Jonathan taught this session, presenting an introduction to nouns and the endings that they take. This was the fourth session of the course, and it was aimed at covering the material in Lesson III of the book.
Making Plurals in English
In English, our nouns are normally very simple. To form plurals, we just add –s, or –es if the last sound calls for it. Thus, computer simply becomes computers; desk becomes desks; friend becomes friends; and, box (ending in an s sound) becomes boxes. There is a list that all school children must memorize of “irregular” nouns like ox (oxen) and child (children), as well as some that do not change form for the plural (fish can be either one fish or twenty fish).
Making Plurals in Hebrew
All nouns in Hebrew are either masculine or feminine. There is no neuter gender in Hebrew.
Also, observe these regularities in Hebrew:
- The normal ending added to masculine nouns to make them plural is ־ים –îm. For example, the word סוּס sûs means “horse” and סוּסִים sûsîm means “horses.” Similarly, מֶ֫לֶךְ méleḵ means “king” and מְלָכִים məlāḵîm means “kings.” When the suffix is added, vowels are often changed (according to predictable rules [most of the time]).
- The normal ending added to feminine nouns to make them plural is ־ות –ôṯ. Additionally, most feminine nouns are marked with ־ה –ā(h) or with a ־ת –ṯ to indicate that they are feminine. These feminine suffixes are (normally) completely replaced by the plural suffix. For example, תּוֹרָה tôrā(h) means “law, teaching” and תּוֹרוֹת tôrôṯ means “laws, teachings.” Similarly, סוּסָה sûsā(h) means “mare, female horse” and סוּסוֹת sûsôṯ means “mares, female horses.”
- There is a list of masculine nouns that take plurals in ־ות –ôṯ and feminine nouns that take plurals in ־ים –îm. We will learn them as we encounter them.
- There is, in addition to singular and plural, a dual ending that is attached normally to body parts that appear in pairs (eyes, ears, hands/arms, feet/legs, wings, etc.), to things you wear that appear in pairs (shoes, boots, socks, pants), to certain place names (Egypt, Jerusalem), to a couple of random nouns (water and heaven), and to spans of time (which are actually counted as two: two days, two weeks, two months, two years). In all cases, this ending looks the same as the masculine plural ending when unpointed, but it is read differently: instead of –îm, the same ־ים is read as –áyim. Thus, while רֶ֫גֶל réḡel means “foot,” the plural takes a dual ending as is said רַגְלַ֫יִם raḡláyim “feet.” It does not mean “two feet.” To say “two feet,” you must add the numeral “two” (שְׁתֵּי רַגְלַ֫יִם šətê raḡláyim), which will be covered later in the course.
A Note On Duals
There is no real word *סוּסַ֫יִם *sûsáyim for “two horses.” You cannot add –áyim to any and every noun to make it mean “two” (this is the case in ancient Greek, in which λόγω literally means “two messages,” as opposed to λόγος “a message” and λόγοι “messages”). Dual forms in Hebrew are limited to what is mentioned above, and normally it doesn’t literally mean “two.” It’s simply used on words that appear in pairs with a purely plural meaning.
Vocabulary Corrections
In the session, the word “judgment” from the vocabulary is written with ת tav, but the word is really spelled with ט tet. The word is מִשְׁפָּט mišpāṭ, and its plural is מִשְׁפָּטִים mišpāṭîm. There is also no plural for עַ֫יִן ʿáyin except for עֵינַ֫יִם ʿênáyim. The dual is used even if we are talking about a thousand eyes, and it is not doubled. It is used as if it were a regular plural.
Session 4 Video
You can view the session here online: