12.18 Weak Verbs Contain At Least One Weak Letter

Weak verbs will have one or more weak letters that result in some deviation from the strong verb paradigm

• For example the “Verbs Introduction” video by Izzy, he mentioned how the נ in נתן can disappear in certain forms
  • This is because נ is a weak letter
  • In Units I and II, we have already learned unique characteristics of many weak letters
    • Gutturals reject Vocal Sheva and Dagesh Forte (there may or may not be compensatory lengthening)
    • ר rejects Dagesh Forte
    • א tends to quiesce in certain situations
    • SQiN eM Levy reject Dagesh when they have a Sheva
  • As we progress in Unit III, we will learn that other weak letters drop entirely like the נ does, or otherwise behave differently
• One important caveat is that a verb may have a weak letter that causes deviation in one stem or conjugations but not in others
  • For example, ר is only weak in forms that try to put a Dagesh Forte in it
  • 1נ (a verb with \(R_1 = נ\) ) wants to assimilate whenever it has a Silent Sheva
    • Because this never happens to \(R_1\) in the Qal Perfect, 1נ is said to be “strong” in the Qal Perfect
    • In the Qal IMPERFECT, \(R_1\) takes a Silent Sheva in the strong paradigm; this means 1נ verbs are said to be “weak” in that conjugation