Gender Masculine

Nouns, adjectives, finite verbs, participles, pronouns, pronominal suffixes, and some particles change their form according to grammatical gender, either masculine or feminine. The masculine gender is usually indicated by the absence of any prefix or suffix. However, various prefixes and suffixes can indicate masculine gender.

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 masculine gender indicates a masculine subject. All references to male persons in Biblical Hebrew are masculine. However, other entities apart from people can also be classified as maculine. For example, the proper names of nations and tribes are often masculine in Biblical Hebrew. Some particles are also marked for gender in Biblical Hebrew.

Note

Some nouns appear to be masculine but are actually feminine, even some common nouns such as אֵם (mother) and אֶרֶץ (earth). These nouns are feminine even though they do NOT take feminine endings. A dictionary orlexicon will indicate the proper gender for each word.

Form

Masculine singular nouns and adjectives have no unique ending; they are the standard dictionary form. Masculine dual terms end in ־ַיִם (pataq-yod-hireq-final mem), as in אַפַּיִם (nostrils). Masculine plural terms usually end in ־ִים (hireq-yod-final mem), as in אֲנָשִׁים (men). There is a whole family of verbal prefixes and suffixes that indicate feminine gender for finite verbs.

Masculine Noun Forms
Parsing Hebrew Transliteration Gloss
masculine singular absolute סוּס sus stallion
masculine singular construct סוּס sus stallion of
masculine plural absolute סוּסִים susim stallions
masculine plural construct סוּסֵי suse stallions of
Qal Suffix Conjugation Masculine Forms
Parsing Hebrew Transliteration Gloss
second person masculine singular קָטַלְתָּ qatalta you killed
second person masculine plural קְטַלְתֶּם qetaltem you killed
third person masculine singular קָטַל qatal he killed
Qal Prefix Conjugation Masculine Forms
Parsing Hebrew Transliteration Gloss
second person masculine singular תִּקְטֹל tiqtol you will kill
second person masculine plural תִּקְטְל tiqtelu you will kill
third person masculine singular יִקְטֹל yiqtol he will kill
third person masculine plural יִקְטְלוּ yiqtelu they will kill
Independent Personal Pronoun Masculine Forms
Parsing Hebrew Transliteration Gloss
second person masculine singular אַתָּה ‘attah you
second person masculine plural אַתֶּם ‘attem you
third person masculine singular הוּא hu he / it
third person masculine plural הֵם / הֵמָּה hem / hemmah they
Object Pronoun Masculine Forms
Parsing Hebrew Transliteration Gloss
second person masculine singular אֹתְךָ ‘othekha you
second person masculine plural אֹתְכֶֶם ‘othekhem you
third person masculine singular אֹתוֹ ‘otho him / it
third person masculine plural אֶתְהֶם / אֹתָם ‘ethhem / ‘otham them
Pronominal Suffix Masculine Forms
Parsing Hebrew Transliteration Gloss
second person masculine singular לְךָ / - ְךָ lekha / -ekha (to) you
second person masculine plural לָכֶם / -כֶם lakhem / -khem (to) you
third person masculine singular לוֹ / -וֹ lo / -o (to) him
third person masculine plural לָהֶם / -הֶם / - ָם lahem / -hem / -am (to) them