Pi'el in the Past

Level 3

Past פיעל forms include דיברתי, I spoke, and דיברה, she spoke. Ordinary full spelling keeps the י in this past family.

How It Works

One Complete Family

For לדבר, learn דיברתי, דיברת, דיבר, דיברה, דיברנו, דיברתם, דיברתן and דיברו. The two singular דיברת readings distinguish male and female addressees in pronunciation. Plural דיברו serves both הם and הן.

Stem and Ending

The personal endings resemble the other past families, but the פיעל stem has its own vowels. Present מדבר and infinitive לדבר are useful comparison forms. In unpointed modern full spelling, write דיבר and סיפר with their appropriate י; do not copy every older pointed spelling into ordinary unpointed text.

Meaning Belongs to the Verb

פיעל does not automatically mean an intense or repeated action. לדבר means speak and לספר means tell; learn each meaning and selected object or preposition. Negation uses לא before the past form: לא דיברתי, I did not speak.

Examples (4)

  1. דיברתי עם דנה.

    I spoke with Dana.

    דיברתי is first-person past.

  2. היא דיברה בעברית.

    She spoke in Hebrew.

    ה is the third-person feminine past ending.

  3. אנחנו לא דיברנו על זה.

    We did not talk about it.

    לא negates דיברנו.

  4. הם דיברו עם המורה.

    They spoke with the teacher.

    דיברו is third-person plural.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping the present מ-prefix in the past.

    אני מדברתי עם דנה.
    דיברתי עם דנה.

    The past is דיברתי; מדבר is the present stem.

How It Connects

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Pi'el in the PastLevel 3

Learn This First

Add person-marked past forms to familiar Pi'el vocabulary.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.