# ליהנות להיהנות



## sawyeric1

Why are there two infinitives for the verb "to enjoy"? Are there rules for when to use which? Thanks


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## Drink

The Academy has an article that touches on this: ליהנות או להנות?

In Mishnaic Hebrew, many infinitives were modified to match the future tense (for example: לָשֶׁבֶת became לֵשֵׁב, and לְהִיכָּתֵב became לִיכָּתֵב). Very few of these stuck around in Modern Hebrew, but ליהנות is one of the few that did.

Are there rules for when to use which? I'd say just pick one and stick with it. But perhaps a native speaker will have better advice.


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## aavichai

the reason the Academy wrote ליהנות or להנות

is to ask if to say Lehenot or Lehanot

a lot of people say wrongly Lehenot - they probably see it as לאכול

But this is conjugation Niphal and not Qal

Therefore it was supposed to be LeHihanot - like Lehikatev

the first H drops (between vowels)
And then we got Lehanot - When the Lamed gets a Tsere

if you write it without Nikkud - write ליהנות
if you write it wth Nikkud - Write להנות

but it is always pronounced - LeHanot


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## sawyeric1

Pealim.com gave the two infinitives - ליהנות – to enjoy (מן) – Hebrew conjugation tables


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## aavichai

Yes
But i think it shows you the theoritical form
the "could be" / "Should be" form

This form is never used

and language is not mathematic but sometimes the word that had been used since ever - it's the right form

I checked מאגרים site to see if there was any use of that form and from approx. 200 occurances it was used only once in some poetry

so the form is not to use
and the right form to use is just להנות/ליהנות


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## utopia

aavichai said:


> the reason the Academy wrote ליהנות or להנות
> 
> is to ask if to say Lehenot or Lehanot
> 
> a lot of people say wrongly Lehenot - they probably see it as לאכול
> 
> But this is conjugation Niphal and not Qal
> 
> Therefore it was supposed to be LeHihanot - like Lehikatev
> 
> the first H drops (between vowels)
> And then we got Lehanot - When the Lamed gets a Tsere
> 
> if you write it without Nikkud - write ליהנות
> if you write it wth Nikkud - Write להנות
> 
> but it is always pronounced - LeHanot






> Therefore it was supposed to be LeHihanot - like Lehikatev



It was supposed to be le*he*hanot


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## aavichai

Lehehanot is the second form in the process after the vowel becomes Tsere because of the He that doesn't gets a Dagesh

LeHiHanot-->LeHeHanot-->LeHanot
when the L gets the vowel of the He (from Sheva to Tsere)


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## utopia

aavichai said:


> Lehehanot is the second form in the process after the vowel becomes Tsere because of the He that doesn't gets a Dagesh
> 
> LeHiHanot-->LeHeHanot-->LeHanot
> when the L gets the vowel of the He (from Sheva to Tsere)



It was supposed to be Lehihhanot

And you skipped (in the first post) a chain in the process - from lehihhanot > lehehanot> lehanot

You jumped from lehihanot to omitting the H


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## aavichai

it is just a simple explantion
just to talk about the question asked
not supposed really to show the whole exact process
if so, i would have start even with Lehinhanot
it doesnt matter for the explanation, but thanks for the clarification


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