pu’al is the passive conjugation of the binyan pi’el.
| aktive binjanim | passive binyanim | |||
| pa’al | פעל | > | nif'al | נפעל |
| pi’el | פיעל | > | pu'al | פועל |
| hif'il | הפעיל | > | huf'al | הופעל |
| hitpa’el | התפעל | |||
pu’al is little used in spoken Hebrew. pu’al appears only in past and future tense, not in the present.
Frequent is also the participle passive as metupal – treated, patient
pu’al: passive of the pi’el-verb mefater – to lay off
| singular | 1st person | 2st person | 3st person | ||
| I | you m | you f | he | she | |
| was laid off | were laid off | was laid off | |||
| פוטרתי | פוטרת | פוטרת | פוטר | פוטרה | |
| putarti | putarta | putart | putar | putrah | |
| plural | we | you m | you f | sie | |
| were laid off | were laid off | were laid off | |||
| פוטרנו | פוטרתם | פוטרתן | פוטרו | ||
| putarnu | putartem | putarten | putru | ||
In newpapers you will find pu’al above all in the 3rd person past tense.
| The patient was treated successfully. | .החולה טופל בהצלחה |
| ha-choleh tupal be-hatzlachah |