The Derived Stems So Far

You have now met four of the six derived stems. Each takes the basic Qal root and bends its meaning along one axis — voice, intensity, or causation.

• Niphal (Lesson 22): simple passive / reflexive of Qal — "he was killed."
• Piel (Lesson 23): intensive or factitive active — "he slaughtered" or "he made holy."
• Pual (Lesson 24): the passive of Piel — "he was slaughtered."
• Hithpael (Lesson 25): reflexive of Piel — "he sanctified himself."

Now we cross into the third pair: Hiphil and Hophal — the causative stems. Hiphil is the most common derived stem after Niphal, accounting for roughly one in eight verbs in the Hebrew Bible. Master it and you have unlocked nearly all the verbs you will meet.

The Standard Form: הִקְטִיל

The Hiphil perfect 3ms uses the dummy root קטל ("to kill") to display the pattern. Two unmistakable diagnostics:

• Prefix ה with hireq (הִ — "hi-") attached to the front of the root.
• Long hireq-yod (ִי — "i") between the second and third root letters.

Read it: hiq-TIL. The hi- in front and the long -i- in the middle are the fingerprints of Hiphil. Wherever you see them together, suspect Hiphil first.

Compare: Qal קָטַל qa-TAL ("he killed") · Hiphil הִקְטִיל hiq-TIL ("he caused to kill"). Same three root letters; different vowel pattern; different meaning.

From Action to Causation

Hiphil Imperfect — יַקְטִיל

In the imperfect the ה prefix drops out and the preformative letter (י ת א נ) takes a patach ("a"). The long hireq-yod between letters 2 and 3 of the root remains the giveaway.

Diagnostic: preformative + patach + hireq-yod = Hiphil imperfect. ya-qtil, not yi-qtol (which would be Qal).

Hiphil Imperative — הַקְטֵל

The imperative recovers the ה prefix (just like Niphal and Hithpael imperatives recover their prefixes). But the vowel under the ה is patach, not hireq, and the stem vowel is tsere, not hireq-yod.

Quick contrast: perfect הִקְטִיל (hi-qtil) vs imperative הַקְטֵל (ha-qtel). Same prefix letter, different vowels — easy to mix up at first.

Hiphil Infinitive Construct — הַקְטִיל

The infinitive construct combines features of both: the patach under the prefix ה (like the imperative) and the hireq-yod in the stem (like the perfect and imperfect).

You will meet it after the preposition לְ ("to / in order to"):

Compare the Qal infinitive construct לִקְטֹל ("to kill") with Hiphil לְהַקְטִיל ("to cause to kill"). The same English "to" hides two very different Hebrew shapes.

Hiphil Participle — מַקְטִיל

The Hiphil participle takes the mem prefix (like the Piel, Pual, and Hithpael participles do) plus the diagnostic patach + hireq-yod pattern.

Diagnostic for any active derived participle: mem + patach + hireq-yod = Hiphil. (Piel participle uses mem + shewa + qamatz: מְקַטֵּל. Don't confuse them.)

יָדַע "to know" → הוֹדִיעַ

The initial י of the root collapses with the prefix vowel into holem-vav (הוֹ — "ho-"). This I-yod (or pe-yod) pattern is regular: הוֹדִיעַ, הוֹשִׁיעַ, הוֹלִיךְ.

Psalm 25:4: דְּרָכֶיךָ יְהוָה הוֹדִיעֵנִי — "Your ways, O LORD, make known to me." The Hiphil "make known" is the verb of revelation throughout the Psalms.

יָצָא "to go out" → הוֹצִיא

This is the signature verb of the Exodus. God did not "go out" of Egypt — he caused Israel to go out.

"...who brought you out from the land of Egypt" (Exodus 20:2 — the prologue to the Ten Commandments). הוֹצֵאתִיךָ is the Hiphil perfect 1cs + 2ms suffix: "I caused-you-to-go-out." The whole self-identification of the covenant God hangs on this one Hiphil form.

Roughly 13% of All OT Verbs

Hiphil accounts for about one in eight verb forms in the Hebrew Bible. To put that in perspective:

• Qal: ~69% — the workhorse.
• Niphal: ~6%.
• Piel: ~9%.
• Hiphil: ~13% — the most common derived stem after Niphal-and-Piel combined.
• Pual + Hophal + Hithpael: together about 3%.

If you know Qal solidly and recognize Hiphil reliably, you can parse roughly 82% of all verb forms in the Hebrew Bible on sight. The investment in mastering the patach + hireq-yod fingerprint pays back daily for the rest of your reading life.

This is why teachers push Hiphil hard. Frequency drives priority.

Hiphil vs Piel

Both Piel and Hiphil can express a causative idea — but they answer different questions.

Rule of thumb: if the result is a quality or condition, lean Piel. If the result is an active verb the object now performs, lean Hiphil.

The line is fuzzy in places — some roots use both, and the choice carries nuance. But the form is unambiguous: קִטֵּל ≠ הִקְטִיל. Read the shape, then ask which sense fits.

Common Biblical Hiphils

Genesis 15:6: וְהֶאֱמִן בַּיהוָה — "And he believed in the LORD." Abraham's faith is a Hiphil: he caused himself to consider God firm.

The Drill Plan

What You Now Know

• Hiphil = causative active: the subject causes someone else to perform the action.
• Diagnostic shape: prefix הִ / הַ (or ya-/ma- preformative) + long hireq-yod between root letters 2 and 3.
• Four key forms: הִקְטִיל (perfect), יַקְטִיל (imperfect), הַקְטֵל (imperative), מַקְטִיל (participle).
• Frequency: ~13% of OT verbs — the most common derived stem after Niphal-and-Piel combined.
• Piel vs Hiphil: Piel makes X be Y; Hiphil makes X do Y.
• Signature verbs: הוֹצִיא (Exodus), הוֹדִיעַ (revelation), הִכְרִית (judgment), הֶאֱמִין (faith), הוֹשִׁיעַ (salvation).
• The name יֵשׁוּעַ: a Hiphil from יָשַׁע — "he saves."