Hebrew Nouns` Gender: How to Distinguish Feminine from Masculine Posted by Ayana on Jan 31, 2016 in Grammar
Photo by Ayana
Unlike English, Hebrew belongs to the group of languages that have grammatical gender. The predicate in Hebrew conjugate according to the gender of the subject, which makes the gender of the nouns matters as much as the gender of the pronouns. The subject in Hebrew is divided into masculine and feminine. There is nothing male or female about objects, but when talking about them the verbs and adjectives should conjugate corresponding to their gender.
It`s easy to distinguish feminine nouns from masculine nouns, since most of the feminine nouns end with the letters ה or ת. For example:
| Feminine nouns end with ה | |
| Girl | יַלְדָּה |
| Aunt | דּוֹדָה |
| Family | מִשְׁפָּחָה |
| Dress | שִׂמְלָה |
| Experience | חֲוָיָה |
| List | רְשִׁימָה |
Notice: not every noun that ends with ה is necessarily a feminine. For example: dustpan (=יָעֶה) is masculine, its ה is not the feminine ה but a part of its root.
| Feminine nouns end with ת | |
| Daughter | בַּת |
| Notebook | מַחְבֶּרֶת |
| Frying pan | מַחֲבַת |
| Car | מְכוֹנִית |
| Truth | אֱמֶת |
| Friendship | חֲבֵרוּת |
Notice: not every noun that ends with ת is necessarily a feminine. For example: junction (=צֹמֶת) is a masculine, its ת is not the feminine ת, but a part of its root.
There’s a saying in Hebrew that says: לְכָל כְּלָל יֵשׁ יוֹצֵא מִן הַכְּלָל. This means that every rule has its exceptions. So one can’t always rely on that main principle of ה and ת endings of the feminine nouns. There are quite a few nouns in Hebrew that end with other letters that are feminine as well. Unfortunately there is no way to distinguish them without memorize them.
For example:
| Mother | אִמָּא |
| Grandmother | סָבְתָא |
| Goat | עֵז |
| Country | אֶרֶץ |
| Chasm | תְּהוֹם |
| Road | דֶּרֶךְ |
| Wind | רוּחַ |
| Sun | שֶׁמֶשׁ |
| Glass | כּוֹס |
| City square | כִּכָּר |
| Shoe | נַעַל |
| Jenny | אָתוֹן |
| Grapevine | גֶּפֶן |
Most of these words have some history beyond them. כּוֹס, for example, is referred to in the bible as feminine, but in the Talmud as masculine. Nowadays it has fixed firmly as feminine by the language speakers. The word face (=פָּנִים) has similar history, though vice versa. The bible refers to it as masculine, but the Talmud as feminine. Today Hebrew speakers use freely both feminine and masculine gender when speaking about faces.
רוּחַ and שֶׁמֶשׁ both appeared in the bible as words without specific gender. Sometimes the bible refers to them as masculine and sometimes as feminine. Nowadays the spoken language firmly refers to them as feminine. If you visit Israel and try to describe the sun with masculine adjectives, people will insistently correct your alleged mistake. But as long as the bible can, so can you. And a lot of writers utilize this fact. Hence we can find songs with a feminine sun. Like the song אוֹר with the line:
עוֹצֶמֶת אֶת עֵינַי
אֲבָל הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ הִיא בִּפְנִים
In the song לִי וְלָךְ, though, the sun is masculine:
בַּיָּם הָרוֹגֵעַ
הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ שׁוֹקֵעַ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXwq-awgtBo
It’s very liberating to think of an object as sexless, don’t you think? 🙂
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Comments:
larry goldberg:
Just saw you site as I’m trying to improve my basic Hebrew.
I also want my 6 yr old daughter to learn.
I like what I’ve seen so far, but my reading is horrible.
It would be really really helpful if you had written out the
word in English.
Ayana:
@larry goldberg Hi Larry, thanks for your comment! I’m glad you like our blog. No problem, from now on I’ll definitely write down the words in English. Good luck with your Hebrew learning. Practice makes perfect 🙂
Marcus:
Interesting article. I have a question though: How does one distinguish between genders in definitions with multiple words? For example, lawnmower is מכסחת דשא. Would the gender be dictated by the first or second word? And if the former, that would be feminine? Any help most appreciated.
Ayana:
@Marcus Hi Marcus, that’s a great question! Hebrew grammar includes construct states: noun combined with second noun to describe and classify the first noun. We called it סְמִיכוּת. The first noun called נִסְמָךְ and the phrase gender is dictated by its gender. מַכְסֵחַת דֶּשֶׁא is feminine because the first noun is feminine: מַכְסֵחָה.The second noun דֶּשֶׁא is indeed masculine, but since it is not the first noun – the נִסְמָךְ – it doesn’t affect the phrase gender.
Helene Norin:
Is the Hebrew word for turtle,tsav , masculine or feminine? How would you say beautiful turtle?
Ayana:
@Helene Norin Hi Helene, the Hebrew word for turtle – צָב is masculine. Beautiful turtle therefore will be – צָב יָפֶה. And not – יָפָה. 🙂
Hana:
Is there a feminine way of saying “tagid chiz?”
Ayana:
@Hana Of course 🙂
Tagid chiz – when speaking to a man
Tagidi chiz – when speaking to a woman
Tagido chiz – when taking a picture of a group (men, women or both)
Hana:
@Ayana Thanks!!
ed:
What are the female and male letters of the alphabet as one.There is a combination of both male and female letters as one letter.
Does anyone know these letters?
