פָּתַח pâthach — to open wide (literally or figuratively)
Translated in the KJV as appear, break forth, draw, let go free, grave, loose, (be, be set) open, put off, ungird, unstop, have vent.
a primitive root; to open wide (literally or figuratively); specifically, to loosen, begin, plough, carve.
pâthach in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Wayyiqtol 21Imperfect (yiqtol) 21Perfect (qatal) 15Participle (passive) 13Imperative 9Participle (active) 6Infinitive construct 5Infinitive absolute 3Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2Cohortative 2
And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
Pi'el
Perfect (qatal) 10Sequential perfect (weqatal) 4Imperfect (yiqtol) 4Wayyiqtol 3Infinitive construct 3Participle (active) 2Infinitive absolute 1
And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men’s feet that were with him.
And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel:
With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold.
Niph'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 9Perfect (qatal) 6Infinitive construct 1Wayyiqtol 1Participle (passive) 1
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be over against his house.
Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
Hitpa'el
Imperative 2
Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Pu'al
Participle (passive) 1
And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel.
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 ›