Biblical Hebrew Lecture 4 Nouns Study Notes

Hebrew nouns change form for gender and number. Their endings often identify the form, but common nouns may use an unexpected ending or alter the stem. Learn the noun paradigm first; then use syllable structure and stress to explain vowel changes in plurals. These notes accompany Gary D. Pratico and Miles V. Van Pelt, Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar, chapter 4, and Basics of Biblical Hebrew Workbook, lesson 4.

The lesson in one minute

A noun has grammatical gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular, plural, or dual). Masculine singular is usually endingless; the regular masculine plural ending is -im. Feminine singular commonly ends in -ah or final tav; the regular feminine plural ending is -ot. The dual is marked by -ayim, with -atayim in the feminine model. Endings are the first clue, not the final verdict: confirm a noun's gender and lexical form in vocabulary.

Gender number and the noun paradigm

Grammatical gender describes a noun's Hebrew form and agreement pattern. It need not describe a thing's natural sex: Torah, meaning law or instruction, is grammatically feminine. Natural and grammatical gender normally coincide when the noun itself names a male or female person. A few nouns can function with either gender (common gender).

Number distinguishes one item, more than one, and a dual form that can denote two. Hebrew adds endings much as English adds -s, but the Hebrew ending also gives a clue to gender. The following is the chapter's model paradigm; use the printed grammar to memorize every consonant, vowel, and accent mark exactly.

Masculine singular סוּס sus, 'horse'; ordinarily no special ending.

Masculine plural סוּסִים susim, 'horses'; ending -im (hireq + yod + mem).

Masculine dual סוּסַיִם susayim, 'two horses'; ending -ayim.

Feminine singular תּוֹרָה torah, 'law' or 'instruction'; ending -ah (qamets + he).

Feminine plural תּוֹרוֹת torot, 'laws'; ending -ot (holem + waw + tav).

Feminine dual תּוֹרָתַיִם toratayim, 'two laws'; the singular he strengthens to tav before the dual ending.

Read the paradigm down the masculine forms, then down the feminine forms. Reproduce the spellings from the grammar in writing, not only by sound. Dual forms are a grammatical category; whether a particular noun commonly uses the dual must be learned from usage.

Recognize the regular endings

Masculine singular: usually endingless. Examples include sus, melekh ('king'), davar ('word'), yeled ('boy'), and yom ('day').

Masculine plural: normally -im. Examples include susim, melakhim, devarim, yeladim, and yamim.

Feminine singular: often -ah or a final tav. Torah has -ah; bat ('daughter'), tiferet ('glory'), berit ('covenant'), and malkhut ('kingdom') have tav.

Feminine plural: normally -ot, as in torot, malakhot, and banot. The ending may be written fully with waw or defectively without it.

Dual: look for -ayim or the feminine model -atayim. Forms such as yomayim, raglayim ('feet'), yadayim ('hands'), and enayim ('eyes') illustrate the category.

Parsing procedure: identify the visible ending, state the likely number, then check whether the noun is masculine or feminine in the vocabulary list. Do not change a known noun's gender just because it takes the ending normally associated with the other gender.

Find the lexical form

The lexical form is the dictionary or vocabulary form. For ordinary nouns it is the singular, even when the form in a verse is plural or dual. For example, look up susim under sus and torot under torah. The task is to recognize which ending was added and whether the stem also changed. A few nouns exist only in a form that looks dual; those are learned under that actual form.

Five exceptions to the basic ending pattern

Some feminine singular nouns have no feminine ending

Memorize the gender of common endingless feminine nouns: erets ('land'), yad ('hand'), ir ('city'), nefesh ('life' or 'soul'), herev ('sword'), even ('stone'), regel ('foot'), em ('mother'), kaf ('palm'), and ozen ('ear'). Some are body parts; several of the two-syllable forms stress the first syllable. These patterns help recall them but do not replace vocabulary memorization.

A plural ending can look like the other gender

Av ('father') is masculine, yet avot ('fathers') takes -ot. Shem ('name') is another masculine noun with an -ot plural. Shanah ('year') is feminine, yet shanim ('years') takes -im. Ishah ('woman') is feminine, yet its plural nashim takes -im. The ending changes; the noun's grammatical gender does not.

Three nouns look dual but are learned as lexical forms

Shamayim ('heaven' or 'heavens'), Mitsrayim ('Egypt'), and mayim ('water') have forms resembling the dual ending. They have no ordinary singular forms for lookup. Learn each full form as its lexical form, and translate according to the word and context rather than mechanically writing 'two.'

Some plural stems change substantially

Yom becomes yamim ('days'); ish ('man') becomes anashim ('men'); ishah ('woman') becomes nashim ('women'). The plural cannot always be found by removing the last two or three letters. Keep the singular and its irregular plural together on a vocabulary card.

