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Interactive Learning Module

Adjectives

• This unit will explore the form of Biblical Hebrew adjectives. A second module will discuss their various functions.
• In Biblical Hebrew, adjectives must agree in both number and gender with the noun they modify, leading to four different possible inflections (forms) of each adjective. The masculine singular is the basic form, and suffixes are added to form the feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural.
• Inflection (i.e. adding suffixes to the base form), sometimes causes changes in the vocalization of the stem. This will depend on several factors:
  • Whether the base form of the adjective is monosyllabic or multisyllabic
  • Whether certain vowels (such as a kamatz or tzereh) are found in the opening syllables
  • Whether the adjective has doubled consonants
  • Whether the base form has certain exceptional endings.
• Each of the above points will be elaborated upon and explained in the coming slides.

• In this unit we will discover answers to the following questions:
• The masculine singular form of the adjective meaning "thin" is "דַּק", while in the feminine singular and both plural forms a dagesh is added to the kuf, creating the forms: "דַקָּה, דַּקִּים, דַּקּוֹת". Why do only the latter forms get a dagesh?
• Why for the adjective "טוֹב" is there no change in the stem between the singular and plural forms ("טוֹב" and "טוֹבִים" respectively), yet other adjectives, like the word "בָּרִיא", change their vocalization when suffixes are added, so that the masculine singular "בָּרִיא" becomes "בְּרִיאִים" in the plural (with a sheva instead of a kamatz under the bet)?
• Why does the adjective "רָחוֹק" (distant) become "רְחוֹקִים" in the plural, while the similarly patterned "עָמֹק" (deep) becomes "עֲמֻקִּים" (with a kubbutz and dagesh instead of the cholam) in the plural form?

• In Biblical Hebrew, adjectives must agree in both number and gender with the noun they modify, leading to four adjectival forms.
• The masculine singular is the basic lexical form. This can be monosyllabic, like the word טוֹב (good), or multi-syllabic, as in the word גָּדוֹל (big).
• Suffixes are added to create three other forms: feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural. These suffixes are:
  • ה – feminine singular
  • ים – masculine plural
  • וֹת – feminine plural
• When the base form of the adjective is monosyllabic, there is no change in the word's original vocalization besides the additional suffixes. For example:
• a) טוֹב, טוֹבָה, טוֹבִים, טוֹבוֹת (good)
• b) רֵק, רֵקָה, רֵקִים, רֵקוֹת (empty)
• Note: Adjectives match the gender of the noun, not its suffix. Thus, for 'good women' one does not say נָשִׁים טוֹבִים but rather נָשִׁים טוֹבוֹת.
• Exercise:
• Find the various forms of the adjective "טוב" in the following verses: Devarim 8:7, Shemuel II 15:3, Devarim 1:14, and Esther 2:2, and mark each as masculine, feminine, singular or plural.

• The word geminate means "doubled".The word is related to the noun "gemini" (an astrological sign) which means "twin" in Latin. Certain roots have a doubled consonant when in the verbal form, such as עזז (to be strong) or מרר (to be bitter).
• As an adjective, the doubled letter is often missing and is instead marked by a dagesh, leading to a slight variation in form from other monosyllabic adjectives.
• For example, the various inflections of the adjective "strong" are: עַז, עַזָּה, עַזִּים, עַזּוֹת (strong).
• All of these forms, excepting the masculine singular, have a dagesh in the second letter to mark the missing doubled letter (a ז in this case).Interestingly, there is another adjective "עִזּוּז" etymologically related to "עַז" which does preserve the doubled "ז". It appears only twice in Tanakh, in Yeshayahu 43:17 and Tehillim 24:8.
• The masculine singular should really have a dagesh as well, but words cannot take a dagesh in their final consonant if there is no vowel following it.
• In the other inflections, when the letter that would otherwise be doubled is one of the guttural letters (א, ה, ח, ר, ע) which cannot take a dagesh, there is usually compensatory lengthening and the opening vowel of the word changes from a patach to a kamatz.
  • Thus, the various inflections of the adjective "narrow" are: צַר, צָרָה, צָרִים, צָרוֹת.
• Exercises:
• Compare the following geminate forms which take a dagesh: קַל, קַלָּה קַלִּים, קַלּוֹת (light) with those that have gutturals as the second letter: מַר, מָרָה, מָרִים, מָרוֹת (bitter).
• Write out the four forms of "רב" (much) and the four forms of "רע" (evil).
• Use the Concordance to check yourself by finding the various forms in the verses listed here (see numbers 1,3,5 and 9) and here (see numbers 7,8,12 and 18).
• The following is a partial list of geminate adjectives: דל, דק, זך, חד, חם, לח, מר, עז, צח, צר, קל, קר, רע, רב, רך, תם.

