Pluralization Rules

Interactive Learning Module

Nouns

• This is the second module discussing Biblical Hebrew nouns.
• The previous module focused on issues relating to the gender and number of nouns, exploring feminine and masculine suffixes and the singular, plural and dual forms.
• This module will focus on rules of pluralization. As the addition of plural suffix markers affects syllabification and stress, it often also causes changes to the vocalization of the base form of a noun.
• The module will discuss several types of noun patterns, both those whose base form is retained in the plural and those which change. The latter include: bisyllabic nouns with a kamatz or tzere in the first syllable, segolates (nouns with penultimate stress), and geminate nouns (nouns with a hidden doubled root letter).
• Each of the above will be elaborated upon and explained in the coming slides.
• A third module will focus on the syntactic function of nouns in a sentence, i.e. how to indicate a direct or indirect object, possessive relationships, and the like.

• In this unit we will discover answers to the following questions:
• When certain nouns are made plural there is no change in the vocalization of the original stem (for example, סוּס, a horse, becomes סוּסִים). Yet, other words change their vocalization when plural suffixes are added (for example, יֶלֶד, a child, becomes יְלָדִים, with both of the original segols changing to other vowels). Why is this?
• Why does the word "עֵץ" (tree) pluralize as "עֵצִים" but the similarly patterned "חֵץ" (arrow) becomes "חִצִּים", with the tzere switching to a chirik and a dagesh being added into the second root letter?
• When some words, such as "אִישׁ" (man) and "בַּת" (daughter), are made plural there is not only a change in vocalization but also a change in spelling, with certain letters that were not found in the singular form, suddenly added into the plural. [אִישׁ becomes אֲנָשִׁים and בַּת becomes בָּנוֹת.] What accounts for this?

• As mentioned in the previous module, words are made plural by adding either the suffix "ים" or "ות" to the singular form of the noun.
• Sometimes, the addition of suffixes does not affect the basic lexical form at all.
• Thus, for example, the vocalization of many monosyllabic nouns is not affected by the addition of suffixes:
• סוּס becomes סוּסִים and חוֹר becomes חֹרִים
• עֵץ becomes עֵצִים and עֵד becomes עֵדִים
• Bisyllabic nouns whose first syllable contains a reduced vowel (a sheva or chataf) or a short vowel in a closed syllable and whose second syllable contains an unchangeable long vowel, also retain their original stem form. [As these words already have reduced vowels, they do not invite further reduction even if there is a shift in stress due to the addition of suffixes.] Thus:
• בְּכוֹר becomes בְּכֹרוֹת and מְעִיל becomes מְעִילִים
• חֲלוֹם becomes חֲלֹמוֹת and חֲמוֹר becomes חֲמוֹרִים
• אֶבְיוֹן becomes אֶבְיוֹנִים and מִזְמוֹר becomes מִזְמוֹרִים
• However, more often than not, the addition of plural suffix markers and the ensuing shift in stress will causes changes in vocalization to the base form of the noun. The next few slides will be devoted to such changes.

• Propretonic reduction – When plural suffixes are added to bisyllabic nouns which have a long kamatz or tzere in the first syllable, these vowels will reduce to a sheva due to propretonic reduction.As we saw ---, the "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. The term "propretonic reduction" refers to the shortening of certain vowels when they find themselves in an open propretonic position (two syllables before the accent).
• Thus, for example, a) דָּבָר becomes דְּבָרִים b) מָקוֹם becomes מְקֹמוֹת, and c) לֵבָב becomes לְבָבוֹת.
• Gutturals – If the letter with the kamatz or tzere is a guttural (האחר"ע) which cannot take a sheva, it will reduce to a chataf patach.
• Thus, for example, a) עֵנָב becomes עֲנָבִים b) אָדוֹן becomes אֲדֹנִים, and c) עָגִיל becomes עֲגִילִים.
• Common patterns – Some common noun patterns that are affected by propretonic reduction include the following (all have a kamatz or tzere in the first syllable):
• kamatz-kamatz – זָכָר, חָתָן, נָחָשׁ
• kamatz-tzere – חָבֵר, חָצֵר, יָתֵד, שָׁכֵן
• kamatz-chirik – נָבִיא, יָלִיד, נָשִׂיא, נָתִיב
• kamatz-cholam – יָתוֹם, לָשׁוֹן, מָרֹר
• tzere-kamatz – עֵנָב, לֵבָב
• Exercise – Choose one word from each of the above groups and make it plural. Check yourself by finding the plural form of the word in the dictionary.Type the singular form of the word in the input box, click on the dictionary tab and find the plural form, marked "pl".

