Bit at a Time Bible Hebrew -- piel binyan

The thing that will confuse hitpael with some other verb form is the mem in the present tense.  If you have a mem followed by tav, you might have a hitpael, but only if there are three more root letters.  If there are only two more, see if there is a repetitive sense to the text.  If it’s a non-continuous (punctuated) repetition, or the subject seems to habitually do X, you might be looking at a piel.

 

I already said we use piel for something people are able to do, like “speak” a language, m’daber.  Except in certain pathological cases, people don’t speak continuously, so the hitpael isn’t appropriate to express speaking a language. 

 

Likewise people don’t work at their trade without a letup, so doing your job might be expressed in the piel.

 

The other main use for piel is in contrast with qal.  If the qal of a verb has an adjectival meaning, or for some other reason is intransitive, or Harkavy marks it as never used, then piel is often used in transitive situations.  Examples include male, “to be full”; mile, the piel, is used for “to fill [a pot, etc]”.

 

Daber in piel is a very common verb.

 

Present

Singular	Plural	Gender
מְדַבֵּר	מְדַבְּרִים	Masculine
מְדַבֶּרֶת	מְדַבְּרוֹת	Feminine

 

Past

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
דִּבַּרְתִּי	דִּבַּרְנוּ	First
דִּבַּרְתָּ	דִּבַּרְתֶּם	Second/masculine
דִּבַּרְתְּ	דִּבַּרְתֵּן	Second/feminine
דִּבֵּר	דִּבְּרוּ	Third/masculine
דִּבְּרָה	דִּבְּרוּ	Third/feminine

Future/aorist

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
אֲדַבֵּר	נְדַבֵּר	First
תְּדַבֵּר	תְּדַבְּרוּ	Second/masculine
תְּדַבְּרִי	תְּדַבֵּרְנָה	Second/feminine
יְדַבֵּר	תְּדַבְּרוּ	Third/masculine
תְּדַבֵּר	תְּדַבֵּרְנָה	Third/feminine

 

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