Hebrew Lesson 1 - The Gender In Hebrew

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roeeh Friday 02nd of June 2006 08:14:56 PM
Lesson 1 - The Gender in Hebrew - Hi again!

In Hebrew, like some other languages (but not English), every word has a gender. In Hebrew we have 2 gender - masculine (male - zachar, זכר) and feminine (female - nekeva, נקבה) and each word belongs to one of them. There is no nutral gender (it).

There is no obvious way of knowing if a word is male or female, but you learn to recognize the gender from the structure of the word after a short time.

Words that end with an -ah sound (ה) are almost always female:
מנורה - menora - lamp
תמונה - tmuna - picture
דירה - dira - flat (where you live, not the adjective)
ילדה - yalda - girl

Other endings might be male:
כיסא - kise\' - chair
שולחן - shulkhan - desk, table
ילד - yeled - boy, child
בית - bayit - house

Or female:
דרך - derekh - way
עין - ayin - eye
יד - yad - hand

Some words, specially names of animals and words describing people can be changed from one gender to the other:
איש / אישה - isha / ish - woman / man
סוס / סוסה - susa / sus - female horse / male horse
פר / פרה - para / par - cow / bull
ילד / ילדה - yalda / yeled - girl / boy

Gender is a very importent part in Hebrew, it has an influence on verbs, adjectives, structures, sufixes etc.

Adjectives must have the same gender as the nouns they are describing, for example:

ילד גדול - yeled gadol - a big boy
but
ילדה גדולה - yalda gdola - a big girl
(remember! in Hebrew the adjective comes AFTER the noun it describes)

סוס יפה - sus yafe\' - beutiful (male) horse
אישה יפה - isha yafa - beutiful woman (like the movie)

ספר טוב - sefer tov - good book
עצה טובה - etza tova - good advice

לב שבור - lev shavur - broken hart
מיטה שבורה - mita shvura - broken bed

As you may have noticed, sometimes, when an adjective is changed into the female version, the first vowel is droped. The reason for this is some very complicated rules of the punctuation in Hebrew (notice that the writing in Hebrew stays the same). Most Israelis and Hebrew speakers won\'t be able to give you an exact explanation about when changes like this accure, but they are quite common and after a very short time you learn how to expect them.

I hope this was clear enough, if you have any questions don\'t hesitate to ask me.

roee

Eli Saturday 03rd of June 2006 03:53:17 PM
- Thanks Roeeh!
That is very helpful.
Let me add something:
דרך - derekh - way has either male or female gender, which means that one can say in two ways \"that\'s the way\":
1.\"zo haderekh\" - female
2.\"ze haderekh\" - male
Although you would never hear the second one, it\'s correct from the gramatical point of view. :)

Phrasebase Archive
	roeeh	Friday 02nd of June 2006 08:14:56 PM
	Lesson 1 - The Gender in Hebrew - Hi again! In Hebrew, like some other languages (but not English), every word has a gender. In Hebrew we have 2 gender - masculine (male - zachar, זכר) and feminine (female - nekeva, נקבה) and each word belongs to one of them. There is no nutral gender (it). There is no obvious way of knowing if a word is male or female, but you learn to recognize the gender from the structure of the word after a short time. Words that end with an -ah sound (ה) are almost always female: מנורה - menora - lamp תמונה - tmuna - picture דירה - dira - flat (where you live, not the adjective) ילדה - yalda - girl Other endings might be male: כיסא - kise\' - chair שולחן - shulkhan - desk, table ילד - yeled - boy, child בית - bayit - house Or female: דרך - derekh - way עין - ayin - eye יד - yad - hand Some words, specially names of animals and words describing people can be changed from one gender to the other: איש / אישה - isha / ish - woman / man סוס / סוסה - susa / sus - female horse / male horse פר / פרה - para / par - cow / bull ילד / ילדה - yalda / yeled - girl / boy Gender is a very importent part in Hebrew, it has an influence on verbs, adjectives, structures, sufixes etc. Adjectives must have the same gender as the nouns they are describing, for example: ילד גדול - yeled gadol - a big boy but ילדה גדולה - yalda gdola - a big girl (remember! in Hebrew the adjective comes AFTER the noun it describes) סוס יפה - sus yafe\' - beutiful (male) horse אישה יפה - isha yafa - beutiful woman (like the movie) ספר טוב - sefer tov - good book עצה טובה - etza tova - good advice לב שבור - lev shavur - broken hart מיטה שבורה - mita shvura - broken bed As you may have noticed, sometimes, when an adjective is changed into the female version, the first vowel is droped. The reason for this is some very complicated rules of the punctuation in Hebrew (notice that the writing in Hebrew stays the same). Most Israelis and Hebrew speakers won\'t be able to give you an exact explanation about when changes like this accure, but they are quite common and after a very short time you learn how to expect them. I hope this was clear enough, if you have any questions don\'t hesitate to ask me. roee
	Eli	Saturday 03rd of June 2006 03:53:17 PM
	- Thanks Roeeh! That is very helpful. Let me add something: דרך - derekh - way has either male or female gender, which means that one can say in two ways \"that\'s the way\": 1.\"zo haderekh\" - female 2.\"ze haderekh\" - male Although you would never hear the second one, it\'s correct from the gramatical point of view. :)