יכול

Hebrew

Etymology

Possibly cognate with Arabic وَكَلَ (wakala, “to trust”), also found in Akkadian and Ethiopic, from Proto-Semitic *wakal-. Alternatively, Huehnergard and Olyan propose k-h-l as the proto-root.

Root
י־כ־ל (y-k-l)
2 terms

Pronunciation

• (Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /jaˈχol/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

יכול / יָכֹל • (yakhól) (pa'al construction)

1. can, to be able to

Usage notes

• הָיָה (hayá, “was”) is commonly added to the third-person singular past tense to differentiate it from the present tense: היה יכול / הָיָה יָכֹל (hayá yakhól) or יכול היה / יָכֹל הָיָה (yakhól hayá).

Conjugation

Inflection of יכול

non-finite forms		to-infinitive		לִהְיוֹת יָכוֹל
finite forms		singular		plural
		m	f	m	f
past	first	יכולתי \ יָכֹלְתִּי		יכולנו \ יָכֹלְנוּ
	second	יכולת \ יָכֹלְתָּ	יכולת \ יָכֹלְתְּ	יכולתם \ יְכׇלְתֶּם	יכולתן \ יְכׇלְתֶּן
	third	יכול \ יָכֹל	יָכְלָה	יָכְלוּ
present		יָכוֹל	יְכוֹלָה	יְכוֹלִים	יְכוֹלוֹת
future	first	אוּכַל		נוּכַל
	second	תּוּכַל	תּוּכְלִי	תּוּכְלוּ	תּוּכַלְנָה1
	third	יוּכַל	תּוּכַל	יוּכְלוּ	תּוּכַלְנָה1
imperative		–	–	–	–1

¹ Rare in Modern Hebrew.

Derived terms

• כִּבְיָכוֹל (kiv'yakhól)

References

• H3201 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

Anagrams

• וילך