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Free grammar · Unit 11 of 20

The present of two-letter verbs: גָּר, גָּרָה, גָּרִים, גָּרוֹת

Some Hebrew verbs show only two letters in the present, with one a between them: גָּר «lives», קָם «gets up», רָץ «runs», בָּא «comes», שָׁר «sings». They look irregular, but they follow a rule: the root has three letters, and the middle one, a ו or a י, does not show in the present. That is why they are called hollow verbs, or ayin-vav verbs, ע״ו. They come early, because they are the shortest words in the language.

The plural takes the usual endings: גָּרִים, גָּרוֹת. The feminine is what changes: not ֶ-ת as in לוֹמֶדֶת, but ־ָה. הִיא גָּרָה בְּתֵל אָבִיב, «she lives in Tel Aviv»; likewise קָמָה, בָּאָה, שָׁרָה. A short verb, a short ending: gar, gara, garim, garot.

This page has the explanation, a table of three verbs in all four forms and the first two exercises: «she lives in Tel Aviv» and «they get up at seven». The other four, including building a sentence from tiles, open with a free account.

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Step 11 of 20 · Explanation

Two-letter verbs: גָּר, גָּרָה, גָּרִים, גָּרוֹת

Some verbs show only two root letters in the present, with one a between them: , , , , .

They are the first verbs the book teaches, together with , because they are the shortest words in the language.

4 more exercises in this unit

This page has the explanation and the first two exercises. The rest are in your free account, with every unit and the reading course, and the practice remembers your mistakes.

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Questions

What are hollow verbs in Hebrew?
Verbs whose root has a ו (sometimes a י) in the middle that disappears in the present: ג־ו־ר gives גָּר, ק־ו־ם gives קָם. What is left is two letters with an a between them.
How do you say «I live in…» in Hebrew?
A man says אֲנִי גָּר בְּ…, a woman says אֲנִי גָּרָה בְּ…: אֲנִי גָּרָה בְּתֵל אָבִיב (ani gara be-Tel Aviv). The place takes ב, because it is where you are.
Why is the feminine גָּרָה and not גָּרֶת?
Because two-letter verbs give a woman ־ָה, not ֶ-ת. The masculine form tells you which: לוֹמֵד gives לוֹמֶדֶת, גָּר gives גָּרָה.

And then?

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The units

  1. Unit 1 of 20The pronouns: אֲנִי, אַתָּה, אַתְּ, הוּא, הִיא
  2. Unit 2 of 20Nouns: masculine or feminine, one or many
  3. Unit 3 of 20Strong verbs: לוֹמֵד, לוֹמֶדֶת, לוֹמְדִים, לוֹמְדוֹת
  4. Unit 4 of 20The adjective follows the noun and copies it
  5. Unit 5 of 20«And» is a letter: וְ
  6. Unit 6 of 20ב for where you are, ל for where you go
  7. Unit 7 of 20Strong verbs: לִלְמֹד, לִכְתֹּב, לִסְגֹּר
  8. Unit 8 of 20Strong verbs: כָּתַבְתִּי, לָמַדְתִּי, סָגַרְתִּי
  9. Unit 9 of 20Pi’el: מְדַבֵּר, מְדַבֶּרֶת, מְדַבְּרִים, מְדַבְּרוֹת
  10. Unit 10 of 20Time words: הַיּוֹם, מָחָר, אֶתְמוֹל, בַּבֹּקֶר
  11. Unit 11 of 20Two-letter verbs: גָּר, גָּרָה, גָּרִים, גָּרוֹת
  12. Unit 12 of 20Verbs ending in ה: רוֹצֶה, רוֹצָה, רוֹצִים, רוֹצוֹת
  13. Unit 13 of 20Two-letter verbs: גַּרְתִּי, קַמְתִּי, בָּאתִי
  14. Unit 14 of 20I had: הָיָה לִי, הָיְתָה לִי, הָיוּ לִי
  15. Unit 15 of 20Verbs ending in ה: לִרְצוֹת, לִשְׁתּוֹת, לִקְנוֹת
  16. Unit 16 of 20Verbs ending in ה: קָנִיתִי, רָצִיתִי, הָיִיתִי
  17. Unit 17 of 20Two-letter verbs: לָגוּר, לָקוּם, לָרוּץ
  18. Unit 18 of 20Throat letters at the end: שׁוֹמֵעַ, יוֹדֵעַ, קוֹרֵא
  19. Unit 19 of 20Pi'el in the past: דִּבֵּר, סִפֵּר, שִׁלֵּם
  20. Unit 20 of 20«That» after I think, I say, I know: שֶׁ