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Passive Binyanim

Pu'al and Huf'al

Pu'al is the passive of Pi'el

'To be Xed (intensively)'.

💬 Examples
סיפר / סופר
siper / supar
told / was told
📝 Pi'el active → Pu'al passive
תוקן
tukan
it was fixed
📝 Pu'al (root ת-ק-ן)
Huf'al is the passive of Hif'il

The passive of a causative.

📊 Active vs passive binyanim
Active Passive Example
Pi'el Pu'al סיפר → סופר
Hif'il Huf'al הזמין → הוזמן
Pa'al Nif'al כתב → נכתב
💬 Examples
הדליק / הודלק
hidlik / hudlak
lit / was lit
📝 Hif'il → Huf'al
הוזמן
huzman
he was invited
📝 Huf'al (root ז-מ-ן)
Nif'al is the everyday passive

In practice Nif'al often expresses the passive.

💬 Examples
הבית נבנה
ha-bayit nivna
the house was built
📝 Nif'al passive in practice
המכתב נכתב
ha-michtav nikhtav
the letter was written
📝 Nif'al passive