Many students of the Hebrew language cannot help but think of an adult activity when they come across the root גמר . But this is not correct in 99.9% of the cases. Let’s explore the different binyanim that we find in this root. Here you can download the conjugation sheet of this root and its binyanim. "Gamur" and "nigmar" are for sure two verbs you have heard more than once, but when to use which?
paal: לִגְמוֹר
This means simply “to finish”, nothing else. Yes, some people also use it when they talk about adult activities, but we only talk about finishing something. Period.
I always finish all the books that I start.
אֲנִי תָּמִיד גּוֹמֶר אֶת כׇּל הַסְּפָרִים שֶׁאֲנִי מַתְחִיל.
Okay, that was easy, I guess. Let’s move on to nifal:
nifal: לְהִיגָּמֵר
This is the passive voice of paal, and therefore means “to be finished”, but also “to be over”
The break is over.
הַהַפְסָקָה נִגְמְרָה.
The chips in the bag have run out, there are no more.
הַצִּ'יפְּס בַּשַּׂקִּית נִגְמַר.
past participle: גָּמוּר
Reminder: a past participle is what you see after the action has finished. In English we would say “done”, because it had been finished already and we see the result: it is over. So, a paal verb now turns into paul (not pual!). And paal is an active verb, so do not think about nifal here.
I finish my work. (paal)
אֲנִי גּוֹמֶרֶת אֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה שֶׁלִּי.
My work is finished (past participle)
הָעֲבוֹדָה שֶׁלִּי גְּמוּרָה.
More translations of גָּמוּר
Most of you might have heard the people say "בְּסֵדֶר גָּמוּר" when being asked how they are doing. Literally translated, they are saying "completely in order". Complete, this is the most common translation of גָּמוּר when it is not meant to be the past participle of "to finish".
My boyfriend is the complete opposite of me.
בֶּן הַזּוּג שֶׁלִּי הוּא הַהֵיפֶךְ הַגָּמוּר מִמֶּנִּי.
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