"Spot the Niphal" — Passage Exercise

Chapter 24 — Niphal Strong

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A 15-verb parsing exercise drawn from the Joseph narrative (Gen 37–49) and the Sinai approach (Exo 19), with 3 distractor verbs (Part C) from the same passages. Students first answer "Is it Niphal?" for every highlighted verb before parsing conjugation, person-gender-number, root, and semantic function (Passive / Reflexive / Simple action). Distractors are Qal forms (קָמָה, מָכְרוּ, יָכֹל) drawn from the identical corpus to reinforce Niphal recognition. An answer key is embedded in all three formats. Roots are predominantly strong (מָצָא, שָׁבַע, נָצַב, אָסַף, מָכַר, שָׁמַע, שָׁמַר) with one middle/stative root (יָתַר).

Sample Questions

Q1. 1 קָמָה Yes No Perfect Imperfect Wayyiqtol Weqatal Imperative Inf. Construct Inf. Absolute Participle 3ms 3mp 3fs 3fp 2ms 2mp 2fs 1cs 1cp ms + 3mp suffix ms fs mp fp Passive Reflexive Reciprocal Tolerative Resultative Simple Action NOT Niphal

A: ✗ קָמָה ✗ No — Qal | Perfect 3fs | קוּם | NOT Niphal — Qal: arose ; biconsonantal Qal perfect 3fs; no נ prefix or dagesh forte

Q2. 2 נִצָּבָה Yes No Perfect Imperfect Wayyiqtol Weqatal Imperative Inf. Construct Inf. Absolute Participle 3ms 3mp 3fs 3fp 2ms 2mp 2fs 1cs 1cp ms + 3mp suffix ms fs mp fp Passive Reflexive Reciprocal Tolerative Resultative Simple Action NOT Niphal

A: ✓ נִצָּבָה ✓ Yes — Niphal | Perfect 3fs | נָצַב | Reflexive — it stood upright (the sheaf stationed itself)

Q3. 3 מָכְרוּ Yes No Perfect Imperfect Wayyiqtol Weqatal Imperative Inf. Construct Inf. Absolute Participle 3ms 3mp 3fs 3fp 2ms 2mp 2fs 1cs 1cp ms + 3mp suffix ms fs mp fp Passive Reflexive Reciprocal Tolerative Resultative Simple Action NOT Niphal

A: ✗ מָכְרוּ ✗ No — Qal | Perfect 3cp | מָכַר | NOT Niphal — Qal: had sold ; active Qal; contrast with #4 Niphal passive of the same root