# Stative verbs



## nili95

The two verb books I own are 501 Hebrew Verbs and Hebrew Verb Tables, but I cannot find stative verbs such as עָיֵף ,צָמֵא, or רָעֵב in either. 

Why might that be the case?


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## origumi

Maybe a matter of frequency? Look for example at this table (based on the Bible?): צמא and רעב are not in the top. Other verbs like ירא, מלא, טמא, כבד hold a better position.


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## nili95

origumi said:


> Maybe a matter of frequency? Look for example at this table (based on the Bible?): צמא and רעב are not in the top. Other verbs like ירא, מלא, טמא, כבד hold a better position.


Perhaps, but I would expect verbs such as hungry, thirsty, and tired are at least as common as most of the verbs listed (and neither book focuses on Biblical Hebrew).


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## utopia

maybe because today the usual way we say "I was thirsty" is:

הייתי צמא and not צמאתי.

Thus it's conceived more like an adjective and not a verb.


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## hadronic

Hebrew Verb Tables has some stative verbs like גדל, חכם...  As mentioned earlier, many are now construed as adjectives.


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## Drink

The ones you mention (עיף ,צמא, רעב) are all in Hebrew Verb Tables.
עיף: table 14 (page 71)
צמא: table 37 (page 83)
רעב: table 19 (page 74), although a different root (שאל) is used as the example


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## nili95

Drink said:


> The ones you mention (עיף ,צמא, רעב) are all in Hebrew Verb Tables. ...


Thank you - with apologies. I honestly don't know how I missed them.


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## Ali Smith

Since a stative verb always has the meaning 'to be/become [noun/adjective]', does qal מלך 'to be/become king' count as one?


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## Drink

It doesn't seem to be. It doesn't really mean to "be king", it means "to rule", which is an action. It's noteworthy that to crown someone king is להמליך in the hif'il, whereas if מלך were stative, the causative would likely be pi'el instead of hif'il.


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## Ali Smith

Drink said:


> It doesn't seem to be. It doesn't really mean to "be king", it means "to rule", which is an action.


Thanks. That makes a lot of sense!


Drink said:


> It's noteworthy that to crown someone king is להמליך in the hif'il, whereas if מלך were stative, the causative would likely be pi'el instead of hif'il.


Causativity is a feature of the pi'el binyan in Classical Hebrew, a feature it shares with hif'il. Why would pi'el be the more likely choice for making a stative verb causative?


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## Drink

Because generally stative verbs in pa'al have pi'el causatives and active verbs in pa'al have hif'il causatives.

It's not 100% of the time, but it's a strong trend.


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