Nouns in Hebrew – any noun – has gender: feminine or masculine. A noun’s gender is quite important because it can impact an entire sentence.

The gender of the noun doesn’t only affect the pronoun, changing it to she or he. It also affects most of the words in the sentence. In Hebrew, adjectives and verbs are conjugated according to the noun’s gender as well. So, in order to pronounce the verb and the adjective correctly, one must know the gender of the noun, even if the noun is an object. Because in Hebrew every word – a person, an object, or an idea – has a gender, and corresponding to it the all sentence all be conjugated.

There are two genders in Hebrew: feminine and masculine. (There is no “it” gender in Hebrew). It’s easier to identify the feminine nouns than the masculine, because most of the Hebrew feminine nouns end with the letter ה or the letter ת. While masculine nouns end with variety of consonants, it’s easier to recognize the feminine nouns at first sight. Note, for example, the variety of different endings for these masculine pronouns, compared to the repetitive endings of their matching feminine conjugations:

	Male	Female
Infant	תִּינוֹק	תִּינֹוקֶת
Boy/girl	יֶלֶד	יַלְדָּה
Youngster	נַעַר	נַעֲרָה
Young man/lady	בָּחוּר	בַּחוּרָה
Man/woman	אִישׁ	אִישָׁה
Singer	זַמָּר	זַמֶּרֶת
Judge	שׁוֹפֵט	שׁוֹפֶטֶת
Reporter	כַּתָּב	כַּתֶּבֶת
Doctor	רוֹפֵא	רוֺפְאָה
King/queen	מֶלֶךְ	מַלְכָּה
Prince/princess	נָסִיךְ	נְסִיכָה
Emperor/empress	קֵיסָר	קֵיסָרִית
Dog	כֶּלֶב	כַּלְבָּה
Cat	חָתוּל	חֲתוּלָה
Horse/mare	סוּס	סוּסָה

 

I counted 10 different endings for the masculine nouns in the chart above (the letters ק, ד, ר, ש, ט, ב, א, ך, ל, ס) But only two endings for the feminine nouns (the letters ה, ת). And one simple noun affects the entire sentence. For example:

דָּנָה, הַיַּלְדָּה הָחֲמוּדָה, שׂׅיחֲקָה בַּבּוּבָּה הָחֲדָשָׁה שֶׁלָהּ.

The cute girl Dana played with her new doll.

Every word in this sentence – name, noun, adjective, or verb – is feminine and ends with the syllable ָה . If the subject in the sentence above was the cute boy Dan, the sentence wouldn’t be so symmetric:

דָּן, הַיֶּלֶד הֶחָמוּד, שׂׅיחֵק בַּבּוּבָּה הָחֲדָשָׁה שֶׁלוֺ.

The cute boy Dan played with his new doll.

 

But problems begin when not all the words act according to the rule. There are many exceptions, and they are divided to two groups:

1) The first group is feminine nouns that end with other letters than ה or ת. Unfortunately, there is no way to recognize them as feminine without memorizing them. Here is a list of some of those exceptions:

Animals	Frog	צְפַרְדֵּעַ
	A female donkey	אָתוֹן
	Goat	עֵז
	Bird	צִפּוֹר
	Ewe (an archaic use)	רָחֵל
Family members	Mother	אֵם
	Mum	אִמָּא
	Grandmother	סָבְתָא
Body parts	Face *	פָּנִים
	Eye	עַיִן
	Ear	אֹוזֶן
	Cheek	לֶחִי
	Tongue	לָשׁוֹן
	Tooth	שֵׁן
	Shoulder	כָּתֵף
	Arm	זְרוֹעַ
	Hand	יָד
	Palm	כַּף
	Finger	אֶצְבַּע
	Nail	צִפֹּורֶן
	Stomach	בֶּטֶן
	Leg	רֶגֶל
	Knee	בֶּרֶךְ
	Wing	כָּנָף
	Horn	קֶרֶן
	Soul	נֶפֶשׁ
Objects	Fence	גָּדֵר
	Sword	חֶרֶב
	Door	דֶּלֶת
	Cup	כּוֹס
	Knife *	סַכִּין
	Shoe	נַעַל
	Ink *	דְּיוֹ
	Spoon	כַּף
	Needle	מַחַט
	Coin *	מַטְבֵּעַ
	Stake *	יָתֵד
	Loaf of bread	כִּיכָּר
Settlement	Land	אֶרֶץ
	City	עִיר
	Road	דֶּרֶךְ
	Garden	חָצֵר
	Well	בְּאֵר
	Roundabout	כִּיכָּר
Nature	Abyss	תְּהוֹם
	Fire	אֵשׁ
	Grapevine	גֶּפֶן
	Wind *	רוּחַ
	Sun	שֶׁמֶשׁ
	Stone	אֶבֶן

*These words can be referred to as masculine and feminine alike. They are exceptions, because different periods in the history of Hebrew treat them differently, as we’ve learned in this post.

