Perfect קָטַל qatal
The perfect is one of the two basic forms of the Hebrew verb. It views an action as a completed whole, so it is usually rendered “did.” It has one mark: “who did it” is attached at the end of the word — תִּי means “I,” וּ means “they.” This page colors those endings person by person and shows them one by one in words actually used in Genesis.
the “he killed” form of the model verb קטל. Traditional Hebrew grammar calls it עָבָר (avar, “what has passed”).
Colour key blue = added at the front · orange = added at the end · purple = a mark inside (dot · doubled letter · changed vowel) · underline = the word this page is about
1What the perfect is
A Hebrew verb has two ways to show “who.” One attaches it at the end of the word (the perfect); the other attaches it at the front (the imperfect). The perfect is the ending form, which is why English grammars also call it the “suffix conjugation.”
The perfect views an action from outside, as one finished whole. So it is usually past (“did”), but with stative verbs such as “know” or “be old” it describes a present state (“knows,” “is old”). Hebrew verb forms show first how an action is viewed, and only then its time (past, present, future).
By the OSHB morphology the perfect occurs 15,525 times in the Old Testament (all stems together, not counting the weqatal), 940 of them in Genesis.
2Where the name comes from — קָטַל qatal
A form is named by the sound of a model verb. Modern grammars use קטל (qatal, “kill”), because all three letters are “strong” and never change, so the pattern shows cleanly. Its perfect “he killed” is קָטַל (qatal), so the perfect is called “qatal.”
“Perfect” comes from Latin perfectum, “completed”: the action is seen as one finished event. Traditional Hebrew grammar calls it עָבָר (avar, “what has passed”).
The third masculine singular (“he”) gives the name because that form has no ending; only the root and its vowels are seen. Lexicons list verbs in this form.
3At a glance — how to recognize the perfect
- No “who” letter in frontThe word begins directly with the first root letter — שָׁמַעְתִּי (Gen 3:10) begins with the root letter שׁ. The imperfect has one of י ת א נ in front.
- “Who” is at the endתִּי I · תָּ you (m) · תְּ you (f) · ה (with ָ before it) she · וּ they · נוּ we · תֶּם תֶּן you (pl). “He” has no ending.
- Qal vowels “a-a”קָטַל (qa-tal) — ָ (a) on the first letter, ַ (a) on the second. When an ending that begins with a vowel (ָה וּ) is added, the second vowel shrinks to sheva: קָטְלוּ (qatelu).
4Paradigm — Qal perfect, the ending tells “who”
The Qal perfect of the model קטל (kill). Orange marks the ending that tells “who.” The three root letters ק-ט-ל stay in every row.
| Who | Qal perfect | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| he (3ms) | קָטַל | qatal | he killed |
| she (3fs) | קָטְלָה | qatelah | she killed |
| you (2ms) | קָטַלְתָּ | qatalta | you (m) killed |
| you (2fs) | קָטַלְתְּ | qatalt | you (f) killed |
| I (1cs) | קָטַלְתִּי | qatalti | I killed |
| they (3cp) | קָטְלוּ | qatelu | they killed |
| you (2mp) | קְטַלְתֶּם | qetaltem | you (m pl) killed |
| you (2fp) | קְטַלְתֶּן | qetalten | you (f pl) killed |
| we (1cp) | קָטַלְנוּ | qatalnu | we killed |
“They” קָטְלוּ is the same for men and women (common); so are “I” and “we.” The endings resemble the pronouns — תָּ and אַתָּה (you), נוּ and אֲנַחְנוּ (we), the י of תִּי and אֲנִי (I). The two “you (pl)” rows begin with sheva (קְ): the endings תֶּם תֶּן take the stress and the first vowel reduces.
