BIBLICAL HEBREW By Example

Lesson 2 REFERRING TO THINGS

עברית מקראית תבניתה כ

IN THIS LESSONLearn how to refer to things in quantities of one, two, and many (in grammatical terminology, how to use nouns).

Part 1

Examples

בית

בית אחד

שני בתים

בתים רבים

סוס

סוס אחד

שני סוסים

סוסים רבים

איש

איש אחד

שני אנשים

אנשים רבים

פרה

פרה אחת

שתי פרות

פרות רבות

משפחה

משפחה אחת

שתי משפחות

משפחות רבות

מנחה

מנחה אחת

שתי מנחות

שלמות רבות

אשה

אשה אחת

שתי נשים

נשים רבות

כוס

כוס אחת

שתי כסות

כסות רבות

אב

אב אחד

שני אבות

אבות רבים

יד

יד אחת

שתי ידים

ידות רבות

רגל

רגל אחת

שתי רגלים

רגלים רבות“many times (repetitions)”

Part 2

Explanations

The examples modeled how to write and say:

“A [thing]” “One [thing]” “Two [things]” “Many [things]”

Biblical Hebrew has no indefinite article. To say “a [thing],” just say the thing’s name.

Biblical Hebrew uses two grammatical genders:

masculine feminine

Biblical Hebrew uses three grammatical numbers:

singular (unmarked) dual (marked with ים —)* plural (marked with ים— or ות—)

* Only a few words have dual forms.

To say “one [thing]”: use אחד after a

masculine singular noun use אחת after a

feminine singular noun

For most nouns, to say “two things”:

use שני before a masculine plural noun

use שתי before a feminine plural noun

But some nouns — mostly body parts and units of measurement, along with a few other very common words like “water” and “sky” — have a special dual form.

If the noun has a dual form, to say “two [things]”:

use שני before a masculine dual noun

use שתי before a feminine dual noun

For nouns that have duals, the plural form may refer to something quite different.

To say “many [things],” use רבים after a

masculine plural noun use רבות after a feminine

plural noun

In most cases, a noun’s plural form rhymes with the word it takes for “many.”

סוסים רבים מנחות רבות

But some very common nouns defy this expectation.

אבות רבים נשים רבות

TIP When you learn a new Hebrew noun, go ahead and learn how to say “one [thing],” “two [things],” and “many [things].” Later on, when you learn how to pair up nouns with adjectives and verbs, you’ll be glad you did.

CREDITSSCRIPTED BY

Dr. Chris Heard

PARTIALLY FUNDED BY Pepperdine University

Faculty Innovation in Teaching and Learning Grant

ARTWORK CREATED BY Dr. Chris Heard using licensed resources for DAZ Studio

Freepik via Flaticon (CC-BY)

NARRATED BY Dr. Chris Heard

Rene Heard