In spoken Hebrew 2nd person of future tense is generally used as imperative. go! thus becomes you will go, come in becomes you will come in.
There is, however, a formally pure imperative, which is formed as follows:
pa’al | kal | nif’al | pi’el | hif’il | hitpa’el | |
סוגר | קם | נכנס | מדבר | ממתין | מתכבד | |
soger | kam | nichnas | medaber | mamtin | mitkabed | |
to close | to rise | to enter | to speak | to wait | to help onself | |
of these verbs the imperative is formed as follows: | ||||||
singular | close! | rise! | enter! | speak! | wait! | help yourself! |
male | סגור | קום | הכנס | דבר | המתן | התכבד |
sgor | kum | hikanes | daber | hamten | hitkabed | |
female | סגרי | קומי | הכנסי | דברי | המתיני | התכבדי |
sigri | kumi | hikansi | dabri | hamtini | hitkabdi | |
plural | close! | rise! | enter! | speak! | wait! | help yourself! |
m and f | סגרו | קומו | הכנסו | דברו | המתינו | התכבדו |
sigru | kumu | hikansu | dabru | hamtinu | hitkabdu |
In some verbs the pure imperative is also used in colloquial language next to the future:
m singular f | plural | derived from: | |||
go! | לך | לכי | לכו | הולך | to go |
lech | lechi | lechu | holech | ||
come! | בוא | בואי | בואו | בא | to come |
bo | boi | bo’u | ba | ||
give! | תן | תני | תנו | נותן | to give |
ten | tni | tnu | noten | ||
take! | קח | קחי | קחו | לוקח | to take |
kach | kchi | kchu | loke'ach | ||
look out! | שים לב | שימי לב | שימו לב | שם לב | to look out |
sim lev | simi lev | simu lev | sam lev | ||
go! drive! | סע | סעי | סעו | נוסע | to drive, go |
sa | se’i | se’u | nose'a | ||
sit down! | שב | שבי | שבו | יושב | to sit |
shev | shvi | shvu | yoshev | ||
stop! | עצור | עצרי | עצרו | עוצר | to stop |
atzor | atzri | atzru | otzer | ||
move! | זוז | זוזי | זוזו | זז | to move |
zuz | zuzi | zuzu | zaz |
Note: in the negated form – eg don’t – not is translated with al followed by future tense.
Examples:
don't touch me! | !אל תגע בי | don't ask! f | !אל תשאלי |
al tigah bi | al tishali |