Piel, Pual and Hithpael

"He blessed", "he set apart as holy"

Last lesson we learned that one root can take several stems, and we met the Niphal. Now we meet the stems that double the middle consonant. Start with the first word of Genesis 1:22.

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

Genesis 1:22

וַיְבָרֶךְ, "vayvarekh", means "and he blessed". Its root is בָּרַךְ, "barakh", to bless, and the panel labels this form Piel. The וַ at the front is the marker of the consecutive imperfect that you already know, so look at the root part. The middle letter ר should be doubled, but ר is one of the letters that never takes a dagesh, so no dot appears. With ר and the throat letters the doubling is invisible and the vowel changes instead. So when you see no dot, do not worry: trust the panel's stem label.

Piel: making and declaring

The sign of the Piel is the doubled middle letter (a dagesh in it). In Genesis 2:3, וַיְקַדֵּשׁ, "vaykadesh", the dot in the ד is easy to see. It means "he set apart as holy". God did not merely observe that the seventh day was holy; he made it so. That is a common Piel tendency: where the Qal speaks of a state, the Piel often makes something be in that state, or declares it to be.

Many textbooks say the Piel "intensifies", and for a few verbs that fits. As a rule for readers it misleads, because for a great number of verbs the Piel is simply the normal stem of that verb, with no extra force at all. The vocabulary of this lesson is full of them. וְדִבַּרְתָּ, "vedibarta", is "and you shall speak" (from דָבַר); צִוָּה, "tzivah", is "he commanded" (צָוָה); תְּבַקֵּשׁ, "tevakesh", is "are you seeking?" (בָּקַשׁ). You do not need to ask what "extra" these verbs carry. Read them as the dictionary gives them.

The verb שָׁלַח, "send", which occurs about 668 times in that sense, shows both uses. In Genesis 3:23 וַיְשַׁלְּחֵהוּ, "and he sent him out", is a Piel, and so is Moses' demand to Pharaoh in Exodus 5:1, שַׁלַּח, "shalach", "let go [my people]". Expect the Piel of this verb to lean toward "send away, release". That is a tendency, not a rule.

Pual: the passive of the Piel

The Pual is the passive of the Piel. The doubling stays and the first vowel becomes a u-sound. In Genesis 3:23, לֻקַּח, "lukach", means "he was taken", with a clearly doubled ק. The same verb in Genesis 2:23 is לֻקֳחָה, "lukochah", "she was taken", in the man's words about the woman: "out of man she was taken." Here the doubling dot is not written, which is another reminder to follow the panel. In Genesis 2:1, וַיְכֻלּוּ, "vaykhulu", means "and they were finished", said of the heavens and the earth. The Pual is fairly rare. When you see doubling together with a u-vowel, think "passive of the Piel".

Hithpael: doing it to oneself

The Hithpael begins with הִתְ- and also doubles the middle letter. Its usual sense is reflexive: the subject acts on or for itself. Read Genesis 5:24.

וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ, "vayithalekh", means "and he walked about", from הָלַךְ, to go or walk. Enoch "walked with God". The same stem appears in Genesis 3:8, מִתְהַלֵּךְ, God "walking about" in the garden. The prefix shifts a little between forms, but the תְ and the doubling remain.

Genesis 3:8 also has וַיִּתְחַבֵּא, "vayitchabe", "and he hid himself". Compare it with the Niphal וָאֵחָבֵא from last lesson, "and I hid myself". The two stems come out nearly the same in English, so tell them apart by the signs: a נ for the Niphal, the תְ with doubling for the Hithpael.

One more label to know. The verb "bow down, worship", שָׁחָה, is usually given its own stem name by the panel: Hishtaphel. A few of its forms are labelled Hithpael instead, because grammars explain this unusual shape in different ways. In Genesis 18:2, Abraham sees three men and וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ, "vayishtachu", "bowed down" to the ground. Its forms almost always show ש followed by ת (-שְׁתַּח-), so learn this verb as one unit meaning "bow down". It occurs about 172 times.

Summary

The Piel doubles the middle letter. It often makes or declares a state, but for many verbs it is just the ordinary stem. The Pual is its passive, with a u-vowel. The Hithpael begins with הִתְ- and is usually reflexive, and the Hishtaphel is the panel's name for "bow down". When a form is unclear, read the panel's stem label together with the dictionary meaning.

Words in this lesson

• דָבַרdavarto speak: speak1,057 times in the OT
• צָוָהtsavahto command494 times in the OT
• בָּקַשׁbaqashto seek225 times in the OT
• בָּרַךְbarakhto bless330 times in the OT
• שָׁלַחshalachto send: depart668 times in the OT
• הָלַךְhalakhto go: walk329 times in the OT
• שָׁחָהshachahto bow172 times in the OT

Practice