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.

Feminine Noun Paradigm

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

Qal Suffix Conjugation Feminine Forms

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

Qal Prefix Conjugation Feminine Forms

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

Independent Personal Pronoun Feminine Forms

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

Object Pronoun Feminine Forms

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

Pronominal Suffix Feminine Forms

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