Free grammar · Unit 16 of 20

The past of verbs ending in ה: קָנִיתִי, רָצִיתִי, הָיִיתִי

Verbs whose present ends in ה, like קוֹנֶה «buys», רוֹצֶה «wants», רוֹאֶה «sees», turn that ה into י in the past and then take the endings you already know: קָנִיתִי «I bought», קָנִיתָ and קָנִית «you bought», קָנִינוּ «we bought». Kaniti, ratsiti, raiti: the i before the ending is the sign of the group.

Three persons go their own way. He keeps the ה: קָנָה. She takes ־תָה: קָנְתָה, the one form unlike the other groups. They drop the ה and take ־וּ: קָנוּ. «To be» lives here too, the most used past in the language: הָיִיתִי «I was», הָיָה, הָיְתָה, הָיוּ.

The page has the explanation, a table of three verbs and the first two exercises: «I bought bread» and «she wanted to sleep». The other four, including typing the verb yourself and building a sentence, open with a free account.