• Vayikra 16 speaks of the purification ceremony that is performed on Yom HaKippurim. Part of the ritual entails sending a goat to "עֲזָאזֵל". [See Vayikra 16:3-8].
• Commentators debate the meaning of this word, with some suggesting that it is the name of a demonic being and others maintaining that it is a geographic location.
• See the commentary of Rashi on Vayikra 16:8. What does he think the word "עֲזָאזֵל" means? From what root is it derived?
• Based on what we learned, why might there be two "ז"s? See Ramban (until the citation from Tehillim 24:8).
• Why, though, are the two "ז"s separated by an "א"? What does R. Wessely suggest? [See the last paragraph of his comments on verse 8, which starts with the words "וראב"ע ז"ל שכתב".] Is his answer satisfying? Why or why not?

• Often the singular masculine form of an adjective is multisyllabic. In some cases, as with monosyllabic adjectives, adding suffixes does not change the base form.
• Thus, the following two multisyllabic adjective patterns preserve the original form of their stems even when inflected:
• patach-chirik: אַדִּיר, אַמִּיץ, עַלִּיז, עַתִּיק, צַדִּיק
• patach-kamatz: אַכְזָר, חַלָּשׁ, נַגָּח
• The common denominator between the two patterns is that they open with a short vowel (a patach) which is in a closed, unstressed syllable. This is not an environment that lends itself to further reduction, and so there is no change in vocalization when suffixes are added.
• Thus, the four forms of the adjective "עַלִּיז" (happy) are: עַלִּיז, עַלִּיזָה, עַלִּיזִים, עַלִּיזוֹת.

• However, more often than not, multisyllabic adjectives do not preserve the original form of their stems when inflected, as the additional suffixes lead to changes in vocalization in one of the two opening syllables.
• Changes in the first syllable are particularly common in adjectives with base patterns that begin with a long kamatz, such as the following:
• kamatz-tzereh: זָקֵן, טָמֵא, כָּבֵד, יָבֵשׁ, מָלֵא, רָעֵב, שָׁמֵן, שָׂמֵחַ, שָׂבֵעַ
• kamatz-kamatz: חָדָשׁ, חָזָק, חָכָם, חָלָק, יָקָר, יָשָׁן, לָבָן, עָנָו, רָחָב
• kamatz-chirik: צָעִיר, בָּרִיא, מָהִיר, נָקִי, נָדִיב, עָנִי, עָשִׁיר,
• kamatz-cholam:There is a similar adjective pattern which takes the form kamatz-cholam chaser (as in the word אָדֹם), which will be discussed later as it contains several anomalies. גָּדוֹל, טָהוֹר, קָדוֹשׁ, קָרוֹב, רָחוֹק
• When these adjectives are inflected, the first syllable finds itself in a propretonicThe "tonic" syllable is the one that is stressed, the "pretonic" syllable is the syllable right before the stress, and the "propretonic' syllable is the syllable two positions before the stress. (two syllables away from the stress) position. As we learned [see _ ], in such cases, a long vowel such as a kamatz is reduced to a sheva. For example:
• The word "ישר" (upright) is inflected: יָשָׁר, יְשָׁרָה, יְשָׁרִים, יְשָׁרוֹת
• The word "בריא" (healthy) is inflected: בָּרִיא, בְּרִיאָה, בְּרִאִים, בְּרִיאוֹת
• If, however, the initial vowel is under a guttural letter which cannot take a sheva, it is reduced to a chataf patach. For example:
• The various forms of the adjective "חדש" ('new') are: חָדָשׁ, חֲדָשָׁה, חֲדָשִׁים, חֲדָשׁוֹת.

• Find the various forms of the adjective גדול (big) in Yehoshua 6:5, Bereshit 21:8, Yirmeyahu 25:14, and Nechemyah 9:26.
• Write out the four forms of the adjective חכם (wise). Check yourself by finding the forms in Shemuel II 13:3, Shemuel II 14:2, Devarim 1:13, and Yirmeyahu 9:16In the verse the adjective is marked by a definite article, opening with a heh; ignore it when checking your inflection.
• Use the concordance to find verses using the four forms of the adjective "לָבָן" (white). Mark each as masculine, feminine, singular or plural.
• Look here to find forms of the adjective "חזק" (strong). Mark each as masculine, feminine, singular or plural. Which form does not appear? [For many roots, not all forms will necessarily occur in the Biblical text.]

