An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

I. Qal-Piel-Hiphil attested
(ca. 45 verbs)
II. Qal-Piel attested (ca. 25
verbs)
III. Piel-Hiphil attested (ca. 8
verbs)
IV. Piel attested (ca. 20
verbs)
examples: לדגּ, דבכּ, קדצ
examples: ןשׁדּ, רהט, ןשׁי
examples: טלמ, אלפּ
examples: שׁדח, ףנט, המר
The last two groups may be treated as Qal intransitive on the basis of evidence
from cognate languages and semantic patterns. 19 For example, Hebrew glḥ Piel ‘to
shave’ has no corresponding Qal, but Arabic has the simple stem jaliḥa ‘to be bald.’ 20
[Page 401] b In the Piel of this class of verbs, the basic sense of the Qal is
transformed: the Piel designates an effected state and governs an object. This class of
verbs includes chiefly Qal intransitives (verbs that do not govern a direct object),
most of them statives; but quasifientives (22.2.3) and a few transitives (of a
historically different type) are also included (the case of דמל is discussed below).
The verbs denote at base a condition, whether a general condition (e.g.,’to be
wealthy’) or an attained one (e.g.,’to be worn out’). We exclude, in contrast to Jenni,
Qal intransitives that refer to physical effort (e.g., רתנ ‘to leap’), vocal projection
(e.g., קעצ ‘to cry out’), and expectation (e.g., הוק ‘to wait for’); see 24.5 for these.
c The difference between Qal, Piel, and Hiphil can be seen in connection with the verb
דמל. Grammars often cite this verb as an example of the causative function of Piel
since the Qal means ‘to learn’ (always transitive) and the Piel ‘to teach (something to
someone),’a use very much like the Hiphil double accusative. But דמל was originally
intransitive, to judge from its thematic a vowel with the Qal prefix conjugation, and
from Ethiopic, where it means ‘to be accustomed.’ The step between this intransitive
sense and its transitive sense in Hebrew can be seen in Aramaic, where the verb
means ‘to be accustomed (to something).’ The Hebrew Piel builds on the original
intransitive meaning, and from this base the sense can be extrapolated to ‘to make
(someone) accustomed (to something), i.e., to teach (something to someone),’ a
meaning distinct from the sense of the Hiphil, as we shall see.
d The factitive Piel can be the result of a sensory causation, a “real” result available to
the physical senses, or of a psychological or linguistic causation, a mental change or a
speech act that reflects a mental change.
e A “real” factitive refers to an objective event, an event that can be seen or felt apart
from the participants. The verb הלח is the only Qal intransitive attested in all seven
stems, 21 and it furnishes apt examples for the Qal : Piel contrast. 22
19 Ryder, D-Stem, 107.
20 Ryder, D-Stem, 98.