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Properly speaking, participles in Biblical Hebrew are verbal nouns. Like the infinitive forms, they conjugate in the passive stems (Niphal, Pual, Hophal, etc.). They also inflect for person and gender like both adjectives and nouns. Furthermore, they can also appear in either the absolute state or the construct state, like nouns. Thus, participles have potential to function as a verbal complement, a finite verb, an adjective, or a noun. In most cases, the context will clearly show how the participle is being used in the sentence. Generally speaking, the meaning of the participle is clear even in cases where its specific grammatical function cannot be determined precisely.
NOTE: Only the Qal stem has a distinct passive form for the participle; in all other cases, the passive (sometimes reflexive) meaning is determined by the stem formation and the specific verb.
Form
Qal passive
| Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
|---|
| masculine singular Absolute | קָטוּל | qatul | killer / killed |
| feminine singular Absolute | קְטוּלָה | qetulah | killer / killed |
| masculine plural Absolute | קְטוּלִים | qetulim | killers / killed |
| feminine plural Absolute | קְטוּלוֹת | qetuloth | killers / killed |
Niphal (usually passive or reflexive voice)
| Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
|---|
| masculine singular Absolute | נִקְטָל | niqtal | being killed |
| feminine singular Absolute | נִקְטָלָה | niqtalah | being killed |
| masculine plural Absolute | נִקְטָלִים | niqtalim | being killed |
| feminine plural Absolute | נִקְטָלוֹת | niqtaloth | being killed |
Hophal
| Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
|---|
| masculine singular Absolute | מָקְטָל | moqtal | being caused to kill |
| feminine singular Absolute | מָקְטֶלֶת | moqteleth | being caused to kill |
| masculine plural Absolute | מָקְטָלִים | moqtalim | being caused to kill |
| feminine plural Absolute | מָקְטָלוֹת | moqtaloth | being caused to kill |
Pual
| Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
|---|
| masculine singular Absolute | מְקֻטַּל | mequttal | being slaughtered |
| feminine singular Absolute | מְקֻטֶּלֶת | mequtteleth | being slaughtered |
| masculine plural Absolute | מְקֻטְּלִים | mequttelim | being slaughtered |
| feminine plural Absolute | מְקֻטְּלוֹת | mequtteloth | being slaughtered |
Hithpael (usually reflexive voice)
| Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
|---|
| masculine singular Absolute | מִתְקַטֵּל | mithqattel | killing oneself |
| feminine singular Absolute | מִתְקַטֶּלֶת | mithqatteleth | killing oneself |
| masculine plural Absolute | מִתְקַטְּלִים | mithqattelim | killing oneself |
| feminine plural Absolute | מִתְקַטְּלוֹת | mithqatteloth | killing oneself |
Function
Participles in passive/reflexive voice are often used as an independent grammatical entity, although it can introduce relative clauses, like active participles. Passive participles are generally more limited in meaning than active participles, usually functioning descriptively or expressing stative actions. Passive participles are governed either by the main verb of a sentence or by the context; thus, they can express action in past time, present time, future time, or without any specified timeframe.
A passive participle can function in a sentence in any of the following ways:
Functions as a verbal adjective
This is the most common use of the passive participle in Biblical Hebrew. When a passive participle functions as an adjective, it is usually either an attributive adjective or a predicate adjective. The context must determine whether a passive participle is functioning as a predicate adjective or as a finite verb, because both appear the same in many instances (compare EXO 5:16 and 1SA 19:11).
- PSA 149:9 –– functioning as an attributive adjective
| לַעֲשׂ֤וֹת בָּהֶ֨ם׀ מִשְׁפָּ֬ט כָּת֗וּב |
| la'asoth bahem mishpat **kathuv** |
| to-do to-them judgment **written** |
| They will execute the judgment **that is written** |
- EXO 5:16 –– functioning as a predicate adjective
| וְהִנֵּ֧ה עֲבָדֶ֛יךָ מֻכִּ֖ים |
| wehinneh 'avadeykha **mukkim** |
| and-behold your-servants **beaten** |
| We, your servants, are even **beaten** now |
- PSA 22:7 –– introducing clauses functioning as predicate adjectives
| וְאָנֹכִ֣י תוֹלַ֣עַת וְלֹא־אִ֑ישׁ **חֶרְפַּ֥ת** אָ֝דָ֗ם **וּבְז֥וּי** עָֽם׃ |
| we'anokhi thola'ath welo-'ish **herpath** 'adam **uvezuy** 'am |
| and-I worm and-not_man **scorned-of** humanity **and-despised-of** people |
| But I am a worm and not a man, a **disgrace** to humanity **and despised** by the people. |
The context must determine whether a passive participle is functioning as a finite verb or as a predicate adjective, because both appear the same in many instances (compare 1SA 19:11 and EXO 5:16).
- ISA 17:2 –– NOTE: the participle is in the first position here, which is the normal Hebrew word order for finite verbs
| עֲזֻב֖וֹת עָרֵ֣י עֲרֹעֵ֑ר |
| **'azuvoth** 'are 'aro'er |
| **being-forsaken** cities-of Aroer |
| The cities of Aroer **will be abandoned** |
| מָחָ֖ר אַתָּ֥ה מוּמָֽת |
| mahar 'attah **mumath** |
| tomorrow you **being-made-dead** |
| tomorrow you **will be killed** |
Functions as a verbal complement
| הִ֣וא **מוּצֵ֗את** וְהִ֨יא שָׁלְחָ֤ה אֶל־חָמִ֙יהָ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר |
| hiw **mutseth** wehi sholhah 'el-hamiha lemor |
| she **being-brought-out** and-she sent to_her-father-in-law saying |
| When she **was brought out**, she sent to her father-in-law a message |
| כְּכָל־**הַכָּת֖וּב** בְּסֵ֥פֶר הַתּוֹרָֽה׃ |
| kekhol-**hakkathuv** besefer hattowrah |
| like-all_**the-written** in-book-of the-law |
| just as **had been written** in the book of the law |
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