• Pretonic reduction – When plural suffixes are added to bisyllabic nouns which have a tzere in the second syllable, the tzere will often reduce to a vocal sheva (or, if under a guttural, to a chataf) due to pretonic reduction.As we learned -- The term "pretonic reduction" refers to the shortening of certain vowels when they find themselves in an open pretonic position (one syllable before the accent).
• For example: a) שׁוֹפֵט becomes שֹׁפְטִים b) אֹיֵב becomes אֹיְבִים and c) מִזְבֵּחַ becomes מִזְבְּחוֹת.
• Examples with gutturals: a) כֹּהֵן become כֹּהֲנִים b) מוֹעֵד becomes מוֹעְדִים
• Exceptions – The above is not a hard and fast rule and there are many exceptions:
• At times even words with the same vocalization pattern will not behave in the same way, with some reducing and others not.
• Thus, even though the tzere of "מַסְמֵר" reduces in the plural to become "מַסְמְרוֹת", in the similarly patterned "אַבְנֵט" and "פַּרְדֵּס", the tzere does not reduce and the plurals become "אַבְנֵטִים" and "פַּרְדֵּסִים".It is not clear why this is.
• If a bisyllabic word contains a tzere or kamatz in the first syllable (requiring propretonic reduction) and a tzere in the second (requiring pretonic reduction), only the vowel of the first syllable will reduce. [Otherwise, one would have two consecutive vocal sheva's which cannot exist.]
• Thus "זָקֵן" becomes "זְקֵנִים" (and not: "זְקְנִים"), undergoing propretonic reduction but not pretonic reduction.
• If a word opens with a vocal sheva in the first syllable followed by a tzere in the second, there will similarly be no reduction of the tzere. Here, too, otherwise there would be two consecutive shevas.
• Thus, "זְאֵב" becomes "זְאֵבִים" and "בְּאֵר" becomes "בְּאֵרֹת", with no pretonic reduction of the tzere.

• Definition – Segolates are nouns which, in their singular form, have penultimate stress (i.e. the second to last syllable is accented).See the appendix for a theory as to how such nouns came into being. Most have two syllables, the first open and the second closed.There are also segolates which contain three syllables but which end with the same patterns as the bisyllabic ones. Some examples include: תְּכֵלֶת, בַּצֹּרֶת, פִּילֶגֶשׁ, צִפֹּרֶן. These do not follow the pluralization rules discussed below.
• Basic Form – The three basic segolate forms are vocalized with either two segols, a tzere-segol or a cholam-segol, leading to the name, "segolates". Some examples follow:
• Double segol – מֶלֶךְ, כֶּבֶשׂ, גֶּפֶן, יֶלֶד
• tzere-segol – שֵׂכֶל, עֵמֶק
• cholam-segol – שֹׁרֶשׁ, קֹדֶשׁ, כֹּתֶל, קֹמֶץ
• Gutturals – When there is a guttural (in particular a "ח", "ע" or "ה") in the second or third root letter, a patach will generally appear in place of one or both of the segols.See -- that due to the unique pronunciation of these gutturals, it is hard to transition from them to certain vowels such as segols (or from segols to them), so they generally take a patach in such cases. There are, however, some exceptions where even gutturals take a segol: רֶחֶם, לֶחֶם, אֹהֶל, בֹּהֶן. Some examples of common guttural segolate patterns include:
• Double patach – נַעַר, בַּעַל, שַׁעַר
• segol-patach – זֶרַע, מֶלַח, טֶפַח
• cholam-patach – נֹעַם, טֹהַר, רֹחַב
• Pluralization – When inflected to become plural, these nouns undergo two changes:
• Due to propretonic reduction, the vowel under the first consonant reduces to a sheva (or under a guttural to a chataf patach). When the vowel under the first consonant is a cholam, it will often reduce to a kamatz katan or chataf kamatz instead, even when no guttural is present.
• The second vowel is lengthened to a kamatz. [In the singular form, this syllable is closed and unstressed and thus takes a short vowel. With the change in syllabification, it is now open and unstressed, preferring a long vowel.]
• Thus, for example, a) יֶלֶד becomes יְלָדִים b) עֵמֶק becomes עֲמָקִים c) שַׁעַר becomes שְׁעָרִים d) קֹדֶשׁ becomes קׇדָשִׁים
• Exercise – Write out the plural forms of the following nouns: מֶלֶךְ, נַעַר and חֵלֶק. Check yourself by finding the words in the following verses: Bereshit 14:9, Yeshayahu 3:4 and Yehoshua 18:5.

