of this
chart, as they fit the end of the pronoun.

Pronoun ‫ֲא ִּני ַּאתה ַּא ְת ֲא ַּנ ְחנּו ַּא ֶּתם * ַּא ֶּתן‬

Suffix  ‫ ֶּתן‬.... ‫ ֶּתם‬.... ‫נּו‬.... ‫ ְת‬.... ‫ת‬.... ‫ ִּתי‬....

As we will see, the **verb "kernel" in the past tense is easily derived
from the infinitive form.

* Feminine pronouns ‫ הן‬and ‫ אתן‬are rarely used in Modern Hebrew and

therefore will not be addressed throughout this book.

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