In an old children’s textbook, I found this short rhyme. Can you recognize the feminine nouns in it?

צְפַרְדֵּעַ גְּדוֺלָה וּמְכוֺעֶרֶת,

קָפְצָה מׅכּוֹס מְלֵאָה מׅיץ

וְרָצָה לַכִּיכָּר הַמְרְכָּזׅית

בּׅמְיוּחָד כְּדֵי לְהַשְׁוׅויץ.

בַּדֶּרֶךְ הׅתְנַגְשָׁה הׅיא בְּעֵז

עֲנוֺגָה, אֲצׅילׅית וּצְחוֺרָה,

שֶׁאֶל גָּדֵר עֲקוּמָה,

הָיְיתָה הׅיא בְּחֶבֶל קְשׁוּרָה.

 

2) The second exceptional group is masculine nouns that end with the letters ה and ת. They are actually not exceptions of any rule, but they are rare and makes it harder for us to identify them as masculine. Here is a list of some of those nouns:

Objects	Steering wheel	הֶגֶה
	Dustpan	יָעֶה
	House	בַּיִת
	Railing	מַעֲקֶה
	Rifle	רוֹבֶה
Nature	Field	שָׂדֶה
	Olive	זַיִת
	Night	לַיְלָה
	Strawberry	תּוּת
Animals	Lion	אַרְיֵה
	Lamb	טָלֶה
Others	Edge	קָצֶה
	Guise	מַסְוֶה
	Team	צֶוֶות
	Intersection	צֹומֶת
	Wonder	מוֹפֵת
	Service	שֵׁרוּת

 

The grammatical gender of the Hebrew language confuses almost everyone. Even native speakers sometimes make mistakes with noun gender. So, don’t go hard on yourself and definitely don’t let it prevent you from speaking. Keep practicing and eventually you will master the Hebrew grammar.

To practice the new vocabulary and its correct gender use these exercises:

1) Fill in adjectives:

1) הַיֶּלֶד הׅסְתָּתֵר מֵאֲחוֹרֵי הַגָּדֵר הַ______, כּׅי פָּחַד מֵהַכֶּלֶב הַ______.

2) הַשֵּׁרוּת בַּמּׅסְעָדָה הַזּוֺ הוּא ______, פַּעַם הַבָּאָה נֺאכַל בַּבַּיִת הַ______ שֶׁלָנוּ.

3) בְּאֶמְצָע הַדֶּרֶךְ הַ______ יֵשׁ בְּאֵר ______.

4) בְּגַן הָחַיּוֺת גָּרׅים אַרְיֵה ______, אָתוֹן ______, טָלֶה ______ וְעֵז ______.

5) לַיְלָה ______ יָרַד עַל הָעׅיר הַ______.

6) הַצֶּוֶות שֶׁלְךָ עָבַד יָפֶה מְאוֺד בַּשָּׂדֶה הַ______. בְּהֶחְלֵט צֶוֶות ______.

7) רוּחַ ______ נַשְׁבָה וְכׅיבְּתָה אֶת הָאֵשׁ הַ______.

8) שָׁתַלְתּׅי בָּחָצֵר הַ______ עֵץ זַיׅת ______.

2) Connect the right adjective to its noun:

לָשׁוֹן                                                    מְסוּכָּן

מַעֲקֶה                                                  עֲדׅינָה

תְּהוֹם                                                  עַתּׅיק

בֶּטֶן                                                     גָּבֹוהַּ

שֶׁמֶשׁ                                                   מוּכְשָׁר

צֹומֶת                                                 יוֺקֶדֶת

רוֹפֵא                                                  רָחָב

רוֹבֶה                                                 עֲמוּקָה

בַּיִת                                                   וְרוּדָה

בַּחוּרָה                                               שְׁטוּחָה

3) Choose the feminine noun out of these trios:

חָתוּל          עֵז             סוּס

צֶוֶות          דֶּלֶת          צֹומֶת

אַרְיֵה        כַּלְבָּה         טָלֶה

יֶלֶד           רוֹפֵא          סָבְתָא

מַטְבֵּעַ       מַסְוֶה       מַעֲקֶה

בָּחוּר        בֶּטֶן          בַּיִת

 

Keep Calm and Learn Hebrew

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