Classification of Roots
A root is classified according to the letters that appear in it. Roots that contain certain letters are conjugated differently.
Roots that contain a ו vav or a י yod as the 2nd letters are called hollow roots. The ו vav or the י yod rarely appear in any conjugation though are usually written as part of the root. Examples of hollow roots: שר /ˈʃaʁ/ (sang), גר /ˈɡaʁ/ (lived), דן /ˈdan/ (discussed), דג /ˈdaɡ/ (fished).
Roots that contain at least one of the weak letters, י yod, נ nun, ח het, ע ayin, א alef, and ה hei, are called weak roots. Each weak letter/position pairing results in a slightly different conjugation pattern. The largest group of these are those that end with ה hey. Examples of weak roots: שתה /ʃaˈta/ (drank), עלה /ʕaˈla/(went up), ירד /jaˈʁad/ (went down), נפל /naˈfal/ (fell).
Roots that do not fit into the other two categories are called strong or complete roots.
Read more about this topic: Modern Hebrew Verb Conjugation
Famous quotes containing the word roots:
“The Plains are not forgiving. Anything that is shallow—the easy optimism of a homesteader; the false hope that denies geography, climate, history; the tree whose roots don’t reach ground water—will dry up and blow away.”
—Kathleen Norris (b. 1947)