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Hebrew Adjectives Hebrew Adjectives fall into 3 categories:

Attributive

Predicative

Substantive

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Hebrew Adjectives Attributive Adjectives:

Modify a noun;

Agree in gender, number, and definiteness with the noun;

Follow the noun they modify.

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Hebrew Adjectives Predicative Adjectives:

Are translated with a “to be” verb.

The house is small.

Agree with noun in gender and number, but not with definiteness; it never takes the definite article.

Can precede or follow the noun.

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Hebrew Adjective Substantive Adjective:

Are used independently as a noun; they stand alone;

The words they modify are implied.

The money of the rich (men)

The holy (things)

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Hebrew Adjectives The endings of Hebrew adjectives change form

(inflect) based on gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural).

Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the nouns they are modifying.

The masculine singular is the basic lexical form of an adjective.

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Hebrew Adjectives Person Singular Plural Masculine בו ט יםבו ט Feminine הבו ט תו בו ט

בו ט means good, pleasant, welfare, agreeable… Not all adjectives are attested in all genders and numbers.

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Hebrew Adjectives Adjectives often undergo vowel changes when endings

are added.

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Hebrew Adjectives Vowels of monosyllabic adjectives don’t change when

suffixes are added for feminine and plural forms.

Examples of monosyllabic adjectives:

בו ט good, pleasant, benefit, welfare

ך ר tender, delicate, soft

ק thin, small, fine ד

strong, fierce עז

ל low, weak, poor, thin ד

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Hebrew Adjectives Genesis 33:13 כ יםי לדה ־יכ י דע יאד נ יםר

My lord knows that the children are tender ( ך ר ; predicative)

Genesis 1:10 או בו ט־יכ יםאל ה י ר

And God saw that it was good (predicative).

Psalm 18:18 יי צ עז יא י במ ילנ

He delivered me from my strong enemy (attributive).

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Hebrew Adjectives Bi-syllabic adjectives undergo propretonic reduction; the

changeably long vowel reduces to a vocal sheva, or hateph patach with gutturals.

Examples of bi-syllabic adjectives: ןזק old לו ג ד great רו ג ב strong, mighty םכח wise רש י straight, right precious, valuable יקר

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Hebrew Adjectives Deuteronomy 32:4 ו ק יצ ד או ה רש י

Just and right is He (predicative).

Exodus 35:25 אכל־ו ו טו יהיד ב לבת־ם כ ח ה ש

And all the women that were wise hearted (predicative) with their hands did spin

Proverbs 3:15 מ איה רהי ק םיי פ נ

She is more precious than rubies (predicative)

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Hebrew Adjectives Deuteronomy 4:34 יםג ד ל יםמ ראב ו and by great terrors (attributive).

Deuteronomy 7:19 ךעינ י ו רא ר־ש א ג ד ל תה מ ס ת ה The great trials (sg. מ ס ה ; attributive) which your eyes

saw.

Job 17:8 ז אתע ל־ יםר ש י ו מ ש י Upright (men; substantive) are/will be astonished at this.

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Hebrew Adjectives Genesis 10:9 י הוהלפ ני ע ידגב ר־ היהא־ו ה

He was a mighty hunter (attributive) before Yehovah.

Judges 5:23 ת י הוה תל ע ז ר ו באל א־ יכ י הוה ל ע ז ר

יםרו ג ב ב

Because they did not come to the help of Yehovah (twice for emphasis) against the mighty (substantive).

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Hebrew Adjectives When endings are added to geminate adjectives, the

second consonant will have a dagesh forte (doubles consonant); if the second consonant is a guttural, the patach under the first consonant lengthens to a qamets.

Examples of geminate adjectives:

ב much, many, great, chief ר

ע bad, evil ר

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Hebrew Adjectives Numbers 20:5 ז הה רעה םו מ קה א ל ו א תנא יל הב

To bring us to this evil place (attributive).

Joshua 22:8 ב יםנ כסב לאמ ר םאליה ו י אמ ר ו בו ש יםר םאהליכ א ל

And he spoke to them, saying, return with much riches (attributive) to your tents.

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Hebrew Adjectives If the masculine singular adjective ends in seghol heh

the seghol heh drops off before adding feminine ,( ה)or plural endings.

