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