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Learn how to use Hebrew adjectives
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Shalom, ani Yana. Hi everybody! I’m Yana. |
Welcome to HebrewPod101.com’s “Ivrit be-shalosh dakot”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Hebrew. |
In the last lesson, we learned how to use the negative form to make simple sentences. |
In this lesson, we will start to learn about Hebrew adjectives and how to use them properly. |
So the basic rule in order to use adjectives correctly is that in Hebrew, adjectives always have to agree with the gender of the subject that they are qualifying. |
Let’s start with a concrete example: Ze mishak matshik- "It is a funny game." |
[slowly] Ze mishak matshik. |
Here the subject Mishak is a masculine singular word, so the adjective Matshik is also in the masculine singular form. |
Let’s see the same sentence with a feminine subject. It becomes: |
Hi bahura matshika - "She’s a funny girl." |
Here we have to add an “a” to the adjective to make it feminine. In Hebrew we often add an “a” to adjectives to make it feminine but not all the time. It depends on the adjective type. |
Here are a few more examples to show the difference between masculine and feminine form. |
Nehmad is the masculine for "nice", "kind", whereas Nehmada is the feminine. |
Yafe is the masculine for "beautiful", whereas Yafa is the feminine. |
Ham is the masculine for "hot", whereas Hama is the feminine. |
Taim is the masculine for "delicious", whereas Teima is the feminine. |
Now let’s find out how to turn an adjective from singular to plural. |
It also changes depending on the masculine or feminine form; |
If you are talking about the car for example, which is feminine noun, you have to adjust the adjective to a feminine form- lets say the adjective “red”. |
“Red car” will be Mehonit Aduma |
[slowly] Mehonit aduma. |
and to make it plural, we not only change the noun to a plural form, we also change the adjective: aduma- changes to -adumot; |
Mehoniyot adumot. |
[slowly] mehoniyot adumot. |
And now let’s look at a masculine noun. Do you remember how to say “red pen”? Yesh li et adom. |
Et- in this case is masculine so the adjective- Adom- is in masculine form. If we’re talking about about multiple pens |
etim adumim |
[slowly] etim adumim. |
Now let’s look at how to change singular feminine adjectives into the plural feminine form; |
Netta Yafa- means- “Netta is beautiful”, |
and Ha-banot yafot- means “the girls are beautiful”. |
So the rule in most cases is as follows; |
Nehmada-nehmadot |
Hama-hamot |
Teima-teimot |
Yafa-yafot |
The rule to turn masculine singular to masculine plural is almost always the same; |
Nehmad-Nehmadim |
Ham-Hamim |
Taim- Teimim |
Yafe-Yafim |
etc.. |
For example, Yosi Nehmad means "Yosi is kind", so if you turn it to plural it is the same |
Ha-haverim sheli nehmadim, which is "My friends are kind. |
Ha-haverim- means friends. |
Sheli- mine. |
can you see the pattern? |
Now it’s time for Yana’s Insights. |
If you want to emphasize an adjective in Hebrew, you can use the word Meod before adjectives. |
Does Meod sound familiar? |
As in Meod yafa - very beautiful. |
Meod taim- very delicious. |
Meod nehmadim- very kind (plural masculine). |
In this lesson, we learned how to properly use adjectives in Hebrew and how to agree them correctly with nouns. |
It seems like a lot of work but don’t give up! try to practice as many variations as possible! |
Next time we’ll learn the basic uses of verb Lalehet, Linsoa which is "To go," so that you will be able to say sentences like "I’m going to school”, or “I’m going for holidays”. |
I’ll be waiting for you in the next Ivrit be-shalosh dakot. |
Lehitraot!!! |
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