5The same table in Bible words — one for each person
Each word below is analyzed by OSHB as a Qal perfect in Genesis. Compare the endings with the table above.
| Who | Bible word | Reading | Place · meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| he | בָּרָא | bara | Gen 1:1 · (he) created |
| she | יָלְדָה | yaldah | Gen 4:22 · she bore |
| you (m) | שָׁמַעְתָּ | shama‘ta | Gen 3:17 · you listened |
| you (f) | צָחָקְתְּ | tsaḥaqt | Gen 18:15 · you laughed |
| I | שָׁמַעְתִּי | shama‘ti | Gen 3:10 · I heard |
| they | שָׁרְצוּ | shartsu | Gen 1:21 · they swarmed |
| you (m pl) | שְׁמַעְתֶּם | shema‘tem | Gen 42:22 · you heard |
| you (f pl) | יְדַעְתֶּן | yeda‘ten | Gen 31:6 · you know |
| we | חָלַמְנוּ | ḥalamnu | Gen 40:8 · we dreamed |
צָחָקְתְּ (18:15) stands at the end of a clause (pause), so its second vowel is lengthened to ָ. שְׁמַעְתֶּם and יְדַעְתֶּן have exactly the shape of קְטַלְתֶּם קְטַלְתֶּן.
6Real examples from the Bible — splitting off the ending
Each word is split into “root + ending.” Orange is “who.”
bara — (he) created
Only the root ב-ר-א (create), with no ending — so “he” (3ms). The vowels ָ…ָ (a-a) are the Qal perfect vowels (the silent final א lengthens the second to ָ). The subject אֱלֹהִים (God) follows the verb.
YLVIn beginning (bereshit) God created the heavens and the earth.
shama‘ti — I heard
The root שׁ-מ-ע (hear) + the ending תִּי (I). Adam tells what he did, so the form is “I.” The י of תִּי matches the end of אֲנִי (I).
YLVAnd he said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself."
shama‘ta — you (m) listened
The same root שׁ-מ-ע + the ending תָּ (you, masculine). Only the ending differs from שָׁמַעְתִּי in 3:10; now God says to Adam, “you listened.” One ending separates “I” and “you.”
YLVAnd to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your woman (ishah) and have eaten of the tree which I commanded (tzivvah) you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it'; cursed is the ground (adamah) for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life (chai).
shartsu — (they) swarmed
The root שׁ-ר-ץ (swarm) + the ending וּ (they). The subject is “the waters” (הַמַּיִם, plural). With וּ added, the vowel of the second root letter ר shrinks from ַ to sheva (ְ) — exactly קָטַל → קָטְלוּ.
YLVAnd God created the great sea-creatures (tannin), and every living soul (nephesh) that creeps, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
yaldah — she bore
The root י-ל-ד (bear) + the ending ה (with ָ on the ד before it: she). The subject צִלָּה (Zillah) is a woman, so “she.” Here too the second vowel shrinks to sheva (יָלְ).
YLVAnd Zillah, she also bore Tubal-cain, a hammerer of every cutting tool of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
qara — (he) called
Earlier in the same verse stands the wayyiqtol וַיִּקְרָא (and he called); in “the darkness he called Night” the perfect קָרָא is used. “The darkness” (וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ) comes before the verb, so the wayyiqtol chain is broken. When the waw attaches to another word, not the verb, the verb is a perfect.
YLVAnd God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, day one.
7Why a vowel shrinks to sheva — the stress moves
- 1. The starting shape“He” קָטַל (qa-tal) has the stress on the last syllable, “tal.”
- 2. Add an ending that begins with a vowel“They” adds וּ (u). Now ל joins וּ in one syllable (“lu”), and the stress moves to “lu.”
- 3. The short vowel just before the stress reducesHebrew reduces the vowel of an open syllable just before the stress to sheva. So the ַ (a) of ט becomes ְ: קָטְלוּ (qatelu). “She” קָטְלָה (qatelah) works the same way.
- 4. Endings that begin with a consonant leave itEndings such as תִּי תָּ נוּ start a new syllable after ל and the stress stays on “tal,” so the ַ remains: קָטַלְתִּי (qatalti).
- 5. “You (pl)” is a heavier endingתֶּם תֶּן take the stress themselves, and this time the first vowel on ק reduces too: קְטַלְתֶּם (qetaltem) — Gen 42:22 שְׁמַעְתֶּם.
