34.2 Parsing Clues - Pre: a distinctive הִתְ prefix

The Hitpael is the easiest stem to identify

  • All conjugations have a distinctive prefix:
    • הִתְקַטֵּל - tDP3ms, tDM2ms, tD∞, or tDA
    • יִתְקַטֵּל - tDI3ms, and so forth for the remaining imperfect stems.
      • tDI1cs preformative is אֶתְ
    • מִתְקַטֵּל - tDPtms
    • So, if a verb begins with “hIT”, “yIT”, “mIT”, etc., it’s probably Hitpael

Also:

  • \(R_2\) takes Dagesh Forte
  • \(V_1\) is Patach
  • \(V_S = \bar E[A] \sim \bar E\)
    • tDP2ms and tDP1cs have \(V_S = A\), otherwise it’s very consistently \(\bar E\)

The preformative alone is sufficient to identify the Hitpael stem