Is a Hebrew Word Masculine or Feminine?
Every Hebrew noun carries a grammatical gender, and that gender then decides the form of the adjectives and verbs around it. This page gives the reliable pattern, the exceptions that break it, and how the gender spreads through a sentence.
The short answer
baba asks you to set the gender context instead of guessing, because a Hebrew noun ending in -a or -t is usually feminine and one with no ending is usually masculine, with frequent exceptions.
- Hebrew has masculine and feminine only, with no neuter, and every noun belongs to one of them, including nouns for objects with no natural gender.
- The ending is a good default with a fixed set of common exceptions: לילה (layla, night) is masculine and עיר (ir, city) is feminine.
- Adjectives, verbs, numbers and demonstratives all agree with the noun, so one wrong gender makes every word attached to it wrong too.
- baba exposes 7 gender contexts you choose before translating, so the speaker and the listener are set rather than assumed.
Key facts
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Grammatical genders in Hebrew | Masculine and feminine, with no neuter |
| Usual feminine signal | The ending -a or -t |
| Usual masculine signal | No ending |
| Reliability of the signal | A good default, with a fixed set of common exceptions |
| What agrees with noun gender | Adjectives, verbs, numbers, demonstratives |
How do I tell if a Hebrew noun is masculine or feminine?
Start with the ending, then check the word against the exception list, because the exceptions are frequent everyday words rather than rare ones.
| Pattern | Hebrew | Transliteration | Meaning and gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| No ending, masculine | ספר | sefer | book, masculine |
| No ending, masculine | שולחן | shulchan | table, masculine |
| Ends in -a, feminine | מיטה | mita | bed, feminine |
| Ends in -a, feminine | עוגה | uga | cake, feminine |
| Ends in -t, feminine | דלת | delet | door, feminine |
| Ends in -t, feminine | מכונית | mechonit | car, feminine |
The plural ending is a second signal, and a weaker one. Masculine nouns usually take ים- (-im) and feminine nouns usually take ות- (-ot).
Which common Hebrew nouns break the rule?
A useful number of high-frequency nouns do not follow the ending pattern, and there is no shortcut other than learning them.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Meaning | Actual gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| לילה | layla | night | Masculine, despite the -a ending |
| אבן | even | stone | Feminine, despite no ending |
| עיר | ir | city | Feminine, despite no ending |
| דרך | derech | road, way | Feminine, despite no ending |
| כוס | kos | glass, cup | Feminine, despite no ending |
| יד | yad | hand | Feminine, despite no ending |
Paired body parts are a reliable sub-pattern: יד (yad, hand), רגל (regel, leg) and אוזן (ozen, ear) are all feminine with no feminine ending.
Plural endings mislead in the same way. שולחן (shulchan, table) is masculine but pluralises as שולחנות (shulchanot), and אישה (isha, woman) is feminine but pluralises as נשים (nashim).
Why does one noun's gender change the rest of the sentence?
Hebrew adjectives and verbs agree with the noun, so choosing the wrong gender for a noun makes every word attached to it wrong as well.
| English | Hebrew | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| a big book | ספר גדול | sefer gadol |
| a big bed | מיטה גדולה | mita gdola |
| big books | ספרים גדולים | sfarim gdolim |
| big beds | מיטות גדולות | mitot gdolot |
The adjective גדול (gadol, big) has four forms and the noun decides which one appears.
How does a Hebrew verb show gender?
The present tense marks gender on every verb, with no neutral option available.
| Subject | Hebrew | Transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine singular | לומד | lomed | studies, is studying |
| Feminine singular | לומדת | lomedet | studies, is studying |
| Masculine plural | לומדים | lomdim | study, are studying |
| Feminine plural | לומדות | lomdot | study, are studying |
A speaker talking about themselves selects the form that matches their own gender, so a man says אני לומד (ani lomed) and a woman says אני לומדת (ani lomedet). Past and future tenses mark gender as well, through prefixes and suffixes rather than these endings.
Why does a translator have to be told the speaker's and listener's gender?
Because English carries none of this information, a translator working from English has to supply gender from somewhere. baba asks for it directly, with seven contexts you set before translating.
- General
- Personal
- To One Man
- To One Woman
- To Mostly Men
- To Mostly Women
- To Mixed Group
Setting the context before you translate is the difference between a sentence that agrees with the person saying it and a sentence that agrees with nobody. See how the seven gender contexts work.
What baba does not do
- baba is a translation tool, not a Hebrew course, and using it will not by itself make you fluent in Hebrew grammar.
- Noun gender in Hebrew has exceptions that no rule fully covers, so this page gives the reliable pattern and the frequent exceptions, not a complete list.
- Machine translation of Hebrew slang depends on context that a short message may not carry.
Frequently asked questions
Does Hebrew have a neuter gender?
No. Hebrew has masculine and feminine only, and every noun belongs to one of them, including nouns for inanimate objects and abstractions. A table is masculine and a door is feminine, and neither fact has anything to do with meaning.
Is the gender of a Hebrew noun predictable from its meaning?
Only for people and some animals, where grammatical gender follows the natural one. For objects, ideas and places the gender is a property of the word and has to be learned with it, the same way it works in French or Spanish.
Do numbers change with gender in Hebrew?
Yes. Hebrew numbers have masculine and feminine forms, and they agree with the noun being counted. This is one of the more common places where a learner's Hebrew sounds off even when the vocabulary is right.
Can I use the plural ending to work out a noun's gender?
Only as a weak second signal. Masculine nouns usually take ים- (-im) and feminine nouns usually take ות- (-ot), but שולחן (shulchan, table) is masculine and pluralises as שולחנות, while אישה (isha, woman) is feminine and pluralises as נשים.
How does baba handle noun gender when I translate?
baba renders the agreement for you and lets you set the gender context first, so the verbs and adjectives around the noun match the person speaking and the person being addressed rather than a silent default. The seven contexts are General, Personal, To One Man, To One Woman, To Mostly Men, To Mostly Women and To Mixed Group.
Why does an English sentence not carry enough information for Hebrew?
English marks almost none of this. "I am studying" says nothing about the speaker's gender, and "you are studying" says nothing about the listener's. Hebrew needs both, so the information has to come from you rather than from the sentence.
Related pages
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