Verbs With a Final Weak Radical

Level 4

Common verbs such as קנה, רצה and עשה change their final written shape across forms. The pattern is often called ל״י or ל״ה.

How It Works

Useful Families

For buy, learn לקנות, קנה, קנתה, קניתי, קונה and יקנה. For want, learn לרצות, רצה, רצתה, רציתי, רוצה and ירצה. For do or make, learn לעשות, עשה, עשתה, עשיתי, עושה and יעשה.

Read the Actual Ending

The feminine past forms קנתה, רצתה and עשתה differ from the present feminine קונה, רוצה and עושה. The present singular forms can share written letters across gender while differing in pronunciation. Future female singular you includes forms such as תקני and תעשי.

A Family, Not Mechanical Deletion

The label points to a weak final radical in traditional root analysis. It does not mean that every Hebrew word ending in ה belongs here, nor that removing its last letter produces every form. Keep the lexical infinitive, past and present forms together; spelling and vowels reveal different parts of the family.

Examples (4)

  1. קניתי ספר.

    I bought a book.

    The first-person past is קניתי.

  2. היא קנתה מחברת.

    She bought a notebook.

    קנתה is feminine past.

  3. הוא רוצה ללמוד.

    He wants to study.

    רוצה is the present form of לרצות.

  4. מחר היא תעשה את זה.

    She will do it tomorrow.

    תעשה is an actual future form of לעשות.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping the past third-person ה before the I ending.

    קנהתי ספר.
    קניתי ספר.

    Learn the actual first-person form קניתי.

How It Connects

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

Verbs With a Final Weak RadicalLevel 4

Learn This First

Compare actual weak-root forms across the infinitive, past and future.