Hebrew NounsAs it would be in English, a Hebrew noun is a word that describes a person, a place or an object. For instance, you have already been introduced to the Hebrew words for 'king' and tree'. Every Hebrew noun that you encounter will either be masculine or feminine. As examples, אישׁ ('iysh') means 'man' which is a masculine noun whereas אשׁה ('iyshah') means 'woman' and is therefore equally obviously a feminine noun. It is not always possible to spot the difference between a masculine or feminine noun by the presence or lack of a suffix in every case however. This is because some nouns have roots that are entirely unrelated to anything using the opposite gender. For example, you have masculine nouns like עץ ('ets' - tree) and feminine nouns רוּח ('ru'ahh' - wind) where there is no equivalent in the opposite direction. Simple nouns are most commonly formed from two or three consonants to which additional policy letters are added as a prefix, suffix or within the body of the word. Consequently, there can be many different nouns formed from the same combination of consonants. As an example, we have already seen that מלך is written as 'melek' ('king'). The three characters are M-L-K, from which many other words are constructed. Furthermore, there is sometimes a element of logical linkage between the various different words formed from the same consonant combination. For instance, a King will reign over his people. Hence, the fact that the word for reign is 'malak' (i.e. it is derived from the same root consonants) is relatively logical. Similarly, the word for Queen is מלכה ('mal'kah'), מלכוּת (mal'khut) is 'kingdom' and מלוּכה (melukhah) is 'royal'). As suggested, nouns are formed by adding prefixes, suffixes or additional letters within the body of the word. The ones listed below are the most common letters used in this way so learning to recognize these will help you to identify the root consonants when you are reading Hebrew. This in turn will help to make the meaning of the word clearer: ---מ וֹת--- ה--- ---ת וּת--- -י-- מ--- ית--- -וֹ-- ת--- וֹן--- -וּ-- Introduction to Reading Hebrew The first basics The Hebrew AlephBet The Letters of the AlephBet Aleph Bet (Beyt) Gimmel Dalet Hey Vav Zayin Chet Tet Yod Kaf Lamed Mem Nun Samekh Ayin Pey (Fey) Tsade (Tsadik) Qof Resh Shin Tav The Significance of the Alephbet The Basics of Hebrew Verbs The Hebrew Verb Subject The Hebrew Verb Object Hebrew Verb Tenses Hebrew Verb Voices and Moods Hebrew Verb Participles The Infinite Verb Version Hebrew Nouns Hebrew Noun Constructs Using Prefixes With Nouns Hebrew Pronouns Hebrew Plural Nouns Hebrew Adjectives Identifying Hebrew Questions Adverbs, Prepositions and Conjunctions Hebrew Reading Conclusion |