The feminine plural ending can be defective

The full spelling of -ot has holem + waw + tav. A defective spelling uses holem + tav without the waw. Forms such as edot, mishpahot, and huqqot illustrate this spelling. The meaning and feminine plural identification do not change.

Six patterns when nouns become plural

Adding an ending can add a syllable and move the accent. The stem vowels may therefore reduce or rearrange. Start with the ending, compare the stem with the lexical form, and use the patterns below to explain the difference.

1 The stem stays the same

Some nouns simply add the plural ending. Examples include shir → shirim ('song/songs'), ot → otot ('sign/signs'), rehov → rehovot ('street/streets'), and halom → halomot ('dream/dreams'). The stem's unchangeable long vowel remains in place.

2 The first vowel reduces in a new propretonic syllable

When a two-syllable noun gains a plural ending, its original first syllable may move from pretonic to propretonic position. An open propretonic syllable prefers a vocal shewa; if its consonant is guttural, it normally takes a reduced hateph vowel, often hateph pathach. This is propretonic reduction, not a different lexical noun.

Example davar → devarim, 'word/words': the opening qamets reduces to vocal shewa when the added -im moves the accent.

Apply the same explanation to plural forms of levav, anan, and hatser, while checking whether a guttural requires a hateph vowel.

3 Segolate nouns take a characteristic plural vowel pattern

A segolate is a two-syllable noun accented on its first syllable; the term does not mean that a segol vowel must appear in every form. In the common plural pattern, the first root consonant takes vocal shewa and the second takes qamets before the plural ending. A guttural first consonant takes a reduced hateph vowel instead of ordinary vocal shewa.

Example melekh → melakhim, 'king/kings': the plural has shewa under the first root consonant and qamets under the second.

Do not classify a noun as segolate solely because its spelling contains segol; check the two syllables and first-syllable stress.

4 Geminate nouns reveal a doubled consonant

A geminate noun historically has identical second and third root consonants. The singular can conceal the doubling; when a plural ending is attached, dagesh forte in the stem shows the doubled consonant.

Examples am → ammim, 'people/peoples'; compare hets → hitsim ('arrow/arrows') and hoq → huqqim ('statute/statutes').

5 Masculine singular nouns in segol he lose that ending

A final segol + he (-eh) can mark a masculine singular noun, unlike the common feminine qamets + he (-ah). Before a plural ending, the final he drops. Sadeh ('field'), maaseh ('deed'), and mahaneh ('camp') are examples. Some take an -ot plural even though they remain masculine, so confirm gender from vocabulary.

6 Irregular plurals must be learned with the singular

High-frequency forms include ish → anashim ('man/men'), ishah → nashim ('woman/women'), ir → arim ('city/cities'), av → avot ('father/fathers'), bayit → batim ('house/houses'), bat → banot ('daughter/daughters'), and ben → banim ('son/sons'). Memorize both forms together; several combine a changed stem with an unexpected-looking ending.

Two rules of shewa

Rule 1 Two initial vocal shewas cannot remain together

If a change would place two vocal shewas together at the start of a word, the first becomes hireq (short i) and the second becomes silent shewa. The result begins with a hireq followed by a consonant carrying silent shewa. The silent shewa follows a short vowel, which also fits the syllable rule from chapter 3.

Rule 2 A vocal shewa before a guttural hateph changes

A vocal shewa cannot stand immediately before a guttural with a hateph vowel. Replace the first shewa with the ordinary short vowel corresponding to the hateph. For hateph pathach, the preceding shewa becomes pathach; the introductory pattern is be-halom → ba-halom ('in a dream'). This is often called the copycat rule.

A practical order for workbook forms

1. Identify the visible singular, plural, or dual ending, then give a provisional gender and number.

2. Find the singular lexical form, except for lexical nouns such as shamayim, Mitsrayim, and mayim.

3. Check vocabulary for an endingless feminine noun or a noun with the other gender's plural ending.

4. Compare the stem vowels with the singular. Explain ordinary reduction, a segolate pattern, geminate doubling, or loss of final -eh.

5. If the form still differs substantially, memorize it as an irregular plural rather than forcing a regular rule.

6. If an added prefix creates adjacent reduced vowels, apply the appropriate shewa rule before reading aloud.

What to memorize before moving on

Write the six forms of the noun paradigm from memory with exact pointing and accents. Identify -im, -ot, -ayim, -ah, and final tav; then recall the five ending exceptions and six plural spelling patterns. Explain why devarim reduces its first vowel, why melakhim has the segolate plural pattern, and why ammim has dagesh forte. Finally, state both shewa rules aloud and apply them in the workbook. Review chapters 1–3 when a vowel name, syllable boundary, or accent position is uncertain.