Hebrew Grammar: Masculine and Feminine Nouns Explained [Guide]

When learning Hebrew, one of the first and most important rules you’ll encounter is that every noun has a gender. In Hebrew grammar, nouns are either masculine or feminine, and this affects everything from adjectives to verbs and even how you count things. The gender of nouns is simply a topic you can’t skip, as it’s important for building correct, natural-sounding sentences in Hebrew.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how noun gender works, how to identify it, and why it matters. We’ll keep everything clear and example-based, so even beginners can follow along with confidence.

Why Hebrew Noun Gender Actually Matters

Unlike English, where you can just slap an adjective in front of any noun and call it a day, Hebrew makes every word in your sentence work together like a perfectly choreographed dance.

When you know a noun's gender, it affects:

• Every adjective that describes it
• Every verb that relates to it
• Every pronoun that refers to it
• Even the numbers when you're counting

Here's what I mean. Let's say you want to describe a table and a car as "big":

• Table (masculine): שולחן גדול (shulchan gadol)
• Car (feminine): מכונית גדולה (mechonit gedolah)

Notice how "big" changes from גדול to גדולה? That's Hebrew gender in action. Miss this pattern, and your Hebrew immediately sounds off to native speakers—like saying "I are going" in English.

Recognizing Feminine Nouns

Let's start with feminine nouns because they're actually easier to spot. Hebrew feminine nouns usually announce themselves through specific endings and characteristics.

Nouns Ending in ה (Hey)

Most nouns ending in ה are feminine, and this is honestly the most reliable pattern you'll learn. When you see that final ה, you can be about 85% confident you're dealing with a feminine noun.

Common Examples:

• אהבה (ahava) - love
• בעיה (be'aya) - problem
• משפחה (mishpacha) - family
• עבודה (avoda) - work
• פגישה (pgisha) - meeting

Nouns Ending in ת (Tav)

When you see a noun ending in ת, it's feminine in the vast majority of cases. This pattern is especially common with job titles and plural forms.

Common Examples:

• בנות (banot) - girls (plural of בת - bat)
• מנהלת (menahelet) - female manager
• חברת (chevrat) - company
• מכונית (mechonit) - car
• כלבת (kalevet) - female dog

Plural Ending in וֹת (Ot)

If you see וֹת at the end of a plural noun, you're looking at something feminine. No exceptions.

Examples:

• פגישות (pgishot) - meetings
• מדרגות (madregot) - stairs
• רכבות (rakavot) - trains
• חברות (chevrot) - companies

The Body Parts Rule

In Hebrew grammar, body parts that come in pairs are typically feminine, while single body parts are usually masculine.

Feminine Body Parts (pairs or multiples):

• רגל (regel) - leg
• יד (yad) - hand
• שן (shen) - tooth
• עין (ayin) - eye
• אוזן (ozen) - ear

Masculine Body Parts (single):

• ראש (rosh) - head
• לב (lev) - heart
• גב (gav) - back
• צוואר (tzavar) - neck

Always Feminine Categories

Certain categories of nouns are consistently feminine in Hebrew:

Cities and Countries

• ישראל (Yisrael) - Israel
• תל אביב (Tel Aviv) - Tel Aviv
• אמריקה (Amerika) - America

Languages

• עברית (Ivrit) - Hebrew
• אנגלית (Anglit) - English
• צרפתית (Tzarfatit) - French

Recognizing Masculine Nouns

Masculine nouns are often called the "default" in Hebrew, which means if a noun doesn't fit any of the feminine patterns above, there's a good chance it's masculine.

Common Masculine Endings

No Special Ending - Many masculine nouns have no distinctive ending—they just end in whatever consonant completes the word.

Examples:

• שולחן (shulchan) - table
• ספר (sefer) - book
• בית (bayit) - house
• איש (ish) - man

Plural Ending in ים (Im) - The typical masculine plural ending is ים, which can help you identify masculine nouns.

Examples:

• ספרים (sfarim) - books
• בתים (batim) - houses
• אנשים (anashim) - people/men

Tricky Exceptions

Every language has its rebels, and Hebrew noun gender is no exception. Here are the common troublemakers you'll want to memorize:

Feminine-Looking Masculines

Some nouns sound like they should be feminine but are actually masculine:

Words Ending in ע (Ayin) - These are sneaky because they often end with an "ah" sound, making them sound feminine when they're actually masculine.

• כובע (kova) - hat
• שבוע (shavua) - week
• רגע (rega) - moment

Some ת (Tav) Endings - Not all ת endings are feminine:

• צומת (tzomet) - crossroads (masculine)
• עט (et) - pen (sounds like ת but ends in ט, masculine)

Masculine-Looking Feminines

Conversely, some nouns break the body parts rule or have unexpected genders:

• בטן (beten) - stomach (feminine, despite being singular)
• שדיים (shadayim) - breasts (masculine, despite being a pair)

Irregular Plurals

Some masculine nouns take the feminine וֹת plural ending:

• מקומות (mekomot) - places (masculine)
• שולחנות (shulchanot) - tables (masculine)

How Gender Affects Your Hebrew Sentences

Understanding noun gender isn't just academic—it completely changes how you build sentences. Get it wrong, and your Hebrew sounds broken. Get it right, and you sound like you actually know what you're doing.

Adjective Agreement

Every adjective in Hebrew must match the gender and number of the noun it describes. This means you can't just learn one form of an adjective and use it everywhere—you need to know both masculine and feminine versions.

How Masculine Adjectives Work:

Masculine adjectives typically end in consonants or sometimes in י (yod).