8What the perfect does — past · state · declaration
(1) A past action “did” — the most common use: בָּרָא (created, 1:1) · שָׁמַעְתִּי (I heard, 3:10).
(2) Something earlier still “had not” — an earlier event inside a story. YLV renders 2:5 לֹא הִמְטִיר (Hiphil perfect) “had not caused it to rain.”
(3) Done and still in effect “has become” — YLV renders 3:22 הָיָה “has become.”
(4) Stative verbs: a present state — the perfect of “know,” “be old” means “knows,” “is old”: 4:9 לֹא יָדַעְתִּי (“I do not know”) · 27:2 זָקַנְתִּי (“I am old”).
(5) A declaration made by speaking — 1:29 הִנֵּה נָתַתִּי (“Behold, I have given”). The giving takes place in God’s own words.
So when you meet a perfect, first read “this action is seen as one completed whole,” and decide the time from the context.
9When the root has a weak letter — the ending stays, the root changes
When a root contains a weak letter such as ה א נ ו, the root part changes shape. The ending that tells “who” (orange) is still the same.
‘asiti — I made
The root ע-שׂ-ה (make) ends in ה. “He” is עָשָׂה (1:31, the ה visible), but before a consonant ending תִי the ה turns into י: עָשִׂיתִי. The ת has no dot because a vowel (י) precedes it.
YLVFor in yet seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out all that exists, which I have made, from upon the face of the ground (adamah)."
hayetah — it (she) was
The “she” form of ה-י-ה (be, become). The final root ה gives way to the old feminine ת, and ָה is added after it: הָיְתָה. The subject הָאָרֶץ (the earth) is feminine, so “she.”
YLVAnd the earth was formlessness and emptiness, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit (ruach) of God was hovering upon the face of the waters.
barati — I created
תִי (I) added to בָּרָא of 1:1. The final root letter א is silent, so the vowel before it stays long ָ (a), and the ת has no dot (it follows a vowel).
YLVAnd YHWH said, "I will blot out man (adam) whom I created from upon the face of the ground (adamah), from man (adam) to beast, to creeping thing, and to bird of the heavens; for I am sorry that I made them."
natatti — I have given
The final root letter ן of נ-ת-ן (give) merges into the ending תִּי and becomes the same sound (natan-ti → natatti). The doubled ת is written once with a dot (dagesh), so no נ is seen.
YLVAnd God said, "Behold, I have given to you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.
ba’u — (they) came
The root ב-ו-א (come, enter) has ו in the middle. In the perfect the middle ו does not appear; בָּא (he came) is the base, and וּ (they) is added.
YLVtwo two they came to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded (tzivvah) Noah.
‘avartem — you (m pl) have passed by
Like קְטַלְתֶּם the first vowel should reduce, but the first root letter ע is a guttural, so it takes hateph patah (ֲ) instead of sheva. The ending תֶּם (you pl) is unchanged.
YLVAnd let me take a piece of bread, and sustain your heart; afterward you may pass on; for therefore you have passed by to your servant." And they said, "So do, as you have spoken."
10Easy to confuse
וְ + perfect is often a different form. A perfect with וְ fixed directly to it is usually the weqatal, which continues future or commanded action (“shall, will”) — 2:24 וְדָבַק (“and cleave”). See the weqatal page.
Tell the 3ms perfect from the participle. Qal perfect קָטַל (qatal, a-a) and Qal participle קֹטֵל (qotel, o-e) have different vowels.
The “she” ָה is not every final ה. In verbs whose last root letter is ה (עָשָׂה he made) the form is “he.” When the second vowel has shrunk to sheva, as in יָלְדָה, the final ָה is “she.”
The perfect is not always past. יָדַעְתִּי (4:9) is “I do not know” (now); נָתַתִּי (1:29) is a declaration made in speaking. Do not render every perfect “did”; read the context.
11Where this appears in Genesis 1–2
All 18 places, found from the OSHB morphology. Tap one to go to that word’s notes.