שָׁנָה shânâh — to fold, i.e. duplicate (literally or figuratively)
Translated in the KJV as do (speak, strike) again, alter, double, change, disguise, diverse, pervert, prefer, repeat, return, do the second time.
a primitive root; to fold, i.e. duplicate (literally or figuratively); by implication, to transmute (transitive or intransitive).
shânâh in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 5Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Perfect (qatal) 2Imperative 1Wayyiqtol 1
Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time.
But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.
And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
Pi'el
Wayyiqtol 2Infinitive construct 2Imperfect (yiqtol) 2Participle (active) 1Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me?
And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king’s house: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women.
Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
Niph'al
Infinitive construct 1
And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
Hitpa'el
Perfect (qatal) 1
And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people.
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 ›