• A subgroup of multisyllabic adjectives which experience vowel changes in the first syllable due to propretonic reduction are those in the "kamatz-cholam chaser" pattern.
• Examples of such adjectives include: עָמֹק, עָגֹל, אָרֹךְ, אָיֹם, אָדֹם.
• Though in their base forms they appear quite similar to adjectives with a full cholam such as רָחוֹק and קָרוֹב, their inflections are somewhat different.
• When suffixes are attached to these base forms, in addition to the reduction of the kamatz to a sheva or chataf-patach (in the case of gutturals), the cholam switches to a kubbutz, and a dagesh is added to the third letter of the root.
• Thus, for example, the four forms of the adjective "red" are: אָדֹם, אֲדֻמָּה, אֲדֻמִּים, אֲדֻמּוֹת.
• The three latter inflections indeed reflect the original form of the word which has a short vowel (a kubbutz) in the second syllable. When suffixes are added, the kubbutz is preserved, as it is found in an unstressed, closed syllable (an environment which allows for short vowels).It is not clear if the dagesh here is structural (an inherent part of the word pattern), or it is a "secondary dagesh", specifically included so as to close the syllable and preserve the short vowel.
• It is acually the male singular form which is anomalous. In this form, the final syllable is a closed stressed syllable which cannot take a short vowel and thus the kubbutz is lengthened to a cholam.
• Exercise:
• Write out the four inflections of the adjective "עָמֹק" (deep).
• Use the concordance to find examples of each and check your answers.

• In addition to the adjectives discussed previously which experience vowel reduction in their first syllable, there are others which experience such reduction in their second syllable.
• This is true of many adjectives that have a tzereh in the second syllable, like those adjectives in the chirik-(dagesh)-tzereh" pattern.
• Examples include: גִּבֵּן, עִוֵּר, עִקֵּשׁ, פִּקֵּחַ, קֵרֵחַ, חֵרֵשׁ‎.Though the words "קֵרֵחַ" and "חֵרֵשׁ" are exceptional in opening with a tzereh rather than a chirik, they are part of the same inflection pattern. They open with a tzereh only because their second letter is a guttural which cannot take a dagesh, causing compensatory lengthening of the opening vowel.
• When these adjectives are inflected, the second syllable finds itself in a pretonic (one syllable away from the stress) position. As we learned [see _ ], in such cases, a tzereh reduces to a sheva.One might have similarly expected that also adjectives of the kamatz-tzereh pattern discussed previously should exhibit pretonic reduction of the tzereh when inflected. However, as the kamatz of those words was already reduced to a sheva, and a word cannot take two consecutive sheva na's, no further reduction occurs.
• Thus, the Biblical inflections for the adjective "stubborn" are: עִקֵּשׁ, עִקְּשִׁים, עִקְּשׁות. [In Biblical Hebrew, the adjectives in this pattern are not attested to in the feminine singular forms.]
• In modern Hebrew, singular feminine forms do exist; however, they usually follow a different pattern than seen until now. The adjective loses the typical kamatz-heh ending, being replaced by a segol taf. In addition, the stress shifts to the second to last syllable, lengthening the expected sheva to a segol. Thus, in modern Hebrew, one says: עִקֶּשֶׁת, עִוֶּרֶת, חֵרֶשֶׁת‎.There are, nonetheless, some words which are inflected as more typical feminine adjectives, like: "טִפְּשָׁה" (foolish).

• We will close the section on adjectival forms by discussing an unusual inflection which occurs when the base forms end with segol heh.
• Examples of words in this pattern include: רָזֶה, יָפֶה, גֵּאֶה, קָשֶׁה.
• In such cases, the segol heh drops off before adding feminine or plural endings.When roots are inflected it is fairly common for a heh to get lost. Here, once the heh is dropped, there is no room for both the segol and also the vowels of the suffix, so the segol gets dropped as well. For example:
• The four forms of the adjective "יפה" (beautiful) are: יָפֶה. יָפָה, יָפִים, יָפוֹת.
• The four forms of the adjective "רזה" (thin) are: רָזֶה, רָזָה, רָזִים, רָזוֹת.
• Exercise:
• Write out the various forms of the adjectives קָשֶׁה (hard) and גֵּאֶה (proud).
• Use the concordance here and here to check your answers. [Not all forms exist in Biblical Hebrew.]

• This module emphasized how adjective must agree with the gender of the noun. There are many nouns in Tanakh, however, which act as if they are "dual gendered", at times taking a masculine modifier and at times a feminine one (even in the same verse!). For discussion, see Gender.
• Return to the beginning of this module.
• Click here to proceed to the second module on adjectives, focusing on their various functions.
• Access additional Interactive Learning Modules.