Samuel_Kim_en_uhg/content/gender_feminine/02.md

Article

In Biblical Hebrew, every noun is classified according to gender, either masculine or feminine or both. Adjectives and other descriptors change endings when they refer to a noun. This is because adjectives agree with the gender of the noun they refer to. The gender of a finite verb agrees with its subject. All references to female persons in Biblical Hebrew are grammatically masculine. However, other entities apart from people can also be classified as grammatically-masculine. For example, the proper names of places are often feminine in Biblical Hebrew, as well as body parts that exist as pairs (hand, foot, etc.).

Form

Feminine singular nouns and adjectives usually end in either ה or ת. Feminine dual nouns end in patach-yod-hireq-final mem, as in יָדַיִם (hands). Feminine plural nouns and adjectives usually end in וֹת, as in תּוֹרוֹת (laws).

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.

Paradigm

Besides nouns, a feminine word can be recognized by a variety of changes to the form. This paradigm shows a sample of the kinds of changes that signal a feminine form.

Word	Hebrew	Transliteration	Gloss
Noun, feminine singular absolute	סוּסָה	susah	mare
Noun, feminine singular construct	סוּסַת	susat	mare of
Noun, feminine plural absolute	סוּסוֹת	susoth	mares
Noun, feminine plural construct	סוּסוֹת	susoth	mares of
Qal suffix conjugation, second person feminine singular	קָטַלְתְּ	qatalt	you killed
Qal suffix conjugation, second person feminine plural	קְטַלְתֶּן	qetalten	you killed
Qal suffix conjugation, third person feminine singular	קָטְלָה	qatlah	she killed
Qal prefix conjugation, second person feminine singular	תִּקְטְלִי	tiqteli	you will kill
Qal prefix conjugation, second person feminine plural	תִּקְטֹלְנָה	tiqtolenah	you will kill
Qal prefix conjugation, third person feminine singular	תִּקְטֹל	tiqtol	she will kill
Qal prefix conjugation, third person feminine plural	תִּקְטֹלְנָה	tiqtolenah	they will kill
Independent personal pronoun, second person feminine singular	אַתְּ	'at	you
Independent personal pronoun, second person feminine plural	אַתֵּנָה	'attenah	you
Independent personal pronoun, third person feminine singular	הִיא / הִוא	hi / hiw	she / it
Independent personal pronoun, third person feminine plural	הֵן / הֵנָּה	hen / hennah	they
Object pronoun, second person feminine singular	אֹתָךְ	'othakh	you
Object pronoun, second person feminine plural	אֹתְכֶֶן	'thekhem	you
Object pronoun, third person feminine singular	אֹתָהּ	'othah	her / it
Object pronoun, third person feminine plural	אֶתְהֶן / אֹתָן	'ethhen / 'othan	them
Pronomial suffix, second person feminine singular	לָךְ / - ָךְ	lakh / -akh	(to) you
Pronomial suffix, second person feminine plural	לָכֶן / -כֶן	lakhen / -khen	(to) you
Pronomial suffix, third person feminine singular	לָהּ / - ָהּ	lah / -ah	(to) her
Pronomial suffix, third person feminine plural	לָהֶן / -הֶן / - ָן	lahen / -hen / -an	(to) them