# Conjugation of להעיר (and identifying other iterations of wake)



## theunderachiever

I was trying to find a transitive version of "to wake", but I'm having some trouble given English's ambiguity and Hebrew's specificity.  I THINK I have the right infinitive, but I don't know binyanim well enough to say for sure.  I think this is binyan hifil, based on its similarity to להבין and other common ones I know.  Since in theory hifil is causative, I'm guessing אל תעיר אותי is "don't wake me!", but I'm not sure.  I'm also unsure of which preposition might be used, but את seems like a safe bet.

If I'm wrong would anyone mind giving me the proper way to express this and  conjugate it for me in the perfect, imperfect, imperative and participle?  If that's too much typing for any of you, could someone perhaps point me in the right direction of some conjugation tables?

I also wondered in which binyanim this root might be active.  For example, I know להתעורר is "to wake up" and is binyan hitpael, but ״ער?״ I know as "awake/are you awake?", but I don't know what binyan it belongs to or any other forms of the word, other than the feminine ערה.

Sorry for such broad questions.  If I knew more I could narrow it down.  Thanks in advance for any answers I might receive.

שלום עליכם ותודה רבה


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## Drink

להעיר is conjugated exactly like להבין, and yes it is used with את.

ער was originally the active participle in binyan pa`al, but this binyan is now mostly unused for this verb so you can just think of ער as an adjective without a binyan.


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## theunderachiever

Drink said:


> להעיר is conjugated exactly like להבין, and yes it is used with את.
> 
> ער was originally the active participle in binyan pa`al, but this binyan is now mostly unused for this verb so you can just think of ער as an adjective without a binyan.




So, I would use this verb if I wanted to say "wake me up/don't wake me up!" Then, correct?

Here's my conjugation attempt.  Not sure about the vowels.

*Perfect/Past*
הערתי-he'arti
הערת-he'arta
הערת-he'art
העיר-he'ir
העירה-he'ira
הערנו-he'arnu
הערתם-he'artem
הערתן-he'arten
העירו-he'iru

*Present Participle/Present*
מעיר-me'ir
מעירה-me'ira
מעירים-me'irim
מעירות-me'irot

*Imperfect/Future*
אעיר-a'ir
תעיר-ta'ir
תעירי-ta'iri
יעיר-ya'ir
תעיר-ta'ir
נעיר-na'ir
תעירו-ta'iru
יעירו-ya'iru

*Imperative*
הער-ha'er
העירי-ha'iri
העירו-ha'iru

I'm not real familiar with the rules of vowel changes and what consonants get dropped when.  I know ע and י complicate things, but I just conjugated it as I would להבין.  Were the conjugations and transliterations correct?  Is it indeed binyan hifil?  And are there any verbs/adverbs in other binyan apart from להעיר ,להתעורר, and ער that exist?  If so, what are they and what are their respective binyanim?

Thanks for the prompt reply, Drink


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## Drink

I think it's the right verb, but I'm not a native speaker.

You are right about the entire conjugation (except that in formal Hebrew the 2nd person plural past tense would be ha`artém/n instead of he`ártem/n, but don't worry about that). In this particular case, the ע happens not to complicate anything.


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## ystab

Yes. You would use this verb.

The conjugation is flawless, and if you want to add the feminine plural future: תערנה (ta'erna), and imperative: (הערנה).

It is indeed binyan hif'il, whereas the root is ע-ו-ר.

Yes there are verbs in that root other than these:

1. Pa'al (Qal): Though not very common as a verb, the participle ער is obviously very common. The imperative form does exist in formal register and poetry:
עורו אחים בלב שמח (from Hava Nagila), עורי עור (A song by Aviv Geffen, עורי - the imperative feminine singular, עור - emphatic)

2. Nif'al: נֵעוֹר or נָעוֹר - was awakened.

3. Pi'el: עוֹרֵר - waked someone (not common in this meaning, except for שעון מעורר - alarm clock), raised or caused (a problem, an issue, a controversy), aroused

4. Pu'al: עוֹרַר - not commonly used. Maybe in participle (present) in the meaning of aroused. (מְעוֹרָר, and colloquially *מְעוּרָר)

5. Hitpa'el: התעורר - like you have already mentioned.

6. Hif'il: העיר - -"-. In addition, it also has the meaning of "commented".

7. Huf'al: הוּעַר - not commonly used. Maybe in formal register in the meaning of being commented upon - הספר מוער בהערותיה של ד"ר רות כהן



Drink said:


> (except that in formal Hebrew the 2nd person plural past tense would be ha`artém/n instead of he`ártem/n, but don't worry about that).


Why do you say that?


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## theunderachiever

ystab said:


> Yes. You would use this verb.
> 
> The conjugation is flawless, and if you want to add the feminine plural future: תערנה (ta'erna), and imperative: (הערנה).
> 
> It is indeed binyan hif'il, whereas the root is ע-ו-ר.
> 
> Yes there are verbs in that root other than these:
> 
> 1. Pa'al (Qal): Though not very common as a verb, the participle ער is obviously very common. The imperative form does exist in formal register and poetry:
> עורו אחים בלב שמח (from Hava Nagila), עורי עור (A song by Aviv Geffen, עורי - the imperative feminine singular, עור - emphatic)
> 
> 2. Nif'al: נֵעוֹר or נָעוֹר - was awakened.
> 
> 3. Pi'el: עוֹרֵר - waked someone (not common in this meaning, except for שעון מעורר - alarm clock), raised or caused (a problem, an issue, a controversy), aroused
> 
> 4. Pu'al: עוֹרַר - not commonly used. Maybe in participle (present) in the meaning of aroused. (מְעוֹרָר, and colloquially *מְעוּרָר)
> 
> 5. Hitpa'el: התעורר - like you have already mentioned.
> 
> 6. Hif'il: העיר - -"-. In addition, it also has the meaning of "commented".
> 
> 7. Huf'al: הוּעַר - not commonly used. Maybe in formal register in the meaning of being commented upon - הספר מוער בהערותיה של ד"ר רות כהן



Thank you so much for this excellent post.  This is exactly what I was after.

I haven't really bothered to learn the feminine plurals ending in "נה" because everything I've seen has claimed this is archaic and no longer in common use.  Is it used often enough to warrant learning?  Have I made a mistake by ignoring this?

Once again, I thank you for the marvelous reply.


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## ystab

I think you should at least know in the back of your mind that it exists, because it can appear in texts. In speech it is indeed a bit archaic or used by purists.


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## theunderachiever

ystab said:


> I think you should at least know in the back of your mind that it exists, because it can appear in texts. In speech it is indeed a bit archaic or used by purists.



Fair enough.  I was aware it exists and what it looks like, but I haven't heard it in speech yet.  I'll just spot check verbs as I learn them to see if anything weird or irregular pops up in that form.  I may include it in my flashcards with specific verbs.

Thank you.


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## Drink

ystab said:


> Why do you say that?



הֲעַרְתֶּם
Do you disagree?


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## ystab

Indeed Ha'artem. Just checked the Academy's website. They say that with a guttural פה"פ, like העיר, the ה goes with Patah, not Hataf Patah. Thanks for your light-shedding comment.


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## Ali Smith

If להתעורר lehit'orer is from hitpa'el, why are there two ר's? The root only has one.


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## Drink

Ali Smith said:


> If להתעורר lehit'orer is from hitpa'el, why are there two ר's? The root only has one.



You've asked this same question several times already. This is the hitpolel form. The hitpolel form of a hollow root doubles the last root letter.


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