Hif'il in the Past

Level 3

Past הפעיל forms include הסברתי, I explained, and הסבירה, she explained. The vowel pattern changes across the family.

How It Works

The Explain Family

Learn הסברתי, הסברת, הסביר, הסבירה, הסברנו, הסברתם, הסברתן and הסבירו. The past stem in first and second persons differs from the third-person forms. Compare masculine אתה הסברת and feminine את הסברת by pronunciation.

Do Not Merely Add an Ending

הסבירתי is not the first-person form. Start from the actual learned stem הסבר־ when adding תי, נו and the second-person endings. Present מסביר and infinitive להסביר provide other recognition anchors, but neither is the past stem.

A Form Family, Not One Meaning

Some הפעיל verbs are causative, but that is not a translation rule for the whole pattern. להסביר means explain; להרגיש means feel. Learn the meaning and object pattern with the real verb. לא הסברתי means I did not explain.

Examples (4)

  1. הסברתי את הכלל.

    I explained the rule.

    The first-person form uses הסברתי.

  2. דנה הסבירה את התשובה.

    Dana explained the answer.

    The feminine third-person form retains י.

  3. הסברתם לי את הבעיה.

    You explained the problem to me.

    תם identifies plural male or mixed addressees.

  4. הם לא הסבירו את השינוי.

    They did not explain the change.

    הסבירו is third-person plural.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping the third-person י when forming I explained.

    הסבירתי את הכלל.
    הסברתי את הכלל.

    Use the learned first-person stem הסבר־ plus תי.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Hif'il in the PastLevel 3

Learn This First

Add person-marked past forms to familiar Hif'il vocabulary.