Pa'al in the Future

Level 3

Future קל forms use personal prefixes and some endings, as in אכתוב, I will write, and תכתבי, you will write to one female listener.

How It Works

The Write Family

Learn אני אכתוב, אתה תכתוב, את תכתבי, הוא יכתוב, היא תכתוב, אנחנו נכתוב, אתם/אתן תכתבו and הם/הן יכתבו. These plural forms are accepted for female groups in contemporary standard use. Literary feminine forms such as תכתובנה may appear in formal texts.

Person Is Distributed

The opening א, נ, ת or י helps identify the subject, while feminine singular second person adds י and ordinary plurals add ו. A prefix alone does not always identify one person: תכתוב has more than one reading.

Real Stems and Real Uses

ללמוד gives אלמד, while לכתוב gives אכתוב. Do not impose one internal vowel pattern on every קל verb. Future forms can also occur in instructions and modal contexts; here the time meaning is made clear by a phrase such as מחר. Negation uses לא: לא אכתוב.

Examples (4)

  1. מחר אכתוב לך.

    I will write to you tomorrow.

    א identifies the speaker in the future family.

  2. את תכתבי את התשובה.

    You will write the answer.

    The singular female addressee takes תכתבי.

  3. היא תכתוב מכתב.

    She will write a letter.

    תכתוב here refers to she.

  4. הן יכתבו ביחד.

    They will write together.

    Contemporary plural יכתבו can refer to women.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the present participle after a future personal prefix.

    אני אכותב מחר.
    אני אכתוב מחר.

    Choose the learned future אכתוב; present כותב is a different stem.

How It Connects

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

Pa'al in the FutureLevel 3

Learn This First

Use the actual Pa'al future paradigm with the familiar person distinctions.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.