Gender
: gender
In Ancient Hebrew, Gender
is marked lexically on NOUNs, PROPNs, and PRONs and inflectionally on ADJs, most NUMs, and some forms of VERB.
Masc
: masculine gender
Nouns referring to male people and animals are masculine. Other nouns which produce the same agreement pattern are also masculine, regardless of referent. In the plural, the masculine is also used for groups of mixed gender.
Masculine nouns are typically characterized by the absence of specific marking in the singular and by the plural suffix ים /im/.
Examples
- ADJ: גדול /gadol/ “large”
- NOUN: דבר /davar/ “thing”, אישׁ /ʼish/ “man”
- NUM: שלש /shalosh/ “three”
- PRON: הוא /huʼ/ “he”, הם /hem/ “they” (all male or mixed)
- VERB: ידבר /yidaber/ “he will speak”, שומרים /shomrim/ “guarding” (plural)
Fem
: feminine gender
Nouns referring to female people and animals are feminine. Other nouns which produce the same agreement pattern are also feminine, regardless of referent.
Feminine nouns are often marked by ה /ah/ or ת /et/ in the singlar and ות /ot/ in the plural.
Examples
- ADJ: גדולה /gadolah/ “large”
- NOUN: עיר /ʻir/ “city”, בת /bat/ “daughter”, מנחה /minḥah/ “gift”
- NUM: שלשה /shaloshah/ “three”
- PRON: היא /hi’/ “she”, הן /hen/ “they” (all female)
- VERB: תדברי /tidabri/ “she will speak”, שומרת /shomeret/ “guarding”
ADJs agree with the NOUNs they modify, so that the words on either end of an amod arc will usually have the same value for Gender
.
ואתה תבוא אל־אבתיך בשלום תקבר בשיבה טובה׃
ṿeʼatah tavoʼ ʼel ʼavotekha beshalom tiḳaver beśevah ṭovah
“And you will go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good age.”
There will still be agreement even if the nominal and the modifier are not directly attached, such as in depictives.
וארא בחלמי והנה׀ שבע שבלים עלת בקנה אחד מלאת וטבות׃
ṿaʼereʼ baḥalomi ṿehineh shevaʻ shibolim ʻolot beḳaneh ʼeḥad meleʼot ṿeṭovot
“And I looked in my dream and behold, seven heads of grain going up from one stalk, full and good.”
Finite and participial VERBs, on the other hand, have a Gender
value matching their subjects.
ותקח נעמי את־הילד ותשתהו בחיקה ותהי־לו לאמנת׃
ṿatiḳaḥ naʻomi ʼet hayeled ṿatshitehu beḥeḳah ṿathi lo leʼomenet
And Naomi took the child and she put him in her lap and she was a nurse to him.**
As with adjectives, participles exhibit agreement regardless of relative position.
נפתלי אילה שלחה הנתן אמרי־שפר׃ ס
naftali ʼayalah sheluḥah hanoten ʼimre shafer s
“Naphtali is a doe that is sent, that gives antlers.”
Gender in other languages: [bej] [bg] [cs] [cy] [el] [en] [es] [fr] [ga] [grc] [hbo] [it] [myv] [ps] [pt] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [sv] [u] [uk]