Hebrew verbs are formed from the modification of the root, usually of three letters (or radicals), by the insertion of other letters and consonants in front of, within, or by the doubling of the middle letter of the root. While the root provides the basic meaning of the verb, the specific signification is provided by the modified patterns. These patterns are called binyanim in Hebrew. Older grammars call them conjugations; newer grammars call them stems so as not to confuse the discussion since the word 'conjugation' mean something else in other grammars. Grammarians recognize seven major stems in Hebrew; they are called Qal, Niphal, Piel, Pual, Hitpael, Hiphil, and Hophal. In the extremely watered-down examples below (borrowed and adapted from B. K. Waltke and M. O. O'Connor's An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax), we will refer to "Sarah" as the noun and "fly" as the verb to illustrate the signification of the various stems.
Qal: "Sarah flies the aeroplane" - if 'flies' is in the qal stem, then Sarah is the actor or agent performing the action expressed by the verb. It answers the question, "What is Sarah doing?" Qal represents the simplest sense of the verb.
Niphal: "Sarah is flown to Egypt" - Sarah is now the object, and the sentence answers the question, "What is happening to Sarah?" Basically, niphal express the passive notion of the qal.
Piel: "Sarah is flying the aeroplane in spite of the dust storm" - in addition to the active there is also here a causative notion, i.e., Sarah is causing the aeroplane to keep on flying."
Pual: "Sarah is flown to Egypt" - i.e., Sarah is being caused to fly to Egypt; basically the passive version of piel.
Hithpael: "Sarah flies to Egypt to save her life" - i.e., Sarah makes herself flown to Egypt - there is now a clear reflexive notion, Sarah is the agent as well as the recipient of the consequences of the action.
Hiphil: "Sarah flies the aeroplane higher" - i.e., Sarah causes the plane to participate in the action she took.
Hophal: "Sarah is made to fly the plane higher" - the passive counterpart of hiphil.
In the "excerpt from Prefactory Note to the First Edition" found in many editions of Young's Analytical Concordance an explanation of these different stems (Young calls them 'conjugations') is also provided. Most of what is said there, however, should now be disregarded, if, that is, you still use the concordance.
Resources:
"Hebrew Verb Binyanim (בניינים)," Blackboard Hebrew. 11.29 mins.
Youtube N (Open on Phone)
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