Stem Peal

Summary

The Pe’al stem is the stem formation that is the simplest of form in Biblical Aramaic. The Pe’al stem is generally used to express either simple action or stative action.

Article

In Biblical Aramaic, the Pe’al stem is the simplest of all the verbal stem formations in both form and function. All the other stem formations are derived from the Pe’al form. It is the most common form of a verb, and it almost always expresses either simple action in active voice (for dynamic verbs) or stative action in passive voice (for stative verbs, which do not have active voice). In English, stative verbs require the helping verb “to be” for proper translation value (see example). In Biblical Aramaic, the stative nature of the verb is indicated by the verb itself without requiring any additional helping verbs.

Form

Paradigm

Pe’al Perfect Paradigm

Parsing	Aramaic	Transliteration	Gloss
3rd person masculine singular	כְּתַב	ketabh	he wrote
3rd person feminine singular	כִּתְבַת	kithbhath	she wrote
2nd person masculine singular	כְּתַבְתְּ (or כְּתַבְתָּ)	kithabhte (or kethabhta)	you wrote
2nd person feminine singular	כְּתַבְתִּי	kethabhtiy	you wrote
1st person common singular	כִּתְבֵת	kithbheth	I wrote
3rd person masculine plural	כְּתַבוּ	kethabhu	they wrote
3rd person feminine plural	כְּתַבָה	kethabhah	they wrote
2nd person masculine plural	כְּתַבְתּוּן	kethabhtun	you wrote
2nd person feminine plural	כְּתַבְתֵּן	kethabhten	you wrote
1st person common plural	כְּתַבְנָא	kethabhna’	we wrote

Pe’al Imperfect/Jussive Paradigm

Parsing	Aramaic	Transliteration	Gloss
3rd person masculine singular	יִכְתֻּב	yikhtubh	he will write
3rd person feminine singular	תִּכְתֻּב	tikhtubh	she will write
2nd person masculine singular	תִּכְתֻּב	tikhtubh	you will write
2nd person feminine singular	תִּכְתְּבִין	tikhtebhiyn	you will write
1st person common singular	אֶכְתֻּב	‘ekhtubh	I will write
3rd person masculine plural	יִכְתְּבוּן	yikhtebhun	they will write
3rd person feminine plural	יִכְתְּבָנ	yikhtebhan	they will write
2nd person masculine plural	תִּכְתְּבוּן	tikhtebhun	you will write
2nd person feminine plural	תִּכְתְּבָן	tikhtebhan	you will write
1st person common plural	נִכְתֻּב	nikhtubh	we will write

Pe’al Infinitive Paradigm

Parsing	Aramaic	Transliteration	Gloss
Infinitive	מִכְתַּב	mikhtabh	to write

Pe’al Imperative Paradigm

Parsing	Aramaic	Transliteration	Gloss
masculine singular	כְּתֻב	kethubh	Write!
feminine singular	כְּתֻבִי	kethubhiy	Write!
masculine plural	כְּתֻבוּ	kethubhu	Write!
feminine plural	כְּתֻבָה	kethubhah	Write!

Function

Expresses simple action

Expresses stative action