Noun Gender
Hebrew nouns are masculine or feminine. Gender guides the adjective, pronoun and many number forms used with the noun.
How It Works
Words Have Agreement Groups
ספר is masculine: ספר חדש. מחברת is feminine: מחברת חדשה. The adjective changes to match the noun. For people, noun forms often reflect gender; for objects, the grouping is grammatical.
Endings Give Clues
ילדה and מחברת are feminine. But לילה, night, is masculine despite its final ה: לילה טוב. Some nouns can take more than one gender in accepted usage; learn the common pattern and label a real variant instead of calling it an error.
Keep Gender When the Plural Looks Different
שולחן is masculine and its plural is שולחנות, with ות. It still takes masculine agreement: שולחנות גדולים. שנה is feminine and its plural is שנים, with ים. It still takes feminine agreement: שנים טובות. Learn the singular, gender and plural together.
Examples (5)
- ספר חדש
A new book.
ספר is masculine.
- מחברת חדשה
A new notebook.
מחברת is feminine.
- לילה טוב
Good night; a good night.
לילה is masculine despite its ending.
- שולחנות גדולים
Large tables.
The masculine noun has a ות plural but masculine adjective agreement.
- שנים טובות
Good years.
The feminine noun has a ים plural but feminine adjective agreement.
Common Mistakes
Guessing adjective gender only from the noun’s plural ending.
שולחנות גדולותשולחנות גדוליםשולחן is masculine, so its plural takes masculine גדולים.