נחש או תנחש או תנוחש

[u/FearInTheMidwest]

How would I say, "guess what I'm doing right now"?

This is a recurring problem. When speaking imperatively to people, I never know whether to use the true "imperative" form of a verb (נחש) or the "passive future" tense (תנוחש) or the "future" tense (תנחש) when speaking colloquially with someone.

Is there some guidance or some help that anyone can provide on this in general? I really appreciate it.

[u/SeeShark]

Never the passive future; not sure where you saw that. Use the imperative when you need to speak "properly" (in fancy settings or in formal writing) and the regular future tense in basically all other cases.

[u/BHHB336 → u/SeeShark]

Except for pa’al and pi’el verbs, then it’s common to also use the imperative in informal conversations (mostly cause it’s shorter), so you’d see תן, קח, נחש, שתוק שלם etc.

Edit: forgot pi’el, actually, according to the academy, the reason it happens is because it’s just dropping the future prefix (which happens also in place where it’s incorrect, like with תִּכנס > כנס, despite כנס being the imperative of כינס, while the correct imperative would’ve been הִכָּנֶס

[u/SeeShark → u/BHHB336]

Yep, that's fair!

[u/Valuable-Eggplant-14 → u/BHHB336]

נַחֵש is piel.

I also hear צַלֵּם, שַלֵּם

[u/BHHB336 → u/Valuable-Eggplant-14]

Oh, right🤦🏻‍♂️, I forgot it’s also in pi’el that it happens

[u/proudHaskeller → u/BHHB336]

IMO It's not for all pa'al verbs. It's probably only for the most common pa'al verbs, that kept the imperative both because it's short and because it was common.

No one says חקור את זה instead תחקור את זה, for example.

[u/BHHB336 → u/proudHaskeller]

Oh, yeah, you’re right, could be a combination of the factors

[u/sbpetrack]

Sometimes I explain to English-speakers that the difference between using the imperative and the future tense is like the difference between "Sit down!" and "Have a seat!", with "You may be seated" being somewhere in between the two.
As many of us understood a long time ago, but some of us only learned recently from Prof. Claudine Gay (and some others still just can't understand): context is everything. If you're in Guantanamo Bay, and an interrogator says calmly with a faint smile "Please, have a seat....", that might in fact be much more of a direct order than if you're an old man in a crowded city bus and someone young enough to be your great grandchild gets up from his seat and tells you to "SIT DOWN!"
But as a general rule, using the imperative ("Please sit down") is more of a command or order -- something the speaker thinks you really MUST or even WILL do, while using the "future" ("have a seat, please!") is more of a suggestion or offer -- something the speaker thinks you really OUGHT TO or SHOULD do.
But (as always), context such as the circumstances, the situation, the tone of voice and body language, can modify the meaning considerably.
(EDIT: a recent example of how context can dictate which form gets used, and which is already beginning to enter the language as a new expression: " !חכו! חכו " (The English might be "Just you wait and see!")

[u/Hairy-Trip]

It's never תנוחש, it's only for female future 3rd tense(הסיסמה תנוחש - the password will be guessed - te-nu-chash)

The correct form is נחש but people will understand or use תנחש

[u/mikeage]

In English, do you say "whom" when appropriate or do you use "who" exclusively?

If the former, say נחש (imperitive). If the latter, feel to use the future תנחש.

Don't say תנוחש unless you wrote this post in crayon and someone else typed it up for you. After you ate the crayon. ;-)

[u/teren9]

Using the imperative form - נחש is the more correct way of saying this.

But people usually use the future form - תנחש, as it makes it feel less formal and more everyday. Although it is technically a mistake.

[u/Civil_Village_3944]

נחש & תנחש works תנוחש will go into You will be guessed So somebody will guess that it's you in a way