עָנָה ʻânâh — properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention
Translated in the KJV as give account, afflict, (cause to, give) answer, bring low, cry, hear, Leannoth, lift up, say, × scholar, shout.
a primitive root; properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention; by implication, to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce.
ʻânâh in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Wayyiqtol 156Imperfect (yiqtol) 73Perfect (qatal) 39Imperative 21Participle (active) 12Sequential perfect (weqatal) 11Infinitive construct 7Jussive 2Cohortative 1
And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,
And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
Niph'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Perfect (qatal) 1Participle (active) 1
Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?
Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.
Pi'el
Infinitive construct 1Imperative 1
And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
What the stems mean
A Hebrew verb is its root letters set into a pattern. The pattern — the binyan — is the grammar's way of saying three things at once: whether the action is simple, intensive or causative, and whether its subject is active, passive or reflexive. That is why one Hebrew word can need six English ones. All seven binyanim, explained ›