Pa'al in the Past

Level 3

Regular קל past forms use personal endings, as in כתבתי, I wrote, and כתבתם, you wrote. The actual stem belongs to the verb.

How It Works

A Regular Family

For לכתוב, learn כתבתי, כתבת, כתב, כתבה, כתבנו, כתבתם, כתבתן and כתבו. אתה כתבת and את כתבת have the same ordinary letters but different final vowels in speech. הם כתבו and הן כתבו share the plural form.

Read the Person

The endings תי and נו identify I and we. The second-person plural endings תם and תן distinguish masculine or mixed addressees from all-female addressees in careful standard usage. Third-person masculine singular כתב has no personal suffix; feminine singular adds ה.

Keep the Actual Verb

This example does not create a universal stem for every קל verb. למדתי means I studied, while weak verbs such as קניתי belong to another form family. Learn a real verb’s infinitive, third-person past and common personal forms together. Context and a time phrase determine whether English naturally uses wrote or have written.

Examples (4)

  1. כתבתי הודעה.

    I wrote a message.

    תי identifies the speaker.

  2. דנה כתבה מכתב.

    Dana wrote a letter.

    כתבה is feminine singular.

  3. כתבתם את התשובה.

    You wrote the answer.

    תם addresses male or mixed plural listeners.

  4. הן כתבו בעברית.

    They wrote in Hebrew.

    כתבו also serves an all-female subject.

Common Mistakes

  • Attaching the I ending to a present participle.

    אני כותבתי הודעה.
    כתבתי הודעה.

    Use the past stem כתב with תי, rather than the present כותב.

How It Connects

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

Pa'al in the PastLevel 3

Learn This First

Add person-marked past forms to familiar Pa'al vocabulary.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.