Ayana:
@ed Hey Ed 🙂 The word letter in Hebrew – אות – is female. Hence all the Hebrew letters are female. For example, if you say האות פ, then פ is referred to as female.
Bob Katz:
This was helpful. Thanks
Ayana:
@Bob Katz Thanks, Bob! I’m glad you like it 🙂
Suzanne/ שושנה:
אני התחילה לדבר בעברית, ברמה בסיס. הדף באתר שלך זה נהדר! תודה רבה. אני רוצה לראות מילים זכרים עם סיומות נקבי? אני תנישה לעשות רשימת של אלה מילים מיחודים.
Ayana:
@Suzanne/ שושנה Hi Suzanne, Thank you for your comment! I’m here to help 🙂 Good luck with your Hebrew studies. You are maybe a beginner now, but with your enthusiasm and a bit of practice you will get fluency in no time 😉
היי שושנה, תודה על התגובה! אני כאן לעזור 🙂 בהצלחה בלימודי העברית. את אולי ברמה בסיסית כרגע, אבל עם ההתלהבות שלך וקצת תרגול את תשיגי שליטה בעברית במהרה 🙂
Ayana:
@Suzanne/ שושנה Here are some masculine words in Hebrew, that end like feminine words (with ה).
הנה כמה מילים בעברית שמינם זכר אך הם נגמרים בסיומת נקבית:
יעה – dustpan
שה – lamb
עלה – leaf
מבנה – structure
מתוה – layout
מתלה – hook, hunger
קנה – stalk, reed
כשאזכר בעוד אכתוב כאן 🙂
David:
Thanks for your help. may i know the gender of these words in Hebrew: heaven, earth, darkness, waters, spirit, light, day, night, morning, dome, seas, vegetation, plant, seed, tree, fruit. Thanks once more for helping us to learn more about Hebrew language.
Ayana:
@David Thanks for your comment, David! I’m glad to help 🙂 Here are the words – if you have any other question please let me know.
heaven = שָׁמַיִם (masculine)
for example: שמים כחולים
[and not – שמים כחולות]
earth = אֲדָמָה (feminine)
אדמה יבשה
darkness = חֹושֶׁךְ (masculine)
חושך כבד
water = מַיִם (masculine)
מים נקיים
spirit = רוּחַ (feminine)
רוח טובה
light = אוֹר (masculine)
אור חזק
day = יוֹם (masculine)
יום טוב
night = לַיְלָה (masculine)
ירד הלילה
morning = בֹּוקֶר (masculine)
בוקר יפה
dome = כִּפָּה (feminine)
כיפה חדשה
sea = יָם (masculine)
ים סוער
vegetation = צִמְחִיָּה (feminine)
הצמחיה פורחת
plant = צֶמַח (masculine)
צמח ירוק
seed = זֶרַע (masculine)
זרע חדש
tree = עֵץ (masculine)
עץ גבוה
tree = פְּרִי (masculine)
פרי טעים
David:
thank you for your prompt response. May I know the gender of these other words: evening, face (eg. the face of the earth), wind, midst, sky, land and place.
Ayana:
@David Hey David, you are welcome 😉
Evening עֶרֶב – masculine
Face (of the earth) פְּנֵי הַשֶּׁטַח – masculine
Wind רוּחַ – both, usually feminine
Midst אֶמְצַע – masculine
Sky שָׁמַיִם – masculine
Land אֲדָמָה – feminine
Place מָקוֹם – masculine
David:
Thank you very much. I am taking some Hebrew classes and I need most of the time to be helped. I am a beginner and I am really motivated. Would you mind to give me some advice about transliteration? What is the easiest way to deal with it? Thanks.
pravin:
would you give me the meanings of all verb and noun in Genesis chapter 1 and 2? I want to study all those verb and noun individually. like tense gender, number, and so on.
Ya’ara:
What is the word for sock and bike in Hebrew, and are they masculine or femenin?
Ayana:
@Ya'ara Hi Ya`ara!
The Hebrew word for sock is גֶּרֶב (ge-rev), and it’s masculine.
The Hebrew word for bike is אוֹפַנַּיִם (ofa-na-im), and it’s masculine as well.
😉
Peggy:
Would you give me some examples of words that are both feminine and masculine? Do they always have different forms such as gan and ganna?
Ayana:
@Peggy Hi Peggy,
Knife סכין, for example, is an Hebrew word that functions as masculine and feminine as well. Face פנים is another example for word that is both masculine and feminine.
No, it’s a bit more complicated than that. The feminine form not always ends with a, as we discussed in the article above. I will publish more posts about this subject, so everything will be clear 🙂
Ng:
hi there, could you please help me with a word which I think is masculine but I would like the feminine version. If I understand correctly “Azarel” means “God has helped” and I think it’s a masculine form or a masculine name. How can I change it to “She who God has helped” or “God has helped her” or a variation of that please Ayana?
Thanks – Ng
Ayana:
@Ng Hi Ng, thanks for your question!
You are right – Azarel is a masculine name, means “God has helped”. Azar is a verb – past tense, singular, masculine. El means God. Azar refers to God, and not to the person, so there is no way to change the name according to the person, or make it a femminine name. You can always add ה as suffix to create a feminine name, but in that case it doesn’t sound so good. Other way is to name a girl with masculine name. I know a girl that is named Anael, means “God has responsed”. Ana is a verb (again – past tense, singular, masculine) that means answered, and it refers to God.
As a sentence “God has helped her” in Hebrew is –
אל עזר לה
or
אלוהים עזר לה
“She who God has helped” in Hebrew means –
זו שאל עזר לה
or
זאת שאלוהים עזר לה
If you have any other question, don’t hesitate to ask me 🙂