Examples of adjectives ending in seghol heh:

fair, beautiful יפ ה

הש ק hard, severe, obstinate, stubborn

proud ג א ה

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Hebrew Adjectives Song of Solomon 1:15 ע ית יפה ך הנ יפה ך הנ יר ך עינ י

ו י ׃יםנ Behold, you (f) are fair (predicative) my love; behold you

(f) are fair (predicative); you have eyes of doves.

Psalm 94:2 יםג אע ל־ל ו ג מב ש ה Render a reward to the proud (substantive).

Psalm 60:5 א הש ק ךע מ תה יהר You have showed your people hard things (substantive).

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Hebrew Adjectives I will give more examples of the use of adjectives.

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Hebrew Adjectives More bi-syllabic adjectives:

ש ו קד sacred, holy

רו טה clean, pure

אטמ unclean

יענ poor, afflicted, humble

ןקט small, insignificant

זקח strong, stout, mighty

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Hebrew Adjectives Leviticus 10:10 ןביו ל ח ה ןביו ש ק ד ה ןב יל ילה ב ד ו

׃רו ט הה ןביו ט מאה

And that you may distinguish between the holy and between the unholy, and between the unclean and between the clean (substantive X4).

2 Samuel 12:3 ק ט נ הת ח א ה ש כ ב ־םא יכ ־כ לןא ש לר ו

But the poor (man; substantive) had nothing, except one little ewe lamb (attributive).

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Hebrew Adjectives Exodus 3:5 מ ת־ עליו מדו ע א ת ה רש א םו מ קה יכ ש ק ד א ד

או ה For the place which you are standing on is holy ground

(attributive; note resumptive pronoun או ה ).

Exodus 28:38 יםש ה ק ד ןו עא ת־ ןא הר א ש ו נ That Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things

(substantive).

Deuteronomy 14:11 ו ת אכלט ה רה ר ו צפ כ ל־ All clean birds (collective; attributive) you shall eat.

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Hebrew Adjectives Jeremiah 50:34 ו מש ת ו צ בא י הוהזק ח םג אל

Their Redeemer is strong (predicative); Yehovah of Hosts is His name.

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Hebrew Adjectives More bi-syllabic adjectives:

ש דח new

דיסח kind, pious, godly

ןקט small, young, unimportant

ריא ד majestic, excellent, famous

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Hebrew Adjectives Judges 5:8 יםש דח יםאל הר ח יב They chose new gods (attributive).

Jeremiah 3:12 ד יסח־יכ םל ע לר ו א ט ל א י הוה־םנ א יאנ

For I am merciful (predicative), says Yehovah; “I will not

remain angry forever.”

Psalm 8:10 ׃ץהאר ־ב כל ךמ ש ריא ד מה ו ינאד נ י הוה O Yehovah, our Lord how majestic (predicative) is your

name in all the earth.

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Hebrew Adjectives More bi-syllabic adjectives

hungry רעב

poor, afflicted, humble, meek ענו

ריא ב mighty, valiant

ףעי faint, weary, thirsty

deep עמ ק

פלש low

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Hebrew Adjectives Proverbs 25:21 צמא־םאו םח ל ו ה ה אכל ךנ אש ברע ־םא

ו הק ש ה י ׃םמ If your enemy is hungry (predicative), give him bread to eat

and if he is thirsty (predicative), give him water to drink.

Psalm 37:11 ץר א ־ו ש ייר יםענוו But the meek (substantive) shall inherit the earth.

Lamentations 1:15 אד ני יר יא ב כל־סל ה The Lord has trodden under foot all my mighty (men;

substantive).

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Hebrew Adjectives Psalm 63:1 ו ה י צ־ץב א ר ירש ב ךל כ מ ה ־יב ל ףעי י םמ My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land (attributive)

where there is no water.

Proverbs 18:4 מ ב רי יםעמק םי יש א־יפ ד The words of a mouth of a man are as deep waters

(attributive).

Proverbs 16:19 א ת־ ח ו רפ ל־ש ב ו ט םיי ענ Better is an humble spirit (attributive) with the lowly

(substantive)

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Hebrew Adjectives Biblical Hebrew A Compact Guide, Miles Van Pelt,

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, copyright 2012.

Biblical Hebrew An Introductory Grammar, Page H. Kelly, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, copyright 1992.

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Hebrew lessons compiled by: Beth C. Mehaffey

https://holyhiway.wordpress.com

Contact: betmeh2 at gmail.com

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