Modern Hebrew’s past tense – זמן עבר

This tutorial assumes you know basic Hebrew pronouns.

Verbs in Modern Hebrew’s past tense are easy to spot, once you get the hang of it.

A couple of rules of thumb:

1. These verbs will have an ending, with the exception of “…הוא” “he…”
2. This ending rhymes with the pronoun in the first and second persons – the “I” and “we”, and all the “yous”.
   For example: אני התלבשתי – I got dressed, אנחנו התלבשנו – we got dressed.
3. The endings are either soft-sounding vowels in the third person – just as the pronouns themselves sound soft (היא, הם, הן) – or no ending at all.
   For example: היא כתבה – she wrote, הם כתבו – they wrote, הוא כתב – he wrote.

But enough theory.

Develop your intuition for Hebrew’s past-tense verbs by playing this little game-quiz.