Nouns
Grammatical categories of nouns in Biblical Hebrew:
- Gender: Masculine, Feminine
- Number: Singular, Dual, Plural
- State: Absolute, Construct
- Definiteness: Definite, Indefinite
Pluralization
Let the noun be n. and take סוּס (horse) as an example, the declension of the noun is:
| Singular (= 1) | Dual (= 2) | Plural (≥ 3) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ♂ | n. (סוּס, a male horse) | n.ayim (סוּסַיִם, two horses) | n.im (סוּסִים, male horses) |
| ♀ | n.ah (סוּסָה, a female horse) | n.ot (סוּסוֹת or סוּסֹת, female horses) | |
Exceptions
- Feminine nouns without the feminine ending: אֶרֶץ (land), עִיר (city), אֶבֶו (stone)
- Some plural nouns have the ending of the other gender: אָב (father) → אָבוֹת (fathers)
- Some nouns semantically singular only have dual or plural forms: מַיִם (water), שָׁמַיִם (heaven), מִצְרַיִמ (Egypt), אֱלֹהִים (God)
- Some nouns have irregular plurals: יוֹם (day) → יָמִים (days), בֵּו (son) → בָּנִים (sons), אִישׁ (man) → אֲנָשִׁים (men), אִשָּׁה (woman) → נָשִׁים (women)
Sound change rules:
- Propretonic Reduction: TODO
- Segholate Nouns: TODO
- Geminate Nouns: TODO
Construct Chain
The construct chain is a chain of nouns in a possessive relationship. The possessor is said to be in the absolute state (base form) and the possession should be changed into the construct state.
The word in the construct state is unstressed. So its vowels are reduced and it needs a maqaf (־) to connect with the following word. Sometimes the maqaf is omitted.
Sound change rules: TODO，放个表格在这