modern hebrew on memrise

1. Infinitives בניין פעל גזרת השלמים
We have covered almost all the forms of בניין פעל in the
present tense. The last few forms we will learn in a future
lesson, but in this lesson the first infinitive forms will be
introduced.

2. Infinitives בניין פעל גזרת השלמים
An infinitive is the basic form of a verb. It is a singular form
that is invariable with both gender and number. In English
these verbs are prefixed with the word ‘to’.
To be
To have
To give
To love
Notice that this form is constant in English. It doesn’t matter
the gender or the number.
I want ‘to do’ that
We love ‘to bring’ those

3. Infinitives בניין פעל גזרת השלמים
An infinitive in Hebrew, performs the same function as in
English in that it has only one form in every gender and
number. Because of this, all future verbs will be introduced
in this form.
Do you remember the XXX notation from previous lessons?
This notation indicates the three letter root that almost all
verbs have where each X represents one root letter.
Recall from lesson 5 that גזרת השלמים means all the root
letters of the verb are strong letters.

4. Infinitives בניין פעל גזרת השלמים
Also recall that the present tense form of verbs in בניין פעל
גזרת השלמים have the following form XX וX and the regular
vowels of XeXoX. For instance: lomed, shomer, roked.
The infinitive form of verbs in בניין פעל גזרת השלמים follow a
regular pattern just like their present tense counterparts.
The normal pattern is X וXX .ל
Notice two things about this. First, the root is prefixed by the
letter ל. Second the ו moves from between the first and
second letters to between the second and third letters.

5. Infinitives בניין פעל גזרת השלמים
The vowels also change from the present tense form. Most
of the time the vowels are XoXXil, notice there is no vowel
between the first and second root letter. Let’s look at some
examples. Can you recognize the root and present tense
form?
ללמוד (lilmod) – to learn (present tense לומד lomed)
לרקוד (lirkod) – to dance (present tense רוקד roked)
לגמור (ligmor) – to finish (present tense גומר gomer)
לסגור (lisgor) – to close (present tense סוגר soger)
זוכר (lizchor) – to remember (present tense זוכר zocher)
It is very important to remember a root for a verb as you can
see. The infinitives sound completely different but they are
really very similar to their present tense forms.

6. Infinitives בניין פעל גזרת השלמים
Another aspect of infinitives is the change in consonant
pronunciation. Each of the letters ב ,פ , and כ has two
pronunciations depending on the word they are in an the
position they are in.
כ is k or ch
ב is b or v
פ is p or f
The first pronunciation above is called the strong pronunciation.
(k, b, p). The second pronunciation is called the weak
pronunciation (ch, v, f).
If one of these letters is the first consonant in a word, it will use
the strong pronunciation (except in borrowed foreign words).

7. Infinitives בניין פעל גזרת השלמים
At the end of a word, these letters always use the weak
pronunciation. If these letters are in the middle they vary on
which pronunciation they use.
When a verb contains one of these three letters as the first
root letter, the weak form will be used in the infinitive and the
strong form will be used in the present tense. For example:
לפגוש (lifgosh) – to meet (present tense פוגש pogesh)
לכתוב (lichtov) – to write (present tense כותב kotev)
לבחור (livchor) – to choose (present tense בוחר bocher)
Notice that the first root letter changes pronunciation from strong
to weak in the infinitive.

8. Infinitives בניין פעל גזרת השלמים
When the first root letter is one of the guttural letters ע ,א , or
ח, the first vowel after the ל will change from the normal ‘I’
sound.
When the first root letter is א, the first vowel is a double ‘e’.
לאכול (le’ekhol) - to eat (present tense אוכל okhel)
When the first root letter is ע, the first vowel is a double ‘a’.
לעבוד (la’avod) – to work (present tense עובד oved)
When the first root letter is ח, the first vowel is a single ‘a’.
לחשוב (lachshov) – to think (present tense חושב choshev)

9. Infinitives בניין פעל גזרת השלמים
Learn the infinitive and its vowel changes well. They will be
used quite extensively as they are very common in Hebrew.
Review this lesson as many times as you need to get it right.
It is different from anything you have learned so far.
The infinitive is usually used in Hebrew whenever you would
use it in English. It is always used when the infinitive verb
follows another verb.
I want to think - אני רוצה לחשוב (ani rotse lachshov)
Think is the second verb in this sentence so it must be in
infinitive form.