Imperative & Invitations:

Imperative & Invitations: 

Today we are going to talk about the Imperative time tense and also about the way it functions in Invitations to action (“let’s do…”).

what is the imperative time tense?

The imperative time tense in Hebrew is called צִיווּי, “ordering”.

The word צַו, of the same root, is a noun that means “a warrant” or “an order”.

We use the imperative time tense when we ask / order someone to take (or not to take: “don’t…!”) an action immediately. 

In the Bible, this word has a feminine form,”מִצווַה”,  which means a “Deed”, as in the 613 deeds in Judaism.

The Mitzvot מִצְווֹת are divided into two groups:

Do’s, and Don'ts.

Positive Imperative

We use it when we want someone to take an action.

Example:

open! פְּתַח 

start! התחֵל

look! הִסתכֵּל

Negative Imperative

We use it when we ask / order the person “not take an action”

Example:

“Don’t worry!” אַל תדאג

“Don’t be afraid!”  אַל תפחד

or a request like: 

“Don’t open the window אַל תפתח

As we can see, in the negative imperative, the part of speech that functions as the imperative time tense is the word “don’t” - אַל! and not the verb (action) itself.

How to use it and with who?

The imperative formula is simple:

The future tense conjugation of a verb, minus the Tav prefix of EITAN:

תֵדַבֵּר - future tense, you will speak

(תֵ)דַבֵּר -  imperative, speak

Because we can only use this special time tense with people we are directly addressing - the 2nd person, 

It is always going to be the Tav (ת) that goes away, As such, their EITAN prefix is always a Tav (ת). 

in verbs that belong to Hif’il and Hitpa’el, we will see the letter Heh ה as a prefix because the Heh was originally a part of the future tense conjugation:  

start! התחֵל 

or: 

look! הִסתכֵּל.

Where is this Heh (ה) in future tense conjugations of Hif’il and Hitpa’el ?

The reason we do not hear it in the future tense conjugations of these verbs, is because it is too difficult to pronounce along with the Tav of Eitan, and therefore in future tense, the Tav of Eitan which is the dominant one, stays, and the Heh goes (תִסתכֵּל and not תְהִסתַכֵּל). 

What is happening to these verbs in Imperative conjugations?

As in imperative time tense, the Tav (ת) of Eitan goes away, its making the path for the Heh (ה) to make a comeback, thus we get an imperative conjugation starting with the letter Heh:

הִפעיל:

הַפסֵק!

הַדלֵק!

או:

התפעל:

התלַבֵּש!

התרַכֵּז!

דוגמאות:

• מַאיה, פִּתְחִי (לִפְתוֹחַ - פַּעַל: מסתיימים ב - ח') את הדלת, הַכְנִיסִי (לְהַכְנִיס -הִפְעִיל: רגיל) את האורחים והַשְאִירִי (לְהַשְאִיר - היפעיל: רגיל) את הנעליים בחוּץ!

• רני, בוא (לבוא- פַּעַל: אות אמצעית ו/י), כַּנֵס (להִכַּנֵס - נִפעַל: רגיל) תחת המטריה, אתה רוצה להירטב?

• כן, אני אוהב להירטב בגשם הראשון של החורף!

• אם כך, צֵא (לצאת - פַּעַל: נחי ל"א )! הירטֵב (להֵרַטב - נִפעַל: רגיל)!, 

• אבל כשאתה נכנס הביתה, סְגוֹר (פַּעַל: רגיל) את החלון, שלא תתקרר!

INVITATIONS TO ACTION:

Do!

Future Tense Conjugation minus Tav of Eitan

בּוֹא! come פַּעַל; ו/י 

נַסֵה! פּיעֵל; ות

הִתְגַלגֵל! הִתְפַּעֵל; 4 letters root

Don't! - negative imperative!

אַל + Future Tense Conjugation

 don't worry! אל תִדאַג

אַל...don't: already imperative

plus:

the verb in future

why are we not conjugating the verb into imperative?

because the "don't" part of speech is already in imperative time tense

Example:

don't open the window: אל תפתח את החלון

"don't (imperative) + you will (future) open the window"

don't tell me the answer, i want to think about it:

אל תגיד לי את התשובה, אני רוצה לחשוב על זה

let's do x...

an invitation for someone (m/s, f/s, or plural - 2nd person: את אתה אתם/ן):this invitation is immediate and therefore it is the imperative part of speech in the sentence

The "Let's" part of the sentence, in Hebrew, is the "come" - m/s f/s p

תבוא! - בּוא!

תבואי! - בּואי!

תבואו! - בּואו!

plus

the verb will STAY in future tense (we), because of the invitation to do something together.

Let's give an example:

בּוא... נִיתֵן דוגמה!

another option: inviting someone to do something themsleves:

תבוא! - בּוא!

תבואי! - בּואי!

תבואו! - בּואו!

בּוֹא!/בּוֹאי!/בּוֹאו!

plus

infinitive of the verb conjugated into future tense of that person: m/s f/s plural

example:

בּוא תַרְאֵה לי

בּואי תַרְאֵי לי

בּואוּ תראו לי