• Feminine segolate counterparts – Many segolates have a feminine counterpart which is bisyllabic, opening with a short vowel in a closed unstressed syllable and closing with the feminine kamatz-heh ending (along the pattern of words like "יַלְדָּה" or "כִּבְשָׂה").
• For example, see the following pairs: a) מֶלֶךְ-מַלְכָּה b) כֶּבֶשׂ-כִּבְשָׂה c) עֵגֶל-עֶגְלָה d) נַעַר-נַעֲרָה e) דֶּמַע-דִּמְעָה
• Pluralization – Nouns of this pattern (even when no male segolate counterpart is attested to in Tanakh) inflect like segolates:
• a) מַלְכָּה becomes מְלָכוֹת b) כִּבְשָׂה becomes כְּבָשֹׂת c) עֶגְלָה becomes עֲגָלוֹת d) נַעֲרָה becomes נְעָרוֹת
• Exercise – Write out the plural forms of דִּמְעָה and גִּבְעָה. Check yourself by finding the words in the following verses: Eikhah 2:11 and Yirmeyahu 17:2.
• Unique segolates – Several segolate nouns have a different form (and pluralization) than that introduced so far, containing a "י" as their second root letter and being vocalized with a patach-chirik.
• Examples include: זַיִת, יַיִן, לַיִל.
• These do not pluralize like most segolate nouns. Rather, the patach-chirik is replaced by a tzere, and then the suffix is added.It is assumed that these segolates had originally been monosyllabic diphthongs (a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in one syllable, in this case a patach-yud, where the yud is heard) of the form zayt, yayn and layl (as preserved in Arabic). In the singular where the syllable is stressed, the diphthong was eventually broken into two syllables by adding a a chirik under the yud. In the plural, where the syllable is not stressed, the original diphthong eventually contracted, with the patach-yud being replaced by a single vowel, a tzere. [Such contraction is common in diphthongs in general.]
• For example, the above nouns pluralize as: זֵיתִים, יֵינוֹת, לֵילוֹת.

• Definition – The word geminate means "doubled" or "twin". Geminate nouns are monosyllabic nouns that have a hidden doubled root letter which might appear in a related noun or verbal root, but not in the two-lettered monosyllabic noun.For example, the geminate noun "הר" has only one "ר", but a second "ר" is attested to in the related poetic "הרר". In the singular form of geminate nouns the doubled letter is totally absent. In the plural, though still missing, it is marked by a dagesh.Really, both the singular and plural forms should have this compensatory dagesh; the singular form lacks it only for technical reasons – a word cannot end with a dagesh chazak.
• Thus, for example, the verbal root "חקק" (to enact a law) has a double "ק". In the related singular noun "חֹק" there is no indication of the doubled letter, but in the plural "חֻקִּים", the missing second "ק" is marked by a dagesh
• Examples – Some common geminate nouns include: גַּל, חַג, חֵץ, חֹק, עַם, שַׂר‎.These are related to the verbal roots גלל, חגג, חצץ, חקק and שרר, all of which have a doubled root letters.
• Pluralization – When geminate nouns are pluralized, the following changes are made:
• The second root letter will get a dagesh to mark the missing doubled letter.
• If the letter that would otherwise be doubled is one of the gutturals that cannot take a dagesh, there is usually compensatory lengthening of the vowel under the first consonant.
• Thus, for example, הַר becomes הָרִים and שַׂר becomes שָׂרִים, with the short patach changing into a long kamatz.
• If the vowel under the first consonant was long, when inflected it will reduce.Historically, the short vowels were probably the original forms, being lengthened when found in closed, stressed syllables. Thus, the vocalization of the various inflections reflect expected vowel-stress preferences. In the plural form, the vowel is in a closed (due to the dagesh) unstressed syllable, which calls for a short vowel. In the singular, the vowel is in a closed stressed syllable and thus takes a long vowel.
• A tzere will reduce to a chirik. Thus אֵם becomes אִמּוֹת and קֵץ becomes קִצִּים.
• A cholam will reduce to a kubbutz. Thus חֹק becomes חֻקִּים
• Exercise – Write out the plural forms of the following nouns: חֵץ, עַם, פַּר. Check yourself by finding the plural form of the word in the dictionary.Type the singular form of the word in the input box, click on the dictionary tab and find the plural form, marked "pl".
• Advanced exercise – Write out the expected plural forms of the homonyms "קל" (a geminate noun, related to the root קלל, meaning lightness) and "קול" (a regular noun, meaning voice). Why are they pluralized differently?Note that in the singular, when written defectively (without the vav) it is not easy to distinguish the two words and see Yirmeyahu 3:9 where commentators debate whether "קֹל" there refers to a "voice" or "lightness".