• ילד טוב (yeled tov) - good boy
• בית גדול (bayit gadol) - big house
• ספר חדש (sefer chadash) - new book
• שולחן קטן (shulchan katan) - small table

How Feminine Adjectives Change:

Feminine adjectives usually add ה (hey) to the masculine form, or change the ending entirely.

• ילדה טובה (yalda tova) - good girl
• מכונית גדולה (mechonit gedolah) - big car
• חנות חדשה (chanut chadasha) - new store
• כסא קטנה (kise ketana) - small chair

Verb Conjugation

Hebrew verbs change dramatically based on gender, and this goes way beyond just pronouns. Even when talking about objects, the verbs need to match the gender of whatever you're discussing.

Present Tense Gender Changes:

Every Hebrew verb has different forms for masculine and feminine subjects.

With People:

• הוא קורא (hu kore) - he reads (masculine)
• היא קוראת (hi koret) - she reads (feminine)
• הוא עובד (hu oved) - he works (masculine)
• היא עובדת (hi ovedet) - she works (feminine)

With Objects (Yes, Really!):

Even inanimate objects affect verb forms when they're the subject.

• השולחן נשבר (ha-shulchan nishbar) - the table broke (masculine verb form)
• המכונית נשברה (ha-mechonit nishbera) - the car broke (feminine verb form)

Past and Future Tenses: The gender matching continues across all tenses, making this a pattern you'll use constantly.

Past Tense:

• הוא למד (hu lamad) - he learned (masculine)
• היא למדה (hi lamda) - she learned (feminine)

Future Tense:

• הוא ילמד (hu yilmad) - he will learn (masculine)
• היא תלמד (hi tilmad) - she will learn (feminine)

Articles and Demonstratives

Hebrew uses different words for "this," "that," and "the" depending on gender.

Definite Articles with ה (Ha): While "the" is usually ה (ha) for both genders, the pronunciation and vowels can shift based on the noun's gender patterns.

Demonstrative Pronouns: These change completely based on gender.

• זה (zeh) - this (masculine)
• זאת (zot) - this (feminine)
• הזה (ha-zeh) - this specific one (masculine)
• הזאת (ha-zot) - this specific one (feminine)

In Real Sentences:

• זה ספר טוב (zeh sefer tov) - this is a good book
• זאת מכונית יפה (zot mechonit yafa) - this is a beautiful car

Possessive Pronouns

Hebrew possessive pronouns change based on both the gender of the owner AND the gender of the thing being owned.

Basic Possessives:

• שלי (sheli) - mine (same for all genders)
• שלו (shelo) - his
• שלה (shela) - hers

When you use possessive suffixes attached directly to nouns, they also vary based on the noun's gender.

With Masculine Nouns:

• הבית שלו (ha-bayit shelo) - his house
• הבית שלה (ha-bayit shela) - her house

With Feminine Nouns:

• המכונית שלו (ha-mechonit shelo) - his car
• המכונית שלה (ha-mechonit shela) - her car

Numbers and Gender

Hebrew numbers change form based on the gender of what you're counting.

Numbers 1-2 with Masculine Nouns:

• איש אחד (ish echad) - one man
• שני אנשים (shnei anashim) - two men

Numbers 1-2 with Feminine Nouns:

• אישה אחת (isha achat) - one woman
• שתי נשים (shtei nashim) - two women

When you're ordering in a restaurant or shopping, you need to match your numbers to the gender of what you're requesting.

• שני כוסות (shnei kosot) - two glasses (masculine)
• שתי צלחות (shtei tzalachot) - two plates (feminine)

Start with High-Frequency Words

Focus on nouns you'll use every day before diving into obscure vocabulary:

Essential masculine nouns:

• בית (bayit) - house
• יום (yom) - day
• ספר (sefer) - book
• כסף (kesef) - money

Essential feminine nouns:

• משפחה (mishpacha) - family
• עבודה (avoda) - work
• שעה (sha'a) - hour
• שפה (safa) - language

Practice with Full Phrases, Not Isolated Words

Don't just memorize ספר = book. Practice ספר טוב (good book) so you learn the masculine pattern together.

Use flashcards like:

• Front: ילד + good
• Back: ילד טוב (yeled tov)

Listen for Gender in Real Hebrew

When watching Israeli TV shows, listening to Hebrew podcasts, or following Hebrew social media, pay attention to how adjectives and verbs change. Your brain will start recognizing these patterns naturally.

Build Your Exception List Gradually

Once you're comfortable with the main patterns, start a running list of rule-breakers. But don't overwhelm yourself—learn exceptions as you encounter them, not all at once.

Remember, every Hebrew speaker learned this system the same way you're learning it now. With consistent practice and exposure to real Hebrew, identifying noun gender will become as natural as knowing whether an English word is singular or plural.

Ready To Practice?

And there we have it! As you can see, understanding the gender of nouns in Hebrew will help you sound more natural and confident. At first, it may feel like memorizing two versions of every word...but with a few patterns, real examples, and steady practice, it starts to click!

And the best part? Lingopie is rolling out Hebrew soon, giving you the perfect way to master grammar through real conversations, native media, and interactive subtitles. With Lingopie, you won’t get stuck on basic grammar rules. Instead, you’ll hear how masculine and feminine forms are actually used, spoken, and felt.

So if you’re ready to dive deeper into Hebrew, keep an eye out. A whole new way to learn is just around the corner! But for now, why not sign up for a free 7-day trial to test run how Lingopie works?