how to say “to function” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/לתפקד-#.m4a” /]לְתַפְקֵד

Look closely at this word, לתפקד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/לתפקד-#.m4a” /] – to function. What is the root?

You might answer that the root is ת.פ.ק.ד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/לתפקד-#.m4a” /], which is true in the sense that if you plug it into the פיעל verb structure paradigm, you’ll get all your conjugations.

For example:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/לתפקד-#.m4a” /]אם אני לא ישן כמו שצריך בלילה, קשה לי לתפקד למחרת.

If I (a male) doesn’t sleep properly at night, it’s hard for me to function the next day.

The truth is that this verb, לתפקד, derives from not from a root of its own, but rather from the noun תפקיד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/לתפקד-#.m4a” /] – a role or a function. And תפקיד itself derives from the verb root פ.ק.ד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/לתפקד-#.m4a” /] meaning visit or appointing, forming words like מפקד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/לתפקד-#.m4a” /] and מפקדת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/לתפקד-#.m4a” /] – male and female commander, respectively, and פקיד[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/לתפקד-#.m4a” /] and פקידה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/לתפקד-#.m4a” /] – male and female clerk.