• Segol-Heh Nouns – Many nouns end with a segol-heh.
• Examples include: שָׂדֶה, מַעֲשֶׂה or מַחֲנֶה.
• When pluralizing such nouns, the segol heh drops off before adding the 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: שָׂדֶה becomes שָׂדֹת and מַחֲנֶה becomes מַחֲנוֹת.
• Irregular Nouns – Several nouns do not seem to follow any expected pattern.
• For example: a) אִשָּׁה becomes נָשִׁים b) אִישׁ becomes אֲנָשִׁים c) עִיר becomes עָרִים d) בַּיִת becomes בָּתִּים e) יוֹם becomes יָמִים. f) בַּת becomes בָּנוֹת
• In several of these cases, it is possible that the unique plural preserves some earlier form of the noun.
• Thus, some have theorized that "אִישׁ" and "אִשָּׁה" both relate to the noun "אֱנוֹשׁ" (a poetic form meaning "man"/"mankind"), with the "נ" having been lost in the singular but reappearing in the plural (and marked by a compensatory dagesh in the feminine singular).
• Similarly, it is likely that the original form of "בת" (daughter) had a "נ" corresponding to the male "בן" (son) and as found in cognate languages such as Assyrian bintu and Arabic "בינת". Here, too, with time the "נ" was assimilated and lost, but reappears in the plural.

• No Change – This is true of many monosyllabic nouns and of many words with reduced vowels under the first consonant.
• a)עֵד becomes עֵדִים, b) מְעִיל becomes מְעִילִים, c) זְאֵב becomes זְאֵבִים.
• Propretonic reduction – The kamatz or tzere of the first syllable reduce to a sheva or chataf.
• a) דָּבָר becomes דְּבָרִים b) עֵנָב becomes עֲנָבִים
• Pretonic reduction – The tzere of the second syllable reduces to a sheva or chataf.
• a) שׁוֹפֵט becomes שֹׁפְטִים b) כֹּהֵן become כֹּהֲנִים
• Segolates – The first vowel reduces to a sheva or chataf and the second is lengthened to a kamatz.
• regular – מֶלֶךְ becomes מְלָכִים
• feminine counterpart – מַלְכָּה becomes מְלָכוֹת
• exceptional – זַיִת becomes זֵיתִים
• Geminates – There is reintroduction of the dagesh, compensatory lengthening in case of gutturals, and long vowels under the first consonant are reduced.
• a) עַם becomes עַמִּים b) הַר becomes הָרִים c) חֹק becomes חֻקִּים
• Segol-Heh Nouns – The segol-heh drops before adding the "ות" suffix.
• שָׂדֶה becomes שָׂדֹת
• Irregular Nouns – No pattern.

• Scholars theorize that the three basic patterns of segolate nounsSee slide #6 that most segolates are vocalized with either a double segol, a tzere-segol or a cholam-segol. derive from monosyllabic three letter roots in proto-Semitic of the type CVCC (consonant - vowel - consonant - consonant). These produced the monosyllabic patterns קַטְל, קִטְל, קֻטְל (with a short vowel under the first consonant and the last two consonants not vocalized).
• Having two consonants at the end of a word makes it difficult to pronounce, but as proto-Semitic had case endings (a suffix which would indicate if something is a subject, object or in a possessive relationship), such nouns were generally inflected, disrupting the consonant cluster with vowels and obviating the problem.
• As Hebrew developed and lost such case endings, the consonant clusters remained at the end of such words, making them difficult to pronounce. As such, a helping vowel, usually a segol, was introduced in between the two final consonants to aid pronunciation. As this was not an original vowel, segolate nouns retained the stress on the first syllable.
• With time, the addition of the segol affected the vocalization of the first consonant as well, with those containing an original patach switching to a segol, those with a chirik switching to a tzere and those with a kubbutz switching to a cholam. Thus the original קַטְל, קִטְל, קֻטְל patterns became the segolate patterns of קֶטֶל, קֵטֶל וקֹטֶל respectively. This is assumed to be the result of some type of vowel harmonization, where the original vowels assimilated to sound more like the segol.
• As support for this theory, one may point to apparent vestiges of the original forms:
• • Two nouns which retain a CVCC form are "קֹשְׁטְ" (Mishlei 22:21) and "נֵרְדְּ" (Shir HaShirim 4:14).Though these words do not contain the original short vowels mentioned in the theory, see the possessive "נִרְדִּי" (Shir HaShirim 1:12) which reintroduces a chirik. Note also the plural form "נְרָדִים" (Shir HaShirim 4:13) which follows the typical segolate pluralization.
  • Many segolates appear to preserve vestiges of the original proto-Semitic vocalization when pronoun suffixes are added to them. Thus, for example, "my מֶלֶךְ" is "מַלְכִּי" with a patach rather than a segol under the "מ", "his שֵׂכֶל" is "שִׂכְלוֹ" with a chirik rather than a tzere, and "his קֹמֶץ" is "קֻמְצוֹ" with a kubbutz rather than a cholam.

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