Gender Feminine¶
Summary¶
Nouns, adjectives, finite verbs, participles, pronouns, pronominal suffixes, and some particles change their form is according to their grammatical gender, either masculine or feminine.
Article¶
In Biblical Hebrew, nouns are classified according to gender, either masculine, feminine, or sometimes both. Grammatical modifiers (such as adjectives, active and passive participles, pronouns, pronominal suffixes) change their endings in order to agree with the gender of the term they refer to. A finite verb with feminine gender indicates a feminine subject. All references to female persons in Biblical Hebrew are feminine. However, other entities apart from people can also be classified as feminine. For example, the proper names of cities are often feminine in Biblical Hebrew, as well as body parts that exist as pairs (hand, foot, etc.). Some particles are also marked for gender in Biblical Hebrew.
Note
Some feminine nouns do NOT take feminine endings, even some common nouns such as אֵם (mother) and אֶרֶץ (earth). They appear to be masculine nouns, but they are actually feminine nouns. A dictionary or lexicon will indicate the proper gender for each word.
Form¶
Feminine singular nouns and adjectives usually end in either ־ָה (qamets-he) or ־ֶת (seghol-taw, for participles). Feminine dual terms end in ־ַיִם (patach-yod-hireq-final mem), as in יָדַיִם (hands). Feminine plural terms usually end in וֹת- (holem-taw), as in תּוֹרוֹת (laws). There is a whole family of verbal prefixes and suffixes that indicate feminine gender for finite verbs.
Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
feminine singular absolute | סוּסָה | susah | mare |
feminine singular construct | סוּסַת | susat | mare of |
feminine plural absolute | סוּסוֹת | susoth | mares |
feminine plural construct | סוּסוֹת | susoth | mares of |
Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
second person feminine singular | קָטַלְתְּ | qatalt | you killed |
second person feminine plural | קְטַלְתֶּן | qetalten | you killed |
third person feminine singular | קָטְלָה | qatlah | she killed |
Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
second person feminine singular | תִּקְטְלִי | tiqteli | you will kill |
second person feminine plural | תִּקְטֹלְנָה | tiqtolenah | you will kill |
third person feminine singular | תִּקְטֹל | tiqtol | she will kill |
third person feminine plural | תִּקְטֹלְנָה | tiqtolenah | they will kill |
Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
second person feminine singular | אַתְּ | ‘at | you |
second person feminine plural | אַתֵּנָה | ‘attenah | you |
third person feminine singular | הִיא / הִוא | hi / hiw | she / it |
third person feminine plural | הֵן / הֵנָּה | hen / hennah | they |
Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
second person feminine singular | אֹתָךְ | ‘othakh | you |
second person feminine plural | אֹתְכֶֶן | ‘othekhem | you |
third person feminine singular | אֹתָהּ | ‘othah | her / it |
third person feminine plural | אֶתְהֶן / אֹתָן | ‘ethhen / ‘othan | them |
Parsing | Hebrew | Transliteration | Gloss |
second person feminine singular | לָךְ / - ָךְ | lakh / -akh | (to) you |
second person feminine plural | לָכֶן / -כֶן | lakhen / -khen | (to) you |
third person feminine singular | לָהּ / - ָהּ | lah / -ah | (to) her |
third person feminine plural | לָהֶן / -הֶן / - ָן | lahen / -hen / -an | (to) them |