Hiphil Weak Verbs — III-ח/ע (Lamed-Guttural) Paradigms

Full conjugation tables for Lamed-Guttural roots in the Hiphil stem.
Representative roots: שָׁלַח (to send → Hiphil: send away, release) and שָׁמַע (to hear → Hiphil: cause to hear, proclaim).
Each section shows the strong root (קטל) alongside the weak paradigm for direct comparison.
Attested forms drawn from MACULA Hebrew WLC.

Perfect (Qatal)

The Pattern

Gutturals (ח and ע) prefer a-class vowels in their syllable. In the Hiphil perfect, R3 = ח/ע stands at the end of the word in the 3ms/3fs/3cp forms. When the syllable ending in ח/ע is open and stressed, a patach furtive (פַּתַח גְּנוּבָה) is inserted between the preceding vowel and the guttural. The patach furtive is written below and to the right of the final vowel, and is pronounced before the guttural (e.g., הִשְׁמִיעַ is pronounced "hish-mi-YA"). When suffixes are added (2ms, 1cs, etc.), the guttural is no longer word-final and the patach furtive does not appear.

Key: Patach furtive appears in 3ms/3fs/3cp (open final syllable); suffixed forms have regular patach under R3 — no furtive.

Attested passages:
- הִשְׁמִיעַ (Isa 48:6) — "from now on I announce to you new things"
- הִשְׁלַחְתִּי (Jer 7:25) — "from the day your fathers came out of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets"
- הִשְׁמַעְנוּ (Isa 42:23) — "who among you will give ear to this?"

Imperfect (Yiqtol)

The Pattern

In the imperfect, R3 ends the word in the 3ms and other short forms. The patach furtive appears before word-final ח/ע in open syllables. The prefix vowel is standard Hiphil patach (יַ). The characteristic Hiphil chiriq-yod appears in the penultimate syllable (between R2 and R3).

Key: Patach furtive in 3ms/3fs/2ms/1cs/1cp (word-final ח/ע in open syllable); forms with suffixes (3mp, 2fs, etc.) lose the furtive since ח/ע is no longer final.

Attested passages:
- יַשְׁמִיעַ (Isa 42:2) — "he will not cry aloud or lift up his voice"
- תַּשְׁלַחְנָה (†) — theoretically expected; rare in corpus
- אַשְׁמִיעַ (Psa 26:7) — "to make the voice of thanksgiving be heard"

Wayyiqtol

The Pattern

The strong Hiphil wayyiqtol is וַיַּקְטֵל (patach prefix + tsere final). For Lamed-Guttural roots, the final tsere of the strong root shifts to patach before ח/ע (because the guttural prefers an a-class vowel in its syllable). The patach furtive does NOT appear in the wayyiqtol because the wayyiqtol shortens the final vowel — patach (short a) replaces tsere (long e).

Key: Patach (not tsere) before final ח/ע in the 3ms wayyiqtol — the guttural forces a vowel lowering from tsere to patach.

Attested passages:
- וַיַּשְׁלַח (Gen 3:23) — "the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden"
- וַיַּשְׁמַע (1 Sam 15:14) — "then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears?"

Weqatal

The Pattern

Weqatal = וְ + perfect. Same as the perfect pattern above.

Key: Patach furtive in 3ms (open word-final syllable); no furtive with suffixes.

Imperative

The Pattern

The strong Hiphil imperative 2ms is הַקְטֵל. For Lamed-Guttural roots, the tsere before R3 shifts to patach (as in the wayyiqtol), because the final syllable is short (imperative = shortened form).

Key: Patach (not tsere) before word-final ח/ע in 2ms and 2fp — guttural forces vowel lowering in short forms.

Attested passages:
- הַשְׁמַע (Deu 4:10) — "make them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me"
- הַשְׁלַח (Exo 4:13) — "oh Lord, please send someone else" (Qal, but cf. Hiphil הַשְׁלִיחַ)

Infinitive Construct

The Pattern

The strong Hiphil inf. construct is הַקְטִיל. For Lamed-Guttural roots, the chiriq-yod characteristic vowel is retained before the final ח/ע. The patach furtive appears when the form ends in ח/ע without suffix.

Key: Patach furtive before the final ח/ע even with preposition prefix; the chiriq-yod is visible in all forms.

Attested passages:
- לְהַשְׁמִיעַ (Psa 26:7) — "to make the voice of thanksgiving heard"
- לְהַשְׁלִיחַ (Exo 9:15) — "for by now I could have put out my hand and struck you"

Infinitive Absolute

The Pattern

The strong Hiphil inf. absolute is הַקְטֵל (patach + tsere). For Lamed-Guttural roots, the tsere shifts to patach before the final guttural in absolute-length (long, unshortened) forms; but the furtive patach appears in the common attestation.

Key: Tsere before final ח/ע + patach furtive — note that here tsere (long form) appears, unlike the imperative/wayyiqtol where patach replaces it.

Participle

The Pattern

The strong Hiphil participle ms is מַקְטִיל (מַ + chiriq). For Lamed-Guttural roots, patach furtive appears before word-final ח/ע in the ms form (open final syllable). Plural/feminine forms with suffixes do not show the furtive.

Key: Patach furtive before final ח/ע in ms; fs shows patach under R3 (not furtive) because R3 is followed by ת.

Attested passages:
- מַשְׁמִיעַ (Isa 41:26) — "who declared it from the beginning, that we might know"
- מַשְׁלִיחַ (†) — expected form; attested in Hiphil participle of שלח in some texts

Summary — III-ח/ע Hiphil at a Glance